OHL Alumni Central

The OHL Goaltender of the Year award has been handed out each season since 1987-88. The award is given to the top goaltender in the Ontario Hockey League, as voted on by the league’s coaches and general managers. Of the 24 Goaltender of the Year winners, as of the end of the 2010-11 OHL season, 13 are still actively playing hockey. This number includes last year’s winner, Mark Visentin, who is still in the OHL with the Niagara IceDogs. This number also counts Mike Murphy twice, as he is the only player to win the award twice. (see our resource page for complete list of winners).

Here are the players still active:

Chris Carrozzi – winner for 2009-10. Carrozzi played four years with the Toronto/Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors from 2006-07 to 2009-10. Chris was a sixth round pick of the Atlanta Thrashers at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. He has spent the 2011-12 season with the Ontario Reign of the ECHL.

Mike Murphy – winner for 2007-08 and 2008-09. Murphy played four years with the Belleville Bulls from 2005-06 to 2008-09. He was a sixth round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes in 2008. Still in Carolina’s system, Mike has mostly played with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers this season, with a two game call-up to the NHL club.

Steve Mason – winner for 2006-07. Mason played in the Ontario Hockey League for three seasons from 2005-06 to 2007-08. He began his career with the London Knights and was traded to the Kitchener Rangers at the deadline in his final year. Steve was a third round pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2006. He has been the starting goalie with the Blue Jackets since 2008-09.

Adam Dennis – winner for 2005-06. Dennis played four years in the OHL from 2002-03 to 2005-06. He began with the Guelph Storm and moved to the London Knights at the deadline in 2004-05. The sixth round pick of the Buffalo Sabres in 2005 is currently playing for Alleghe in Italy’s LIHG.

Michael Ouzas – winner for 2004-05. Michael played in the OHL from 2002-03 to 2005-06. He won the award as a member of the Mississauga IceDogs but also played for the Barrie Colts, Toronto St. Michael’s Majors and Owen Sound Attack over his four year OHL career. Ouzas is currently playing for Medvescak Zagreb of Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (EBEL).

Andy Chiodo – winner for 2002-03. Chiodo played three years for the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors from 2000-01 to 2002-03. He was a sixth round pick of the New York Islanders in 2001 and a seventh round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2003. Andy is currently playing for Klagenfurter in Austria’s EBEL.

Ray Emery – winner for 2001-02. Emery played for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds for three seasons from 1999-00 to 2001-02. A fourth round pick of the Ottawa Senators in 2001, Ray is currently a member of the Chicago Blackhawks after stops in Ottawa, Philadelphia and Anaheim.

Craig Anderson – winner for 2000-01. Anderson played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1998-99 to 2000-01, all with the Guelph Storm. He was a third round pick of the Calgary Flames in 1999 and a third round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2001. Craig is currently playing for the Ottawa Senators. He was a previous member of the Blackhawks, Florida Panthers and Colorado Avalanche.

Andrew Raycroft – winner for 1999-00. Raycroft played in the OHL from 1997-98 to 1999-00. His first two seasons were with the Sudbury Wolves and his final year was with the Kingston Frontenacs. The fifth round pick of the Boston Bruins in 1998 has split the 2011-12 season with the Dallas Stars of the NHL and the Texas Stars of the AHL.

Tyler Moss – winner for 1994-95. Moss spent three years with the Kingston Frontenacs from 1992-93 to 1994-95. He was a second round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1993. He is currently between the pipes with Nurnberg Ice Tigers of Germany’s DEL.

Manny Legace – winner for 1992-93. Legace played three years with the Niagara Falls Thunder from 1990-91 to 1992-93. Despite being an eighth round pick of the Hartford Whalers in 1993, Legace played a lengthy career in the National Hockey League. He is currently a member of the AHL’s Springfield Falcons.

We covered this in an article last year, but thought it would be fun to revisit with 2011-12 Ontario Hockey League stats plugged in. As Malcolm Gladwell explained in detail in his 2008 book Outliers: The Story of Success, the month you are born in during the year seems to truly affect the odds of becoming an elite athlete.

Gladwell has studied the numbers across all walks of life for several years. Where an OHL player’s birthday falls is more than often at the start of the year and it is not coincidence. The simple fact that minor hockey has an age group cut-off of January 1 makes it logical. A player born in January, February or March has nearly a year’s extra life experience (not to mention physical growth) than someone born in October, November or December.

The full breakdown is below. All data is taken from OHL team rosters as they appeared on the official Ontario Hockey League website after the trade deadline. All OHL teams celebrate birthdays in January, February, March and May. Only seven of 20 teams had to buy cake in December. The Guelph Storm and Plymouth Whalers both had a busy February, celebrating eight birthdays.

47% (let’s call it half) of the players in the OHL for the 2011-12 season were born in the first three months of the year. 75% were born in the first six months. Just 12, or 2.5% of the players were born in December. I didn’t break down the numbers by birth country but did notice that the imports from European nations seemed to buck the trend. I believe the minor hockey structure differs in Europe compared to North America.

Planning on having a pro hockey player in your household? I guess the months of May and June should be filled with evenings of candlelight and wine. Myself, I have a child due in mid to late June, 2012. With both mother and father both being hockey people, we’ll be doing everything to ensure ‘Edward Lawrence George’ doesn’t get delayed in the womb!

Fresh off their 2010-11 Robertson Cup victory over the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors, and their subsequent berth in the Memorial Cup, the Owen Sound Attack are vying for a visit to the post season again in 2011-12. In addition to the current team, their are 93 former Owen Sound Attack players active in the world of hockey.

The Attack began in the Ontario Hockey League as the Guelph Platers in 1982-83. The franchise was moved to Owen Sound for the 1989-90 season and carried the Platers nickname until the end of the 1999-00 season. 2000-01 brought a fresh look and fresh name, the Attack.

This past season was the first time the team has won the Robertson Cup since moving to Owen Sound. In 1985-86, the Guelph Platers were Ontario Hockey League champions then moved on to become Memorial Cup champions.

The 93 Owen Sound Attack alumni active in 2011-12 are scattered about 20 leagues in 16 countries. Thirteen players are in the National Hockey League and 22 are seeking higher education while playing in the Canadian university system. One of the oldest grads still active is Andrew Brunette. Andrew played with the Platers in the early 1990′s and set all the team’s current scoring records in 1992-93 with 62 goals, 100 assists and 162 points.

No matter the league and no matter the length of the schedule, a goal scorer’s true measure is always the crossing of the 50 goal plateau. The Ontario Hockey League is no exception. Despite a regular season schedule that is currently 14 games shorter than that of the National Hockey League, the number of 50 goal scorers is fairly similar between the two leagues.

However, over time, the OHL (OHA, OMJHL) has seen 279 50+ goal seasons up to the end of the 2010-11 season, whereas the NHL has seen just 189 such performances. Included in that 279 number are 62 single season goal totals of 60 to 69 goals. On ten occasions, players have scored between 70 and 79 goals in a single season. There have been four magic players that have surpassed 80 goals in a seasons.

The four 80+ goal scorers include:

• Ernie Godden – 87 goals in 1980-81 with the Windsor Spitfires
• Ray Sheppard – 81 goals in 1985-86 with the Cornwall Royals
• Tony Tanti – 81 goals in 1980-81 with the Oshawa Generals
• Peter Lee – 81 goals in 1975-76 with the Ottawa 67′s

Four players with single season performances of between 70 and 79 goals are now in the Hockey Hall of Fame:

• Dino Ciccarelli – 72 goals in 1977-78 with the London Knights
• Doug Gilmour – 70 goals in 1982-83 with the Cornwall Royals
• Wayne Gretzky – 70 goals in 1977-78 with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds
• Steve Shutt – 70 goals in 1970-71 with the Toronto Marlboros

In fact, Steve Shutt and Rick Martin were the first to hit the 70 goal mark, both during that 1970-71 season.

Ernie Godden, of course, owns the record for most goals in a single season with 87 in 1980-81. Marcel Dionne has the highest goals per game average of any player with 50 or more goals in a season. In 1970-71, Dionne scored 62 goals for the St. Catherines Black Hawks in just 46 games for 1.35 goals per game.

Two OHL teams have produced four 50 goal scorers in a single season.

The 1980-81 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds:

• Steve Gatzos – 78
• John Goodwin – 56
• Doug Shedden – 51
• Tony Butorac – 50

The 1992-93 Detroit Junior Red Wings:

• Pat Peake – 58
• Bob Wren – 57
• Todd Harvey – 50
• Kevin Brown – 50

The Ottawa 67′s lead the way with 26 50 goal scorers, including the 2010-11 leader Tyler Toffoli. Most likely Toffoli will be added to the list for 2011-12, as well. Both the Oshawa Generals and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds have had 24 50 goal scorers while the London Knights have produced 20. London should move to 21 with Seth Griffith well on his way to a 50 goal season in 2011-12.

Check out the full list of OHL 50 goal scorers in the resource section of OHL Alumni Central.

On my recent sunshine vacation to Rancho Luna in Cuba, I took just one book with me, thinking it would take me the whole week to read it. They Call Me Killer: Tales from Junior Hockey’s Legendary Hall-of-Fame Coach is not a particularly long book but with an all-inclusive beer tap, I didn’t plan on reading much.

I was done the book by lunch on the second day. They Call Me Killer is a collection of stories by the great Brian Kilrea, with the help of James Duthie. I simply couldn’t put the book down. Several times, I caught the attention of other vacationers by laughing out loud. Many other times, my sunglasses hid the tears welling up my eyes.

This is not a chronological history of Kilrea’s life. From one chapter to the next, the reader can travel several decades into the past or future, only to be hurdled in the other direction in the chapter following that. There is a little of Brian’s early life. Quite a bit about his playing career and especially about his days with Eddie Shore and the Springfield Indians. There is a ton of stories about his coaching days with the Ottawa 67′s.

With a foreward by Don Cherry, Duthie does a great job of colour commentator throughout, providing back-story to Brian’s stories. Duthie also provides blurbs from the players that Kilrea has coached and developed in the 67′s organization, as well as, from other greats in the world of hockey. One theme that seems to pop up again and again is that people would knock down walls for Kilrea after all he’s done for them.

Another common theme amongst every player that has ever played for Brian is his “You have three choices…” line. Former player after former player has his own version of the three choices. Basically, you have three choices – 1. Do it the way I say. 2. F%&@ off. 3. F%&@ off.

Every hockey coach should buy this book simply for Chapter 7. Kilrea goes over his simple four commandments that guided his teams through four decades of OHL hockey.

1. Move the puck!
2. Pass outside the opposing player’s stick.
3. Go to the net!
4. Defensemen – own the corners and the front of the net!

Pretty simple stuff (with obviously more detail in the book) but really, it’s a simple game.

What makes a true hero

When you read this book, you will realize just how respected Brian Kilrea is and how much he did for so many aspiring hockey players. What makes Killer a true hero is after you have read the book and look at the back cover to read this: All of Brian Kilrea’s proceeds from this book will be donated to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. Yes, that first word was ‘All’ not ‘a portion’. Simply amazing and simply heroic.

When I bought the book, I planned to do this article at OHL Alumni Central and put up the Amazon.ca advertising. After reading what was said on the back of this book, I can not make money from it. For every time someone clicks the Amazon link (in this article or in the column on the right) and buys They Call Me Killer, I will also donate all the proceeds to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. I do need money to pay for hosting, internet access, software, etc. but not off someone who’s not making a red cent off his own book.

A little about Brian Kilrea:

Brian played OHA junior hockey in 1954-55 with the Hamilton Tiger Cubs (the present day Erie Otters). His NHL career consisted of a single game with the Detroit Red Wings in 1957-58 and 25 games with the Los Angeles Kings in 1967-68. He will forever be remembered in Los Angeles as the man who scored the first ever goal for the Kings. He played over 600 games in the AHL, mostly with the Springfield Indians.

Kilrea coached the 67′s, with a couple of breaks, between 1974-75 and 2008-09. He took the better part of two seasons off to be the assistant coach of the New York Islanders in the 1980′s. He took a year off in the 1990′s for health reasons.

They Call Me Killer – Table of Contents

1. They call me…Gig?
2. Cigars, Anne Murray and Polar Bears
3. Somewhere there’s a hero
4. One Minute between legends
5. A chance on Lance
6. Life in hell with Eddie Shore
7. Move the puck! (and Killer’s other hockey commandments)
8. Ralph
9. Grapes and me
10. Stopping Mario (the first Memorial Cup)
11. The boys on the bus
12. Long nights on Long Island
13. You got three options!
14. Did I tell you the one about…?
15. The call to the Hall
16. Winger for life
17. Eyewitness to a killer
18. Time to go