OHL Alumni Central

As this article goes live, I am already in my sixth day in Cuba at a small resort near Cienfuegos. Not a vacation, of course, but another hockey scouting mission. The Cuban ice hockey scene is flourishing and it won’t be long before they’re challenging Canada at the Olympics (ok – it’s hard enough to get ice in your drink on this island, let alone install an ice rink…).

Anyhow… This is one of those ‘best of’ or ‘check out these articles’ type article. They are all from my mind and fingers. They are all mediocre to good but somewhat factually accurate.

Four London Knights That Have Won the Red Tilson Trophy

The Red Tilson Trophy has been awarded to the most outstanding player in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL, OMJHL, OHA) since 1944-45. The London Knights entered the OHA as the London Nationals for the 1965-66 season, renamed the Knights for 1968-69. In that time, four London Knights players have been named the recipient of the Red Tilson Trophy.

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8 Memorial Cup Finals Decided in Overtime Since 1972

Previous to 1972, the Memorial Cup was decided with a multi-game series between two teams. Since 1972, the ultimate prize in Canadian major junior hockey has been competed for in a three or four team tournament with a one-game final to decide the champion. In the 40 years with this format, the Memorial Cup final game has been decided in overtime on seven occasions.

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3,649 NHL Games Represented in the 1974-75 OMJHL’s Top 5 Scorers

The top five OHL (then the OMJHL) players in the 1974-75 race for the Eddie Powers Trophy all moved on to careers in the National Hockey League. The Eddie Powers Trophy is handed out each season to the Ontario Hockey League player with the most points during the regular season. The top five players in 1974-75 represent 3,649 regular season NHL games. One player appeared in over 1,000 NHL games but only one was a first round NHL draft pick.

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3 Niagara Falls Flyers to Win The OHL’s Eddie Powers Trophy

Version ‘A’ of the Niagara Falls Flyers existed in the Ontario Hockey Association between 1960-61 and 1971-72. Previous to 1960, the franchise was still known as the Flyers but located in Barrie. The team was relocated for the 1972-73 season and still exists as the Sudbury Wolves. These Flyers are not to be confused with the team (version ‘B’) that was relocated from St. Catherines for the 1976-77 season and is now the current Saginaw Spirit.

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Hockey Trivia 44 – Canadian Hockey League Goal Scoring Records

The 1970’s and 1980’s brought some incredible offensive numbers to the Canadian Hockey League. The three major junior hockey leagues acrossCanadathat make up the CHL all had their individual regular season goal scoring records set in the 1980’s.

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The 2010-11 Owen Sound Attack won the Robertson Cup for the second time in franchise history but the first since the team relocated to Owen Sound from Guelph for the 1989-90 Ontario Hockey league season. The Guelph Platers were not only Robertson Cup victors in 1985-86 but were also crowned Memorial Cup champions.

It’s also expected that a Robertson Cup championship team will be stripped of most of it’s players the following season as the team circulates through the junior hockey rebuilding cycle. However, the Attack have seen just nine players graduate to either pro hockey or higher education. Owen Sound is poised, once again, for a post season run, sitting in third in the Midwest Division and fifth in the Western Conference in 2011-12.

Of the nine players moving up, one is currently in the National Hockey League. Five are playing in the North American pro leagues, two are at the university level in the CIS and two are in Europe.

Ricards Berzins played just one game with the Owen Sound Attack in 2010-11 and that was it for his Ontario Hockey League career. Ricards is back in his hometown of Riga, Latvia playing for Prizma Latvia.

Jesse Blacker is waiting to be the Toronto Maple Leafs next big thing on defense while playing for their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies.

Matt Stanisz went the university route and is playing for Carleton.

Roman Berdnikov is playing in his hometown of Omsk, Russia as a member of Avangard Omsk of Russia’s KHL.

Liam Heelis is in university down east, playing for Acadia.

Rob Mignardi is playing for the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs on a professional try-out basis.

Andrew Shaw has spent much of his season with the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL but is currently on the roster of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks.

Joey Hishon is waiting for his pro career to start. He is on the roster of the American Hockey League’s Lake Erie Monsters but has yet to play a game in 2011-12 due to injury.

Garrett Wilson has split his season thus far with the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL and the San Antonio Rampage of the AHL. Currently, he is with Cincinnati.

A non-player that has moved on is head coach Mark Reeds. Reeds is currently the assistant coach of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators.

Back in 1974-75 and 1975-76, Greg Hotham played for the Kingston Canadians. Three decades later, both of Greg’s sons, Andrew and Scott, also played in the Ontario Hockey League. All three are blue liners.

The Toronto Maple Leafs selected Greg in the fifth round of the 1976 NHL Amateur Draft, 84th overall. Between 1979-80 and 1984-85, Greg played in 230 regular season NHL games with the Maple Leafs and Pittsburgh Penguins. He retired from the American Hockey League after the 1989-90 season, after playing 513 regular season games with the New Brunswick Hawks, Baltimore Skipjacks and Newmarket Saints (all three are extinct now).

The oldest Hotham son, Scott, played in the Ontario Hockey League from 2001-02 to 2004-05. He began with the North Bay Centennials and moved with the club to Saginaw, where he played one game with the Spirit in 2002-03. After that game, Scott went back to Canada to play for the Mississauga IceDogs. The following season, he was traded early again, this time to the Barrie Colts.

Scott Hotham went undrafted and spent the four years post-OHL with St. Mary’s University. Hotham entered the world of pro hockey in 2009-10, mostly with the ECHL’s Florida Everblades but also playing nine games with the Rochester Americans of the AHL. In 2010-11, he played for Lillehammer in Norway’s Get-Ligaen. This season, he is playing in Austria’s Erste Bank Hockey League (EBEL) for Olimija Ljubljana.

Andrew Hotham’s career has paralleled brother Scott’s in several ways. Both played for the Barrie Colts (at the same time) and Saginaw Spirit (not at the same time) in the Ontario Hockey League. Both played four years with St. Mary’s. Both had a cup of coffee with the Rochester Americans.

Andrew played in the Ontario Hockey League from 2003-04 to 2006-07 with the Barrie Colts, Erie Otters and Saginaw Spirit. He played with St. Mary’s from 2007-08 to 2010-11, joining the Americans after the CIS season had ended. With St. Mary’s, Andrew was an All-Canadian First Team All-Star in his final three seasons and was the Atlantic’s Most Valuable Player for 2010-11, This season, Hotham is playing for the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL.

The Ontario Hockey League’s Kingston Frontenacs have been around at the major junior level since the 1973-74 OMJHL season. They began as the Canadians, changed to the Raiders for a season and have been called the Frontenacs since 1989-90.

The furthest Kingston has made it in the Robertson Cup playoffs is the semi-finals. The team has never played in the finals for the OHL championship. The Frontenacs have just one division title to speak of, in 1994-95 when they led the Eastern Division. This season, 2011-12, Kingston has found themselves in a position where it would take a miracle to qualify for the post-season. Currently in last place, 14 points behind the next team, it’s a long uphill battle.

Yet, despite the numbers, Kingston can produce professional hockey players with currently 90 alumni still playing around Planet Hockey in 2011-12. To be put on this list, a player needs to play just one game with the Frontenacs. More than a lot of teams, there are a number of players on the list that did just play a handful of games with the team. Amazingly, 25 players that have appeared with Kingston are now taking advantage of the CHL’s great scholarship program and are playing for various teams throughout the CIS.

Frontenacs alumni are playing in 23 different leagues in 14 different countries. Eight players are currently in the National Hockey League. Three well-known players from the early 1990′s are still rolling along: David Ling, Tyler Moss and Craig Rivet.

Information below is current as of January 10, 2012.

Five members of the London Knights coaching staff and front office began their playing careers in the OHL and have come back to give back to the league that developed them. Three of the five played their Ontario Hockey League (OHA, OMJHL, OHL – it’s all the same…) careers with London.

Dale Hunter has left his post as the head coach of the London Knights for the same position with the National Hockey League’s Washington Capitals. However, he remains president and co-owner of the Knights. Hunter played in the OHL for three seasons from 1977-78 to 1979-80. He played his first season with the Kitchener Rangers and the following two with the Sudbury Wolves. In his second season, he totaled 110 points in 59 games with the Wolves.

Dale was a second round pick of the Quebec Nordiques at the 1979 NHL Entry Draft, 41st overall. From 1980-81 to 1998-99, Hunter played 1,409 regular season NHL games with the Nordiques, Washington Capitals and Colorado Avalanche. He was captain of the Capitals from 1994-95 to 1998-99 and his number 32 is one of just four Washington Capitals retired numbers. Hunter was head coach of the Knights from 2001-02 until the fall of 2011 when he replaced Bruce Boudreau behind the Capitals bench.

Mark Hunter is general manager, vice-president, co-owner and, now, head coach of the London Knights. Mark played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 1979-80 and 1980-81, with the Brantford Alexanders. In 119 OHL regular season games, Hunter totaled 168 points. He was selected seventh overall at the 1981 NHL Entry Draft by the Montreal Canadiens. Mark has been general manager of the Knights since 2000-01.

Mark played 628 regular season NHL games from 1981-82 to 1992-93 with the Canadiens, St. Louis Blues, Calgary Flames, Hartford Whalers and Washington Capitals. In 1985-86, Hunter scored 44 goals with the St. Louis Blues. He was part of the 1988-89 Calgary Flames Stanley Cup winning team.

Basil McRae co-owns the Knights with the Hunter Brothers. McRae played three seasons with the Knights from 1978-79 to 1980-81. Basil was a fifth round pick of the Quebec Nordiques at the 1980 NHL Entry Draft, 87th overall. He played in 576 NHL regular season games from 1981-82 to 1992-93 with the Nordiques, Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, Minnesota North Stars, Tampa Bay Lightning, St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks.

Basil sits 24th all-time in career penalty minutes in the NHL. He sat out 2,457 minutes over his career. In 1989-90, with the Minnesota North Stars, McRae led the NHL in penalty minutes with 351.

Dylan Hunter, son of Dale, played five seasons with London from 2001-02 to 2005-06 and was team captain in his final two seasons. In 315 Ontario Hockey League games, Hunter contributed 369 points. He was a major factor in the Knights becoming Memorial Cup champions in 2004-05.

Dylan was taken by the Buffalo Sabres in the ninth round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, 273rd overall. He spent five years splitting time between the AHL and ECHL. He last played in 2010-11 with the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL and the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL. This is his first year behind the bench.

Rob Ramage starred with the Knights for three seasons from 1975-76 to 1977-78, co-winning the Max Kaminsky Trophy with Brad Marsh in his final season. After a year in the World Hockey Association with the Birmingham Bulls in 1978-79, Ramage was taken first overall in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft by the Colorado Rockies.

Ramage played 1,044 regular season NHL games from 1979-80 to 1993-94 with the Rockies, St. Louis Blues, Calgary Flames, Toronto Maple Leafs, Minnesota North Stars, Tampa Bay Lightning, Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers. He won the Stanley Cup twice, in 1988-89 with the Calgary Flames and 1992-93 with the Montreal Canadiens. Rob is in his first season as assistant coach.