OHL Alumni Central

Thinking the title is a typo and that it should say seven players? Different Team Canada. Six Ontario Hockey League grads will be on the roster of Team Canada for the upcoming Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland. You can actually make that seven if you include assistant coach, Doug Shedden.

For those who don’t know, the Spengler is an inviational tournament held between Christmas and New Year’s every year in Davos, Switzerland. Team Canada and HC Davos are perennial participants while the other teams are selected each year from Europe’s elite leagues. This season, Genève-Servette (Swiss National League A), Spartak Moskva (Russia’s KHL), SKA St. Petersburg (Russia’s KHL) and HC Sparta Praha (Czech Republic’s Extraliga) round out the headliners.

The six OHL grads are as follows (click on each name to view a previous post at OHL Alumni Central featuring that player):

Tyler Moss – Tyler played for the Kingston Frontenacs for three years from 1992-93 to 1994-95. He is now the goaltender for the SCL Lions in Switzerland’s National League A.

Mark Popovic – Mark played four seasons with the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors from 1998-99 to 2001-02. He is currently playing for HC Lugano in the National League A.

Brendan Bell – Brendan played with the Ottawa 67′s for four seasons from 1999-00 to 2002-03. Mark is currently a member of HC Biel in the NLA.

Brendan Brooks – Brendan played just one season in the Ontario Hockey League, 1997-98. His season in the OHL was split between the Owen Sound Platers and the North Bay Centennials. Brendan joins Tyler Moss on the SCL Tigers.

Mark Bell – Mark played four seasons with the Ottawa 67′s from 1996-97 to 1999-00. Mark is a member of the Kloten Flyers in the NLA.

Blaine Down – Blane played for the Barrie Colts for three seasons from 1999-00 to 2001-02. He is currently playing for ZSC Lions from Zurich in the NLA.

Tomorrow, we’ll feature the OHL Alumni on the other five teams in the tournament.

Peter Sarno was left without a team for the 2010-11 season until this week when the Ontario Hockey League grad signed up with Lausanne of Switzerland’s National League B. Sarno had spent the past three seasons in Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga.

Peter played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1996-97 to 1998-99. His first two seasons were spent with the Windsor Spitfires and his final season was with the Sarnia Sting. In his final two seasons in the league, Sarno won the Eddie Powers Trophy as the league’s top point getter. In 1997-98 he notched 121 points and in his final season he increased the total to 130. He also led the league in assists both seasons with totals of 88 and 93. In his first season with Windsor, he was honoured with the Emms Family Award as the OHL’s rookie of the year.

Sarno was taken by the Edmonton Oilers in the sixth round of the 1997 NHL draft, 141st overall. In all, Peter got into seven career NHL games, six with the Oilers and one with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

A set up man in the style of Adam Oates or Joe Thornton, Sarno led the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs in assists during the 2000-01 season with 46. He led the AHL’s Manitoba Moose in assists (66) and points (82) in 2004-05 while finished sixth in league scoring. In 2007-08, he led the DEL’s Hamburg Freezers in assists (48) and points (74).

His European play began with a test season in 2002-03 with the Blues of Finland’s SM-Liiga. He returned to Europe for 2006-07 to play for Gottéron of Switzerland’s National League A. He followed that up with two seasons with Hamburg and this past season he played for the DEL’s Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg.

He is currently under contract with Lausanne until January 31, 2011.

Check out Peter Sarno’s profile page on the Lausanne official website.

Jeff Toms is no stranger to the Spengler Cup. What will be a change for the Ontario Hockey League grad at this year’s tournament is the jersey on his back. Toms has normally played for Team Canada at the Davos, Switzerland invitational. This season, his club Genève-Servette of Switzerland’s National League A are one of the invited teams so he’ll be competing against Canada at the end of December.

Jeff played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1991-92 to 1993-94, all with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. In his first season, he was part of the Greyhounds team that took the Robertson Cup and went undefeated in the round robin of the Memorial Cup before losing in the final to the Kamloops Blazers. The following season, the Greyhounds lost in the Robertson Cup final to the Peterborough Petes in five games but earned a berth in the Memorial Cup as the host team. Sault Ste. Marie went on to exact revenge on the Petes in the Memorial Cup final.

In his final season in the OHL, Jeff led the Greyhound in goals with 52. The team had another long playoff run but was knocked out by the Detroit Junior Red Wings in the semi-finals.

Toms was taken by the New Jersey Devils in the ninth round of the 1992 draft, 210th overall. He put in 236 games in the NHL with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Florida Panthers. In his final season in North America, he led the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage in goals and points with 30 and 63.

Jeff began the 2003-04 season in Russia’s RSL but soon made his way to Switzerland where he finished off the season with Basel of the National League A. Toms has been in the league ever since. He has averaged over a point per game during his career in Switzerland and now wears the ‘A’ on his jersey for Genève-Servette.

Take a look at Jeff’s profile at the team’s official website by going to the roster page and clicking on the arrow beside his name. Note that OHL grad Dan Fritsche also appears on the roster.

Just yesterday, we featured another Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds grad, Ric Jackman, who has gone to play in Europe.

Ontario Hockey League grad Tyler Moss is trying to hitch a ride with the SCL Tigers of Switzerland’s National League A for the rest of the 2010-11 season. Moss hasn’t played since leaving Amur Khabarovsk of Russia’s KHL after the 2009-10 season. Tyler is currently on a try-out with the Tigers since goaltender Benjamin Conz is expected to play with Team Switzerland at the IIHF Under-20 World Hockey Championships in Buffalo, New York.

Tyler Moss played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1992-93 to 1994-95, all with the Kingston Frontenacs. In his first season, he was named to the OHL’s All-Rookie Team. In his final season, he was a Canadian Hockey League Third Team All-Star and was selected the OHL Goaltender of the Year.

Moss was selected in the second round of the 1993 NHL draft, 29th overall, by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tyler never played for the Lightning but did get on the ice for 30 NHL games during his career with the Calgary Flames, Carolina Hurricanes and Vancouver Canucks. He won the first NHL game he played, a 6-3 win for Calgary over the Pittsburgh Penguins in October of 1997. An interesting fact about Tyler’s NHL career is that he was 1 for 2 in penalty shots. He was scored on by Joe Sakic and stopped Mike Modano.

In 1997-98, with the Saint John Flames of the American Hockey League, Moss played in 39 regular season and 15 playoff games. He posted a 2.49 Goals Against Average and a .923 save percentage during the regular season and was awarded, along with current Toronto Maple Leafs goalie J.S. Guguere, the Harry Holmes Trophy as the league’s best goaltending duo. Moss led the Flames to the Calder Cup final before losing in six games to the Philadelphia Phantoms.

The following season, playing for the Orlando Solar Bears of the IHL, Moss played stellar again, leading the team to the Turner Cup final before losing in seven games to the Houston Aeros.

In 2005-06, Tyler made the move to Russia and put in five seasons in the RSL/KHL, the past four with Amur Khabarovsk. Each season, his GAA was below 3.00 and his save percentage was above .900.

The news story on Tyler’s arrival in Switzerland from the SCL Tigers official website can be found here.

Tyler will join fellow Ontario Hockey League alumnus, Brendan Brooks, if he sticks with the team. Check out this previous post at OHL Alumni Central on Brendan.

Ontario Hockey League alumnus Mark Popovic has left the NHL behind for a second time to test the European waters. In 2008-09, Popovic ventured to Russia to play for St. Petersburg of the KHL. This season, 2010-11, he has landed in Switzerland to play for HC Lugano of the Swiss National League A.

Mark played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1998-99 to 2001-02, all with the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors. In his final two seasons in the OHL, he was a member of Team Canada at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. In 2001, Canada won the Bronze Medal and the following season they won the Silver.

In his final two seasons with the Majors, the team advanced to the Eastern Conference finals before being beat out 4 games to none both seasons. In 2000-01 the defeat was at the hands of the Ottawa 67′s, a team the would be the eventual Robertson Cup champions. In 2001-02 the Barrie Colts swept the Majors en route to a Robertson Cup loss to the Erie Otters. In that final season, Popovic was selected to the CHL Third All-Star team.

Mark was selected by the Anaheim Ducks in the second round of the 2001 NHL draft, 35th overall. He appeared in one game with Anaheim and over four seasons with the Atlanta Thrashers appeared in an additional 80 games.

In the off-season, Mark runs a hockey camp in Midland, Ontario. Check out the website for more information.

Check out Mark Popovic’s profile page at the National League A official website.

Mark appears in this previous post at OHL Alumni Central listing the St. Michael’s / Mississauga Majors that played professionally in 2009-10.