By Matt Mackinder
Clarkston News Editor

Clarkston native Alex Frye started his NCAA Division I college hockey career in Alaska, transferred to Northern Michigan when the Alaska Anchorage program disbanded, and now has started his professional career in the ECHL with the Orlando Solar Bears.
Needless to say, Frye has racked up the miles playing hockey.
“After our college season ended, I wound up getting a couple calls from teams and Orlando really stood out,” said Frye, who turns 25 in July. “I liked what the coach (Matt Carkner) had to say and I signed a contract with them the next day.
“The people around here (in Orlando) support the team very well. I did not expect as much support as there is in Orlando.”
Frye began his NCAA journey in 2019-20 with Alaska Anchorage, tallying nine goals and 14 points in 34 games for the Seawolves, only for the school to announce in 2020 that “significant reductions in state funding have dramatically shifted the university’s fiscal situation,” meaning the hockey program was going to be dropped as part of budget restructuring. The program returned in 2022.
Frye then transferred closer to home, playing at NMU the past three seasons and compiling 21 goals and 24 assists for 45 points over 96 games with the Wildcats.
“The past three seasons with NMU have been really spectacular,” Frye said. “We had really good playoff runs every single year. This past year, we really had a special group and we were one win away from being in the national tournament. I have to say that all of the teammates that I have had with NMU and UAA have really been the most memorable things throughout my college career.”
So far in Orlando, Frye has recorded three assists in four games heading into last weekend’s final three games of the regular season.
“I really do not have much time left here, but the guys down here have been very welcoming,” said Frye. “This weather is really a change up from the Upper Peninsula.
“I’m not entirely sure what the future holds for me here down in Orlando, but I really do hope that I can continue to play for the Solar Bears going into next year.”
Originally born in Oklahoma when his father, Tom, was playing minor league hockey for the Oklahoma City Blazers, Frye said that’s where he caught the hockey bug.
“My dad was the one who mainly introduced me to hockey because he was always playing, but at a very young age, I determined that it was my own goal to play hockey and not just his,” said Frye. “I spent the first 13 years of my life there and then we moved to Clarkston. I spent a couple years going to school in Clarkston before leaving for juniors at 17.”
Frye, who attended Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, Sashabaw Middle School and Clarkston Junior High, played lacrosse for Clarkston in junior high but had to stop after that because hockey was more year-round at that point, he said.

PHOTO: Alex Frye made his professional hockey debut this season with the ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears. Photo: Gary Bassing/Orlando Solar Bears