OHL Alumni Central

Ontario Hockey League graduate Arvids Rekis is leaving Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) after seven seasons. Rekis has moved to Russia’s KHL and will play for Dinamo Riga in his home country of Latvia.

Arvids played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1996-97 to 1999-00, all with the Erie Otters. During his third season in the Ontario Hockey League, Rekis played for Latvia at the IIHF World Under-20 Hockey Championships B Division.

Arvids has since represented Latvia in international competitions eight times. He has been on the blue line for six IIHF World Championships and two Olympic Games – 2006 in Turin, Italy and 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Undrafted by an NHL club, Rekis spent three years with the Peoria Rivermen of the ECHL after graduating from the Ontario Hockey League. In 2003-04, he left for Europe and the DEL. Arvids spent his first five seasons in Germany with the Augsburger Panther and his last two with Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg.

Check out Arvids Rekis’ profile page on the Dinamo Riga official website. The site is actually in English, which is rare for individual KHL sites.

Arvids is featured in two previous posts at OHL Alumni Central: OHL alumni playing for Latvia at the 2010 Olympics and OHL alumni playing for Latvia at the 2010 World Championships.

The following video is from a qualifying game for the 2010 Olympics with Latvia taking Hungary by a 7-3 score. It’s just a short highlight video showing all the goals. Rekis scores the third goal to make it 2-1 for Latvia. Fellow Ontario Hockey League grad Herberts Vasiljevs scores the eighth goal that makes it 5-3.

Brent Kelly is back in the Swiss National League B for the 2010-11 season but has switched teams from Olten to Langenthal. Langenthal is hoping the Ontario Hockey League alumnus will continue to be a dominant scorer in the league.

Kelly played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1998-99 to 2001-02. Brent’s first three seasons were played with the Guelph Storm and his final season was with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. In that final season with the Greyhounds, Kelly led the team in scoring with 70 points on 38 goals and 32 assists over 67 regular season games.

Brent played for eight teams over six seasons in the North American minors. He started his pro career in 2002-03 with the Saint John Flames of the American Hockey League and finished up in North America in 2007-08 with the Lake Erie Monsters of the American Hockey League. In between he played for four other AHL teams, an ECHL team (Johnstown Chiefs) and a Central Hockey League team (Arizona Sundogs).

Kelly was an all-star during his one season in the CHL. He led the Sundogs in scoring with 95 points from 42 goals and 53 assists in just 55 games. He added another 22 points in 14 playoff games.

In 2008-09, Brent moved to Europe and played for Herning of Denmarks AL-Bank Ligaen. Kelly was a hit in Denmark. He was an all-star and led the league in goals (30) and points (77).

He moved his scoring act to Switzerland for the 2009-10 season. Brent’s 41 goals and 51 assists for 92 points in just 47 games was good enough for second in league scoring. The team finished second in the National League B, just one point out of first place.

To check out Brent Kelly’s profile on the Langenthal official website, click here then click Brent’s name from the roster list.

It’s been a turbulent summer for Guelph Storm graduate, Sylvain Cloutier. As player/coach with the Hull Stingrays, things seemed all set heading into the 2010-11 season when the bottom fell out. The owners couldn’t carry the team and the Stingrays were no more.

But wait! All was not lost. New ownership jumped in almost immediately and Hull will field a team for the upcoming season. Some players were lost in the shuffle but Sylvain remains and has his work cut out for him.

Sylvain Cloutier played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1991-92 to 1993-94, all with the Guelph Storm. His 35 goals in his rookie season stands as a Storm record for first year players. His 71 assists and 116 points in his final season when he captained the Storm are team single season records for a left winger. Cloutier is seventh on Guelph’s all-time list for goals scored and assists. He is tied for sixth when it comes to Storm all-time points. In his final season in the Ontario Hockey League, Cloutier finished tied for ninth in league scoring.

He was drafted in the third round of the 1992 NHL draft, 70th overall by the Detroit Red Wings. Sylvain played four seasons in the American Hockey League with Detroit’s affiliate, the Adirondack Red Wings. It wasn’t until 1998-99, after shifting to the Chicago Black Hawks system, that Cloutier got a taste of the NHL, appearing in seven games with the Hawks. This would prove to be the extent of his NHL career.

Cloutier split his time between the AHL and the United Hockey League until the start of the 2006-07 season. He made the jump to European hockey, playing for the Coventry Blaze of Great Britain’s Elite Ice Hockey League. He played two seasons with the Blaze and was better than a point per game player. In each of his two seasons with Coventry, the team won the EIHL championship.

He took time off from playing the game during the 2008-09 season to coach. His stint behind the bench with the Corpus Christi IceRayz of the Central Hockey League lasted 50 games and ended in February of 2009.

Sylvain returned to the EIHL this past season, this time as a player and a coach for the Hull Stingrays. The team finished last among the eight teams in the league with just 43 points in 56 regular season games.

Because of the ownership change, the Hull Stingrays official website is still a work in progress. It can be found here.

However, a better source of all things Hull Stingrays is the F Block Blog.

Check out the following video of highlights from a game between Hull and the Belfast Giants. For North American fans, it’s a great intro to the EIHL game. OHL fans will notice a few familiar names other than Sylvain Cloutier, including Sean McMorrow, George Halkidis and Jeff Szwez. At 1:08 of the video, Cloutier walks away from a fight with ‘The Sheriff’ McMorrow – which is probably a very good idea. At 3:40, he leaves with an injury as a result of a high stick. Cloutier is #83 for the dark jerseys.

Other than what looks to be a small ice surface and a smaller seating area than the Ontario Hockey League, the game itself looks to be pretty fast and exciting. The game is decided in a shootout – you’ll have to watch to see who wins…

Joe Talbot on left after Sheffield wins the EIHL championship (notice the beer bottles in hand - were the Canadian women really that badass at the Olympics??).

Ontario Hockey League grad Joe Talbot is entering his fourth season with the Sheffield Steelers. This is almost unheard of for an import in Great Britain’s Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL). For imports, the EIHL, or any other European elite league for that matter, can be pretty transient with stops of just one season before moving on to the next team, league or country.

Joe Talbot played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1997-98 to 2000-01, all with the Ottawa 67′s. In his final season, his 39 goals and 40 assists for 79 points in a full 68 games helped Ottawa to a third seed ranking in the Eastern Conference. His 28 points in 20 playoff games helped the 67′s win the Robertson Cup as the Ontario Hockey League’s playoff champion. The team was unsuccessful at the Memorial Cup tournament in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Joe went undrafted by any NHL club and decided on the university route, playing two seasons with the University of Western Ontario in London.

From 2003-04 to 2006-07, Talbot played in the East Coast Hockey League with the Alaska Aces. Over the four seasons, Joe consistently averaged 25 goals per season.

For the start of the 2007-08 season, Joe travelled to England to play with the Sheffield Steelers. In each of his first three seasons with the club, his point totals have increased from 59 to 62 to 67 points. The team was EIHL playoff champion in his first two seasons.

Talbot is not alone on the team as an OHL alumus. Ontario Hockey League grads Kevin Bolibruck and Derek Campbell will also be Sheffield Steelers this season.

Check out Joe Talbot’s profile page on the Sheffield Steelers official website.

Talbot is featured in this previous post at OHL Alumni Central listing OHL grads playing for Sheffield during the 2009-10 season.

Ontario Hockey League grad Petr Kanko has taken a demotion of sorts for the upcoming season. After two years with HC Ocelari Trinec of the Czech Republic’s Extraliga, he will start this season with HC Slovan Usti of the 1. Liga, the affiliate league to the Extraliga.

Petr Kanko played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2001-02 to 2003-04, all with the Kitchener Rangers. Each season with the Rangers, his point production increased while his games played decreased. In his second season, he was part of a Ranger team that won the Robertson Cup as Ontario Hockey League playoff champion as well as the Memorial Cup as CHL champion. Petr played a huge part in the playoff success with 27 points in 20 games for the Rangers.

As a junior, Kanko represented his homeland, the Czech Republic, twice in international play. He was member of the 2001 under-18 team that was left out of the medal standings despite Petr scoring six goals in seven games. In 2004, he was part of the under-20 team that lost out in the bronze medal game.

Kanko was drafted in the third round of the 2002 NHL draft by the Los Angeles Kings. He played four seasons with the Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Manchester Monarchs, from 2004-05 to 2007-08. He was called up to the Los Angeles Kings for a short stint during the 2005-06 season when he played ten games. He scored just one goal with the Kings and that was in his first ever NHL game.

As mentioned, Petr played two seasons with HC Ocelari Trinec of the Czech Republic Extraliga. Hopefully, with a good early performance for HC Slovan Usti, he’ll make his way back to the elite league before this upcoming season is over.

Check out Petr Kanko’s profile page on the HC Slovan Usti official website.

Petr is featured in two previous posts at OHL Alumni Central:

HC Ocelari Trinec of the Czech Republic

Kitchener Rangers 2002-03 Memorial Cup Champions