OHL Alumni Central

Going into this weekend’s action in Italy’s Lega Italiana Hockey su Ghiaccio, Ontario Hockey League alumni held the numbers one and two spots in the scoring race. At nearly the halfway point of the 40 game 2011-12 LIHG season, David Ling and Rob Hennigar are knotted at 34 points apiece. Ling holds a one goal edge in goals but has played one more game than Hennigar. Both are four points ahead of third place. OHL grads Dan Tudin and Adam Henrich also find themselves in the league’s top 20.

David Ling, who will turn 37 in January, is in his first season in Italy, playing with Val Pusteria. Ling played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1992-93 to 1994-95, all with the Kingston Frontenacs. In his final season with Kingston, he scored 61 and assisted on 74 for 135 points. He was the OHL’s top scoring right winger and was named league MVP. He was also named CHL Player of the Year.

David, a seventh round pick of the Quebec Nordiques in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, played a total of 93 games in the National Hockey League with the Montreal Canadiens and Columbus Blue Jackets. He was third overall in the AHL in 2004-05, contributing 88 points with the St. John’s Maple Leafs. He started the 2010-11 season with Amur Khabarovsk and ended up back in the AHL with the Providence Bruins.

Rob Hennigar is enjoying his first experience east of the Atlantic. He was a member of the Windsor Spitfires from 2000-01 to 2003-04. Hennigar followed that up with four years with the University of New Brunswick. After spending three years from 2008-09 to 2010-11 mostly in the ECHL, he finds himself with Cortina. Rob may just be the difference that has taken Cortina from last place in the nine team LIHG last season to a tie with two other teams, including Ling’s Val Pusteria, nineteen games into 2011-12.

EV Bozen 84 began play in the Lega Italiana Hockey su Ghiaccio Serie A2 last season, 2010-11. Things didn’t fare well for the club. The team played 32 games, lost 31 in regulation time and lost the other in overtime for a grand total of one point on the year. The team is affiliated with HC Asiago, the playoff champion in the LIHG Serie A1 for the past two seasons.

EV Bozen 84 will have two Ontario Hockey League grads on the roster to start the 2011-12 season. One, is the second oldest in the league and an integral part of Asiago’s back-to-back championships. The other, a goalie fifteen years younger and fresh out of the Canadian university system.

Ralph Intranuovo has averaged over a point per game while being a leader for HC Asiago for the past two seasons. Intranuovo played in the Ontario Hockey League for three seasons, starting way back in 1990-91, all with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. His OHL career culminated with a Memorial Cup victory with the Greyhounds. He was selected the Memorial Cup MVP in 1993.

Ralph was selected in the fourth round of the 1992 NHL Entry Draft by the Edmonton Oilers, 96th overall. His NHL experience consists of 22 games with the Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs. He was an American Hockey League all-star in 1994-95 with the Cape Breton Oilers and in 1996-97 with the Hamilton Bulldogs.

During his career, Intranuovo has played for teams in Canada, Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Italy. Interestingly, he has never played for a club based in the United States. During him North American minor league career, he played for the Cape Breton Oilers and Hamilton Bulldogs of the AHL, as well as, the Manitoba Moose of the IHL.

Anthony Grieco played between the pipes in 25 games for the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors in 2007-08, posting a less-than-stellar 4.00 goals against average.

In 2009-10 and 2010-11, Grieco played net for the University of Western Ontario Mustangs. He posted incredible numbers on a very strong team. In his first season, his GAA was just 1.66 with a .954 save percentage. He played more games in his final seasons with UWO, recording a 2.57 GAA and .921 save percentage. In eight playoff games in 2010-11, he had a 1.96 GAA and .936 save percentage. Grieco played for Team Canada at the 2011 World University Games.

Anthony is officially a member of HC Asiago for 2011-12, but is on loan to EV Bozen 84. He will have a hard time not being an improvement over the goaltenders of 2010-11. Two goalies split the work for EV Bozen 84, the best played in 19 games with a 6.75 GAA and .847 save percentage. The lesser of the two goalies played in 15 games with a dreadful 8.39 GAA and .781 save percentage.

SG Cortina finished dead last in the nine team Lega Italiana Hockey su Ghiaccio (LIHG) in 2010-11. Cortina also had the lowest goals for of all the teams. The team is looking to boost offense for  2011-12 by picking up an Ontario Hockey League grad that has led his team in points seven of the past eight season.

Rob Hennigar played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2000-01 to 2003-04, all with the Windsor Spitfires. In his final season, his 32 goals, 47 assists and 79 points were all team highs.

Hennigar went the university route and played four years for the University of New Brunswick. Rob led the team in points each of the four years. In his final year with UNB, he led all the CIS in assists (43) and points (58). In that final year, 2007-08, he was awarded the Senator Joseph A. Sullivan Trophy as the CIS player of the year. UNB was a finalist at the University Cup.

Signed into the New York Islanders system, Rob split 2008-09 evenly between the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers and the ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies. Despite playing just 38 games for the Grizzlies, Hennigar led the team in points with 59. This past season, he wore the ‘A’ for the ECHL’s Victoria Salmon Kings and led the team with 63 points in 61 games.

Making it to the finals in Italy’s Lega Italiana Hockey Ghiaccio (LIHG) is uncharted territory for HC Fassa. This past season, the team finished tied for seventh in the nine team league and exited early in the quarter-finals. The team has so far signed three Ontario Hockey League grads to help bring more success in 2011-12.

Jamie Vanderveeken played parts of four seasons on the blue line in the Ontario Hockey League from 2002-03 to 2005-06. He began his career playing just five games for the Guelph Storm in 2002-03. Vanderveeken played a full season with the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors in 2003-04 before splitting his 2004-05 season three ways between Toronto, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and Ottawa 67′s.

With the Ottawa 67′s, Jamie would get the chance to play in the Memorial Cup in 2004-05. The London Knights won the Robertson Cup and were also Memorial Cup hosts. Ottawa made the tournament as the Robertson Cup finalists. In an ironic twist of fate, Vanderveeken was traded to London for the 2005-06 season and was once again on the Robertson Cup finalists as London was beat out by the Peterborough Petes.

Undrafted, Jamie has spent most of his professional hockey career in the Central Hockey League, winning a championship with the Rapid City Rush in 2009-10. This past season, he was traded by Rapid City to the Arizona Sundogs mid-season.

An opponent of Jamie Vanderveeken at the 2005 Memorial Cup and a teammate of his with the London Knights in 2005-06, Trevor Kell is leaving the New Jersey Devils organization after four years to experience hockey in the Italian Alps. Kell played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2003-04 to 2006-07. His first three years were spent with the Knights and his final season saw him in a Sarnia Sting uniform.

Trevor was picked in the fifth round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks, 131st overall but has been in the Devils organization throughout his professional hockey career. Each season, he has split his time between the ECHL and AHL affiliates of the NHL Devils. Each season, he spent more and more time with the AHL club. This past season, he was captain of the ECHL’s Trenton Devils.

Matt Piva played in the Ontario Hockey League from 2004-05 to 2008-09. He began his OHL career with the Oshawa Generals and along the way wore the jerseys of the Toronto/Mississagua St. Michael’s Majors and Niagara IceDogs. He spent 2009-10 with the University of Western Ontario Mustangs of the OUA before taking the 2010-11 season off.

HC Fassa plays out of Canazei, Italy, a city nestled in the Italian Alps. The team plays out of the 3500 seat Stadio del Ghiaccio Gianmario Scola.

Ontario Hockey League grad Brian Lee is continuing his European tour with a stop in Italy for the 2011-12 season. Lee has signed on with Vipiteno of Italy’s Lega Italiana Hockey Ghiaccio Serie A2.

Brian Lee played five seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2000-01 to 2004-05, all with the Erie Otters. In just his second season with the Otters, Brian helped the team from the blue line as the won the Robertson Cup with a 4-1 series victory over the Barrie Colts in the playoff finals.

After that run to a 2002 Memorial Cup appearance, the Anaheim Ducks took an interest in Brian and selected in the third round of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, 71st overall.

After graduating from the OHL, Lee played three years in the North American pros, bouncing around from teams in the ECHL and AHL. His most stable season was 2007-08, his last in North America, when he played 72 games with the ECHL’s Stockton Thunder and contributed 34 points.

In 2008-09, it was off to Europe. Brian played for Briançon in France’s Ligue Magnus. The following year, Lee found himself playing for the Coventry Blaze in Great Britain’s Elite Ice Hockey League. Coventry was the EIHL champion in his first year. This past year with Coventy, Brian wore the A on his jersey.