OHL Alumni Central

There are few that have achieved as much as Andre Benoit over their Ontario Hockey League careers. Despite the lack of love the NHL has given Andre, he still manages to be a major factor wherever he plays.

Benoit played in the Ontario Hockey League for five seasons from 2000-01 to 2004-05, all with the Kitchener Rangers. With the Rangers, he won a Robertson Cup and Memorial Cup in 2002-03. Twice he was the highest point-getting Ontario Hockey League defenseman, 2002-03 and 2004-05. Despite his 67 minutes in penalties, he was awarded the William Hanley Trophy as the OHL’s most sportsmanlike player in 2003-04. In his final season, he was honoured with the Leo Lalonde Trophy as the OHL’s overage player of the year.

During his second season, Benoit was selected to represent Canada at the IIHF World Under 18 Championships held in Slovakia. It was a bit of a disaster for Canada as they went 0-5 in the final round. USA won the gold and a young Alex Ovechkin was the tournament’s scoring leader.

Benoit’s Ontario Hockey League career totals were astounding for a defenseman. In 324 regular season games, Andre netted 99 goals and helped on 200 others for 299 total points. He added another 38 points in 45 playoff games. This, of course, made him an OHL all-star in 2004 and 2005.

Yet, Andre was never drafted by an NHL club. He was signed by the Montreal Canadiens organization as a free agent and has spent three seasons with the Canadiens AHL affiliate, the Hamilton Bulldogs. In his second season with the Bulldogs, Andre led all AHL defenseman in assists during the playoffs as Hamilton won the Calder Cup as AHL playoff champion. This past season, after returning from a two year stint in Europe, Andre once again led all playoff defensemen in assists but his strongly favoured Bulldogs went down in the conference finals to Texas.

In 2007-08, Andre played in Finland’s SM-Liiga with Tappara. He found himself in familiar territory, leading the league’s defensemen in total assists. Tappara finished third in the league that season. Andre was part of Team Canada at the annual Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland. The team, made up of Canadians playing in European leagues, won the Gold medal.

The following season, Benoit shifted over to Sweden and played for Södertälje of the Elitserien, Sweden’s highest league.

Andre has become property of the Ottawa Senators for the 2010-11 season and will most likely start with their AHL affiliate, the Binghamton Senators.

Check out Andre Benoit’s profile page on the AHL official website.

Andre is also featured in a previous post at OHL Alumni Central detailing the players from Kitchener’s 2002-03 Memorial Cup winning season that are still active in professional hockey today.

Kelsey Wilson with EC Salzburg Red Bulls

Kelsey Wilson has the rare ability to be the team enforcer and put pucks in the net on a fairly regular basis, a la Bob Probert or Tiger Williams. In his final season with the Guelph Storm in 2005-06, he led the team with 196 penalty minutes while scoring 38 goals, good for second on the team and accumulating 69 points which was good for third on the Storm. In the playoffs that season, Wilson exploded for 12 goals in 15 games. (BTW – Can you name the last OHLer to have a 100 point / 200 PIM season?)

Kelsey Wilson played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2003-04 to 2005-06. He began with the Sarnia Sting and switched to the Guelph Storm midway through his second season in the OHL.

Undrafted, Wilson was picked up as a free agent by the Nashville Predators organization. He played three seasons with Nashville’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals, from 2006-07 to 2008-09. Each season, he led the Admirals in penalty minutes with 215, 179 and 160.

Last season, 2009-10, Kelsey went in a different direction and played for EC Salzburg Red Bulls of Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga. With Salzburg, Kelsey scored 19 goals and added 24 assists for 43 points over 64 combined regular season and playoff games. This point total placed him 38th in the league in total points and the goal total tied him for 27th. His 231 regular season penalty minutes over 52 games was tops in the league. He attained an additional 34 PIM in 12 playoff games.

It says something about Kelsey, playing that physical of a game and still playing 52 of the team’s 54 regular season games. His ability to balance toughness and offensive skill was certainly a big part of Salzburg’s championship season.

This upcoming season, Wilson returns to the Nashville Predators organization and will most likely play back in Milwaukee with the Admirals. There is no doubt he will provide the AHL fans with a ton of excitement, in more ways that one.

Kelsey Wilson has yet to have an updated profile page on the Milwaukee Admirals official website. Check out his profile page at the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga official website.

Kelsey Wilson appears in the following previous posts on OHL Alumni Central:

67 Sarnia Sting Alumni Still Active In Professional Hockey

5 OHL Grads In Austria League Top 40 Scorers For 2009-10

Michael Vernace played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2003-04 to 2005-06, although his first season consisted of only two games. Vernace’s entire Ontario Hockey League career was spent with the Brampton Battalion. It should be noted that although Mike played just two games in his first  season, he had a goal and assist in those two games and then played eleven playoff games with the Battalion, contributing five points.

In his final season in the Ontario Hockey League, Vernace led the league as the defenseman with the most assists with 62. His 72 points that season tied him for second on the team with Luciano Aquino but left him a great distance behind team leader Wojtek Wolski who had 128 points on the season.

Vernace was drafted by the San Jose Sharks in the seventh round of the 2004 NHL draft, 201st overall. Over the past four seasons, Mike has spent his time in the American Hockey League with the exception of 24 games with the Arizona Sundogs of the Central Hockey League in 2006-07 and 12 games with the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL in 2008-09.

This upcoming season, 2010-11, Vernace will be playing for the Norfolk Admirals of the AHL. Norfolk will be Mike’s fifth AHL team in five years (Albany River Rats, Lake Erie Monsters, Chicago Wolves, Hamilton Bulldogs).

Michael Vernace has not yet appeared on the Norfolk Admirals official website.

Michael Vernace is featured in a previous post at OHL Alumni Central listing the graduates of the Brampton Battalion that played professionally during the 2009-10 season.

Ryan Hamilton played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2002-03 to 2005-06, all with the Barrie Colts. 2002-03 was an adventure for Hamilton and proof of this man’s determination to be a hockey player.

As a seventeen year old, the Oshawa native began his season with Peterborough of the OPJHL where he played 27 games. He moved to Trenton in the same league and played 17 more games. From Trenton, he went northwest to Orillia and played 11 games with the Couchiching Terriers. He left for the WHL and the promise of a higher level of hockey. His stint with the Moose Jaw Warriors, a team that he’d play ten games for the season before, lasted five games before he was back in Ontario, playing for the Colts.

In his overage season in the Ontario Hockey League, 2005-06, Ryan scored 46 goals which was good for tops on a Colts team that was lead by Bryan Little and Hunter Tremblay in points. The team had a great regular season but lost out to the Peterborough Petes in the Eastern Conference finals.

Hamilton was never drafted and after his Ontario Hockey League days were done, he moved on to the American Hockey League where he has been ever since. Ryan began his AHL career with the Houston Aeros and was moved to the Toronto Marlies midway through the 2008-09 season.

Ryan begins the 2010-11 season with the Marlies, with hopes of a call up from the National Hockey League’s Toronto Maple Leafs.

Ryan Hamilton’s profile page can be found on the Toronto Marlies official website. Follow this link to the site where you will have to navigate through the ‘Your Marlies’ section to find Ryan’s profile.

Evan Brophey with the Chicago Blackhawks during a pre-season game.

Evan Brophey played five seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2002-03 to 2006-07. He began his OHL career with the Barrie Colts and shifted to the Belleville Bulls during the 2004-05 season. Brophey became a Plymouth Whaler druing the 2005-06 season and finished his Ontario Hockey League career with the Whalers during the 2006-07 season.

Brophey came into his own as an offensive threat in his final season as the Whalers made a successful run to the Memorial Cup tournament via the Robertson Cup as the Ontario Hockey League’s playoff champion. Evan led Plymouth in points during the 2006-07 season with 107 on 36 goals and 71 assists over 68 regular season games. The 107 points tied him with Bryan Little of the Barrie Colts for sixth in Ontario Hockey League scoring. The 107 points is also the ninth best single season total in Plymouth Whalers history, one point ahead of Tyler Seguin’s 106 point performance this past season.

Brophey was drafted in the third round of the 2005 NHL draft by the Chicago Blackhawks, 68th overall. He has been with Chicago’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, since graduating from the Ontario Hockey League.

This past season, Evan surpassed the 200 game plateau with the IceHogs, making him only the second Rockford player to reach this milestone. His point production with the IceHogs has been decent but far below the 100 point man he was in junior.

Check out Evan Brophey’s profile page on the Rockford IceHogs official website.

Check out this recent post on one of Evan Brophey’s Plymouth Whaler teammates, Wes Cunningham.