OHL Alumni Central

The Manchester Monarchs have him listed at 5’7″ and 175 lbs. Justin Azevedo is proof that size isn’t everything. This past season with the Monarchs, the Ontario Hockey League grad had his most productive season yet in pro hockey with 18 goals and 53 points in 79 games. He added ten points over seven playoff games.

Azevedo played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2004-05 to 2007-08, all with the Kitchener Rangers. He broke out big time in his final year in the OHL, leading the league in assists and points, earning him the Eddie Powers Trophy. His 124 points was also tops in the entire CHL.

Here’s a list of Justin’s achievements during his final season in the Ontario Hockey League:

• Eddie Powers Trophy
• Red Tilson Trophy – OHL MVP
• Wayne Gretzky 99 Award – Robertson Cup playoffs MVP
• Ed Chynoweth Award – Most points in the Memorial Cup tournament
• CHL Player of the Year
• Memorial Cup All-Star
• CHL First Team All-Star
• OHL First Team All-Star
• Robertson Cup as OHL Playoff Champions (Kitchener Rangers)
• Most points and assists in the Robertson Cup playoffs

The Rangers, despite winning just one game in the round-robin of the Memorial Cup, ended up in the finals against the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs but lost 4-1.

Despite all these accolades, it took until the sixth round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft before the Los Angeles Kings picked Azevedo, 153rd overall. He’s been a fixture on their American Hockey League affiliate in Manchester ever since.

Now a full season removed from leading the Ontario Hockey League in goals during the regular season, Bryan Cameron returns for his second season with the Abbotsford Heat of the American Hockey League. Cameron played 60 games with the Calgary Flames affiliate this past season, along with seven for the Victoria Salmon Kings of the ECHL.

Bryan played five seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2005-06 to 2009-10. He was a member of the Belleville Bulls until his final season when the Barrie Colts picked them up in anticipation of a long playoff run.

Over his five years, Cameron played in 76 playoff games. Compare that number to Ryan Ellis of the Windsor Spitfires who has played in 62 and Dylan Hunter of the London Knights who played in 72. Starting from his second year in Belleville, Cameron played on teams that at least made it to the Conference Finals. The 2006-07 Bulls fell to the Sudbury Wolves in the Eastern Conference Finals; The 2007-08 Bulls lost in the Robertson Cup finals to the Kitchener Rangers; The 2008-09 Bulls bowed out to the Brampton Battalion in the Conference finals and the Hamilton Spectator winning 2009-10 Barrie Colts went down in the finals to the Windsor Spitfires.

In 2008-09, Cameron won the Jim Mahon Trophy as the league’s top scoring right winger. His 37 goals and 44 assists for 81 points are the lowest totals of any Jim Mahon Trophy winner. Bryan led the OHL with 53 goals in 2009-10 and was awarded the Leo Lalonde Trophy as overage player of the year. In his final two seasons in the OHL, Cameron was selected as a First Team All-Star.

Bryan was taken by the Los Angeles Kings in the third round of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, 82nd overall. He was later signed as a free-agent by the Calgary Flames and began his professional hockey career in the Flames organization.

It was a bit of a ‘six degrees of Bryan Cameron’ situation in Abbotsford for the 2010-11 season. Playing for the Heat were Greg Nemisz who played for Windsor against Cameron at the 2010 Robertson Cup finals, T.J. Brodie who played with Bryan for the Barrie Colts in 2009-10 and Matt Pelech who played with Bryan on the Belleville Bulls for the 2006-07 season. Other Ontario Hockey League grads on the Heat included John Armstrong (Plymouth Whalers, Peterborough Petes) and Chris Breen (Saginaw Spirit, Erie Otters, Peterborough Petes).

His six goals in 60 games with Abbotsford in his AHL rookie season, suggest a different role for the OHL sniper. Time will tell if his goal scoring abilities will once again reveal themselves or if he’s destined for a the role of the energy man / checker.

Mike Duco played five seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2003-04 to 2007-08, although he played just five games in 2003-04. Duco played his entire OHL career with the Kitchener Rangers and ended his time in junior with a Robertson Cup as OHL playoff champions and a trip to the Memorial Cup.

The 2007-08 Kitchener Rangers hosted the 2008 Memorial Cup and made it to the final game. Unfortunately, the Spokane Chiefs won the final, 4-1. The tournament capped a fine season for Mike, scoring 32 goals during the regular season and totalling 22 points in 20 playoff games.

Duco went undrafted by an NHL club but signed with the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League. Despite a ten game stint with the NHL’s Florida Panthers in 2009-10 and two games in 2010-11, Mike has spent all his pro career with Rochester.

2011-12 will bring a change in scenery for Duco. Mike has become property of the Vancouver Canucks and will most likely play the upcoming season with their brand new AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. Prior to the upcoming season, the Manitoba Moose had been the AHL affiliate for the Canucks but with the rebirth of NHL hockey in Winnipeg, things have changed.

Ontario Hockey League grad Matt Pelech will start the 2011-12 season in the American Hockey League with the Worcester Sharks. Originally a first round draft pick of the Calgary Flames in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, 26th overall, Pelech played in the Calgary system from 2007-08 to 2010-11, mostly in the AHL. This past season, he played 59 games for the Abbotsford Heat. In 2008-09, he saw his only NHL action, playing five games with the Flames.

Matt Pelech is now in the San Jose Sharks organization.

Matt played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2003-04 to 2006-07. His first two and a half seasons were spent in a Sarnia Sting jersey. In 2005-06, the Sting sent Pelech to the London Knights. In his final season in the OHL, Matt played for the Belleville Bulls. In his second season, he was awarded the Ivan Tennant Award as the OHL’s Top Academic High School player.

Pelech has hockey in the blood. Two brothers and two uncles of Matt’s have played in the Ontario Hockey League. Both uncles have played in the NHL.

Michael Pelech played in the OHL from 2005-06 to 2008-09 with the Kitchener Rangers and Toronto / Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors. Michael was taken in the sixth round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, 156th overall by the Los Angeles Kings. He spent 2009-10 with the Ontario Reign of the East Coast Hockey League and played just five games this past season with the Manchester Monarchs of the AHL.

Younger brother Adam Pelech is a member of the Erie Otters, having played his first OHL season in 2010-11.

The uncle of the Pelech boys is none other than Vancouver Canucks General Manager Mike Gillis. This season, Gillis was selected as the NHL’s GM of the year. He played three seasons in the OHL (OMJHL) from 1975-76 to 1977-78 with the Kingston Canadians. Gillis was a fifth overall draft pick of the Colorado Rockies in the 1978 NHL Amateur Draft. Mike played 246 career NHL regular season games from 1978-79 to 1983-84 with the Rockies and Boston Bruins.

In 1982-83, Mike totalled 113 points with the AHL’s Baltimore Skipjacks. That tally was good enough for fourth in the league. That Skipjacks team was an interesting squad with Stan Jonathan and Ian Turnbull at the end of their careers and Phil Bourque and Marty McSorley just starting out. All four of those players were graduates of the OHL.

Mike’s brother Paul was also an OHL grad and NHL player. Paul Gillis played 1980-81 and 1981-82 with the Niagara Falls Flyers and moved with the team to North Bay and played his final season with the North Bay Centennials. Paul was taken by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1982 NHL Draft, 34th overall. He played in the NHL from 1983-84 to 1992-93 with Quebec, the Chicago Black Hawks and Hartford Whalers. In 2010-11, Paul was the head coach of the Odessa Jackalopes of the Central Hockey League.

Ontario Hockey League grad Danny Richmond is switching to the Washington Capitals system for the 2011-12 season. The London Knights alumnus spent 2010-11 with the Toronto Marlies, the AHL affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Richmond has signed with the Hershey Bears of the AHL for one season.

Danny played just one season in the Ontario Hockey League, 2003-04, as yet another American born player snagged by the Hunter Brothers in London. With the Knights, Richmond scored 13 and totalled 35 points in 59 games from the blue line.

Richmond played for Team USA at the 2004 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. He contributed four assists in six games as the United States won their first gold medal ever in the tournament. The U.S., undefeated up to the final, met Canada, also undefeated, in Helsinki, Finland. The States edged out Canada 4-3 for the gold.

Before Richmond came to the Knights, he was already a prospect of the Carolina Hurricanes. Danny was taken by the Canes in the second round of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, 31st overall. In his second year of pro hockey, Richmond got into 10 games with Carolina and 10 more with the Chicago Black Hawks. He would see 22 games with Chicago in 2006-07 and seven the following year.

Richmond has spent most of his pro career in the AHL, playing 433 games with six different teams as of the end of the 2010-11 season.