OHL Alumni Central

Each year in the Central Hockey League, players, coaches and broadcasters fill out a ballot for the league’s best of the best awards. Kingston Frontenacs grad, Brett Clouthier, was the best this past season at something few OHL fans will find surprising. Brett was voted the best fighter in the heavyweight category as a member of the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees.

Clouthier played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1998-99 to 2000-01, all with the Kingston Frontenacs. In those three seasons, Brett sat out 658 minutes in the penalty box. Interestingly, playing that style of hockey, Clouthier only missed eight regular season games over the three seasons. In his final season with the Frontenacs, Brett played all of the team’s 68 games and added some offence with 28 goals and 57 points.

Brett was drafted by the New Jersey Devils in the second round of the 1999 NHL draft, 50th overall. He played in the American Hockey League for five seasons after his OHL career was over, four seasons with the Albany River Rats and one season with the Binghamton Senators. Short stints in the ECHL and UHL were sprinkled amongst those five years.

From 2006-07 to 2008-09, Clouthier skipped over the pond and played for the Manchester Phoenix in Great Britain’s Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), a league that truly appreciates toughness and fighting skills. He was also known for his reporting skills as he wrote a column for the Manchester Evening News. Click here for an example.

Brett returned to North America this season and after playing eight games for the AHL’s Providence Bruins, ended up with the Killer Bees. Over his professional career to date, Clouthier has piled up 1625 penalty minutes over 541 games. He sat out 143 in just 46 games with the Killer Bees this season.

It’s not sure where Brett will play for the 2010-11 season, but at 6’5″ and 230, he will not go unnoticed wherever he ends up.

Check out Brett Clouthier’s profile on the CHL’s official website (Pointstreak).

Danny Battochio played between the pipes in 42 of the Rapid City Rush’s 64 regular season Central Hockey League games in 2009-10. Battochio had a 2.60 GAA, 2 shutouts and a .917 save percentage, leading the team to first place in the league’s Northern Conference. He also appeared in 16 games in the playoffs as the team took the Ray Miron Presidents’ Cup as playoff champions.

Danny was named CHL ‘Rookie of the Year’ in his first season of professional hockey after three years in the Canadian university system with St. Francis Xavier.

Battochio played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2003-04 to 2005-06, all with the Ottawa 67′s. His save percentage remained above the .900 mark during his OHL career and he was the team’s starter in his final two seasons, appearing in 55 of Ottawa’s 68 games in 2005-06.

Check out Danny Battochio’s profile page on the Rapid City Rush’s official website.

Check out these previous posts on OHL grads playing for the Rapid City Rush:

Colt King

Derek Campbell

I’m not sure how many Gorillas there are in Amarillo, Texas but, for sure, there was an Otter, IceDog and Bull on the ice in North Texas this past hockey season.

There were four Ontario Hockey League Alumni on the Central Hockey League’s Amarillo Gorillas in 2009-10. Unfortunately, they couldn’t help the team out of last place in CHL’s Southern Division.

Click on the names below to view each players profile page on the Amarillo Gorillas website.

Joe Guenther played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 2000-01 and 2001-02. In his first season, Joe played all 68 games for the Erie Otters, contributing 66 points. In his second season, he was traded after 5 games to the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors where he added 44 points in 44 games.

Guenther’s professional hockey career has taken him to nine different teams over eight season, all in either the CHL or ECHL. Stability has found Joe in Amarillo. He has just finished his second consecutive season with the team. He had played for the Gorillas for a portion of the 2005-06 season, as well.

Andrew Smale played just one season in the OHL, 2001-02 with the Mississauga IceDogs. That season, he played on the blueline for all the team’s 68 regular season games. After junior, Smale had a four year stint in the Canadian university system with University of Toronto. This is his fourth season in the CHL, his first with Amarillo after three with the New Mexico Scorpions.

Neil Smith played two partial seasons in the OHL with the Belleville Bulls, 2001-02 and 2002-03. He went on to play two seasons in the QMJHL with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles before a three year university career with Dalhousie. 2009-10 was Neil’s second season with the Gorillas.

Mike Brown tended goal in the OHL for three seasons from 2002-03 to 2004-05. His first two and a half seasons were with the Saginaw Spirit before being trading midway through his final season to the Owen Sound Attack. Brown is the only one of the four OHL grads on the Gorillas to have been drafted by an NHL club. Mike was taken in the 5th round, 153rd overall, by the Boston Bruins in the 2003 draft. Brown has guarded between the pipes for eight different teams over his five year professional career, including teams in the ECHL, AHL, Germany’s Bundesliga and the CHL.

Check out these previous posts on OHL grads playing in the Central Hockey League:

Jeff Bes of the Laredo Bucks

Colt King of the Rapid City Rush

Ryan Held of the Mississippi RiverKings

Don’t forget to try out your OHL Trivia skills at OHL Alumni Central before May 31, 2010

Could he be the last Hamilton Duke to still be playing professional hockey? The answer to that will have to wait for another day. Current Laredo Buck, Jeff Bes started his Ontario Hockey League career with the Dukes in 1990-91. He moved with the team the next season when they became the Guelph Storm and he finished his OHL career with the Storm the next season, 1992-93.

Jeff was second on team scoring for the Dukes in his rookie season. In both his seasons as a Guelph Storm, he was the team’s top point getter by far. In his final season, his 115 points were good enough for 10th place in the league.

Bes was a 3rd round pick of the Minnesota North Stars back in 1992. He never played a game in the NHL but has played for 17 different teams in 7 different leagues in 5 different countries over his career. Oddly enough, he has never played for a team based in his home country, Canada. He has played in Slovenia, Finland, Germany, Finland and the United States.

Jeff’s team-hopping came to an end at the start of the 2003-04 season as he settled in with Laredo of the Central Hockey League. Now in his 7th season with the club, he has totalled 585 regular season points in just 398 games. Twice with the Bucks, Jeff surpassed the 100 point plateau in a single season – 117 in 2003-04 and 106 in 2007-08.

This season, with 75 points in 64 games, Jeff finished 11th in league scoring and is currently leading the team toward playoff success. It should also be noted that Jeff acts as assistant coach for the team.

The Laredo Bucks official website does not have individual player profiles but the site can be found here. Jeff’s profile page on the CHL site can be found here.

A few weeks ago, we put up two posts about two different Ontario Hockey League alumni that had played on six different teams during their OHL careers. We thought we’d found another, but it wasn’t so – sort of.

Colt King indeed played on 6 different teams during his OHL career but two of them were technically the same franchise. Colt was a North Bay Centennial that moved along with the team to Saginaw for the 2002-03 season when they became the Spirit.

Colt is currently playing for the Rapid City Rush of the Central Hockey League. Originally drafted by the Colorado Avalanche, his 2 games with the Rochester Americans of the AHL this season constitutes the highest level of hockey he has achieved.

King’s OHL career spanned from 1999-00 to 2003-04. His first two full seasons were played with the Guelph Storm but then the travelling began. He split 2001-02 between Guelph and North Bay. 2002-03 was split between Saginaw and the Oshawa Generals. 2003-04 was split between the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and the Sarnia Sting.

Colt’s best season in professional hockey came in 2008-09 with the Rocky Mountain Rage of the CHL when he put in 68 points on 28 goals and 40 assists in 61 games. He also brought toughness to the Rage that season with 168 minutes in the penalty box.

Visit Colt King’s profile page on the Rapid City Rush’s official website.

Check out Colt’s career stats, provided by HockeyDB.com:

To see the previous posts on 6-team OHL grads, click on Brian McGratton or Sean McMorrow.