OHL Alumni Central

After two consecutive years helping the Salzburg Red Bulls win the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga championships in Austria, Ontario Hockey League grad Andre Lakos is moving on. Lakos will start the 2011-12 season with Kolner Haie of Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga. Lakos will join OHL grads John Tripp, Charlie Stephens, Jason Jaspers and Jonathan D’Aversa on the Cologne Sharks team that finished ninth in the fourteen team DEL in 2010-11 and were an early first round exit from the playoffs.

Andre Lakos as a member of Salzburg Red Bulls of Germany's DEL.

Lakos played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 1997-98 and 1998-99. His first year was spent on the point with the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors and his last season was in a Barrie Colts jersey.

Andre was a third round draft pick of the New Jersey Devils in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, 95th overall. He spent three years with New Jersey’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Albany River Rats, from 1999-00 until midway through the 2001-02 season when he was shifted to the Utah Grizzlies of the AHL.

2002-03 marked the Austrian’s return to his home country. He played two seasons with the Vienna Capitals of the EBEL. With all the NHL players coming to Europe during the 2004-05 lockout season, Andre made a return to North America, playing one season with the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL. The following season, it was back to Austria.

Along the way, Lakos has played stints in Sweden’s Eliteserien and Russia’s KHL. Through the years, Andre has been a regular on Austrian national teams, playing in the World Juniors, World Championships on several occasions and even playing in the Olympic Games in 2002.

Andre provides a great amount of offense from the blue line, something uncharacteristic in European hockey. Not surprising when you picture a 6’8″ 238 lb. behemoth barrelling down on opposing teams defense. Coincidentally, Lakos becomes the league’s tallest and heaviest player. Kolner should be the team to watch in the DEL this year, at least for OHL fans.

The Iserlohn Roosters of Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) finished out of the playoffs in 2010-11 for the third consecutive season. The Roosters finished 12th in the fourteen team league, five points out of the basement. Their possible solution for improving in 2011-12? Bring in some North American veterans with plenty of NHL experience.

The Roosters have just signed three players with plenty of NHL experience, two of which are Ontario Hockey League grads. All three probably won’t dazzle like Sidney Crosby, but all three have grit, size and leadership qualities that Iserlohn is definitely looking for.

Jeff Cowan

Jeff Cowan has 434 NHL regular season games under his belt, but has spent the last three years in the American Hockey League, most recently with the Toronto Marlies. Originally undrafted, Cowan has played for the Calgary Flames, Atlanta Thrashers, Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks.

Jeff played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1993-94 to 1995-96. He began his OHL career with the Guelph Storm and finished off by playing for the Barrie Colts in his final year. With the Colts, he showed his scoring abilities with 38 goals in 66 games. He was team captain with Barrie.

Jassen Cullimore

Jassen Cullimore is one of very few left playing in pro hockey that started in the Ontario Hockey League in the 1980′s. Cullimore played four seasons with the Peterborough Petes from 1988-89 to 1991-92. He played for Team Canada at the 1992 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships where Canada tanked with a sixth place finish.

Cullimore was selected in the second round of the 1991 NHL Entry Draft by the Vancouver Canucks, 29th overall. He has put in 812 regular season NHL games to date with the Canucks, Montreal Canadiens, Tampa Bay Lightning, Chicago Blackhawks and Florida Panthers. He spent this past season split between the Chicago Blackhawks and the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs.

Jassen was used sparingly in his first season with Peterborough as the won the Robertson Cup as Ontario Hockey League playoff champs. The same was true when he played for the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2003-04 when they won the Stanley Cup. Iserlohn is hoping he’ll bring some of that winning experience to Germany.

Mike York

The other former NHLer, but not OHL grad, signed by Iserlohn is Mike York. York played NCAA hockey before embarking on a 579 game NHL career with the New York Rangers, Edmonton Oilers, New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers, Phoenix Coyotes and Columbus Blue Jackets. York spent this past season in Finland with Pelicans of the SM-Liiga. He played for Iserlohn in the NHL lock-out season of 2004-05.

Ontario Hockey League grad Ryan Ready will return in 2011-12 to play his sixth season in Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). 2011-12 will be Ready’s second season with EHC München (Munich) after four with Iserlohn Roosters.

Ryan played four years in the Ontario Hockey League from 1995-96 to 1998-99, all with the Belleville Bulls. In his final season in the OHL, Ready produced 33 goals 59 assists for 92 points in 63 games, helping the Bulls to a third place finish in the Eastern Conference. He exploded in the playoffs for 38 points in 21 games as Belleville took the Robertson Cup as OHL playoff champions with a seven game series win over the London Knights.

In that final season in the Ontario Hockey League, Ready was selected a CHL 2nd Team All-star and won the Leo Lalonde Trophy as the overage player of the year in the OHL.

Ready was a fourth round pick of the Calgary Flames in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, 100th overall. His only NHL action to date was a seven game stint with the Philadelphia Flyers during the 2005-06 season. After seven years playing in the AHL and old IHL, Ryan headed to Germany for the start of the 2006-07 season and hasn’t looked back.

With Iserlohn in 2008-09, Ready contributed 56 points in 48 regular season games. The point total was good for sixth in the league, eight points away from the top spot. This season, despite only playing 43 of 52 regular season game due to injury, Ryan totalled 44 points in 43 games and finished just out of the top 20. He was on pace to finish in the top five. As for EHC München, the team finished eighth in the fourteen team DEL and made a quick exit from the playoffs.

Ontario Hockey League grad Rob Zepp started the 2010-11 season being named the top goaltender at the European Trophy tournament. His Eisbaren Berlin team of Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga won the pre-season invitational tournament held in Salzburg, Austria. Zepp led the team with a 1.94 GAA and .930 save percentage.

The Plymouth Whalers grad kept up the pace through the regular season and playoffs, leading Berlin to the DEL championship. The team has rewarded Zepp by signing him through the end of the 2011-12 season.

Rob played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1998-99 to 2000-01, all with the Plymouth Whalers. During all three seasons, Zepp shared the Dave Pinkney Trophy for the lowest team GAA in the OHL.

Zepp twice entered the NHL Entry Draft. he was taken by the Atlanta Thrashers in the fourth round of the 1999 draft, 99th overall. He re-entered for the 2001 draft and was picked by the Carolina Hurricanes, 100th overall in the fourth round.

Rob played four seasons in the North American pro leagues, mostly with the Florida Everblades of the East Coast Hockey League. Despite decent numbers, the NHL didn’t come calling and Rob left for Europe.

Zepp played two seasons in Finland before making his way to Berlin for the start of the 2007-08 season. Rob has been with Berlin since. In that time, the team has won the DEL Championship three times. Rob has competed for Germany at the international level over the past two seasons.

Ontario Hockey League grad Björn Krupp will begin his professional hockey career in 2011-12 in Germany. Krupp will in the Kölner Haie (Cologne Sharks) organization in Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga. However, Björn will start the season with EV Duisburg of Germany’s Oberliga (the equivelent of the ECHL to the DEL).

Krupp played three seasons with the Belleville Bulls from 2008-09 to 2010-11. The stay at home defenseman will return to the homeland of his father Uwe Krupp. The elder Krupp played 729 regular season NHL games between 1986-87 and 2002-03 with the Buffalo Sabres, New York Islanders, Quebec Nordiques, Colorado Avalanche, Detroit Red Wings and Atlanta Thrashers.

The younger Krupp was a member of the U.S. National under-17 team during the 2007-08 season. He played in 63 games for the U.S. with an additional six at the Under-17 World Championships.

Undrafted by an NHL team, Krupp was signed as a free agent by the Minnesota Wild in the fall of 2009 but it didn’t pan out.

Yesterday, we featured another Ontario Hockey League grad who will also play Kölner. Charlie Stephens played five years in the OHL and is a veteran of the DEL.