OHL Alumni Central

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The Montreal Canadiens finished 8th in the NHL’s Eastern Conference and will face the Washington Capitals in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

There will be 8 Ontario Hockey League alumni playing in this series, 4 from Montreal and 4 from Washington. This would be a Sudbury Wolves vs. London Knights series with 2 alumni from the Wolves playing for the Canadiens and 2 alumni from the Knights playing for the Capitals.

Here are the OHL grads in this series. As always, click on each player’s name to view their profile page on their team’s official website.

Washington Capitals

Matt Bradley played for the Kingston Frontenacs from 1995-96 to 1997-98. He is currently in his 5th season with the Capitals and 8th in the NHL.

John Erskine played for the London Knights from 1997-98 to 1999-00. He is currently in his 4th season with the Capitals after playing for Dallas and the New York Islanders.

John Carlson played for the London Knights in the 2008-09 season. This is John’s rookie season with Washington.

Scott Walker played for the Owen Sound Platers in 1991-92 and 1992-93. Scott has played over 800 games during his NHL career with Vancouver, Nashville, Carolina and Washington. He came over from the Hurricanes and the trade deadline this season.

Montreal Canadiens

Sergei Kostitsyn played for the London Knights for the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons. Sergei is in his third season with the Canadiens.

Tom Pyatt played for the Saginaw Spirit from 2003-04 to 2006-07. Originally drafted by the New York Rangers, this is Tom’s rookie season.

Benoit Pouliot played for the Sudbury Wolves from 2003-04 to 2005-06. Benoit started his NHL career with the Minnesota Wild and is in his first season with the Canadiens.

Paul Mara played in the OHL from 1996-97 to 1998-99. His first season was with the Sudbury Wolves. In his second season he was traded to the Plymouth Whalers where he finished out his OHL career. Drafted in the 1st round, 7th overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning, Paul has played for Tampa Bay, Phoenix and the New York Rangers before landing in Montreal this season. He is currently on the injured reserve.

The Stanley Cup playoff time is upon us. With the Philadelphia Flyers beating the New York Rangers yesterday afternoon in a shootout, all the teams for this season’s run to the cup are set.

Of course, any Ontario Hockey League fan has one eye still focused on the OHL playoffs and the other is watching the NHL. This season, there are 93 OHL alumni competing in the Stanley Cup playoffs. All OHL teams are represented and each NHL team has at least 3 OHL grads on the roster.

Over the next 8 posts, OHL Alumni Central will feature, series by series, the OHL grads playing for the Cup. Today, we’ll look at the overall numbers by NHL and OHL teams.

The Buffalo Sabres and Colorado Avalanche are the NHL leaders with 9 OHL alumni on each roster. The Vancouver Canucks, aka Team Sweden, has the least with 3. Interestingly, the Ontario team, Ottawa Senators, has 8 OHL alumni which puts them second while the two non-Ontario Canadian teams, Montreal and Vancouver have the lowest number of OHLers.

Team	OHL Alumni
Buffalo Sabres	9
Colorado Avalanche	9
Ottawa Senators	8
Nashville Predators	7
Los Angeles Kings	7
New Jersey Devils	6
Pittsburgh Penguins	6
Philadelphia Flyers	6
San Jose Sharks	5
Chicago Blackhawks	5
Phoenix Coyotes	5
Detroit Red Wings	5
Washington Capitals	4
Boston Bruins	4
Montreal Canadiens	4
Vancouver Canucks	3

The number of alumni representing each OHL team brings some surprises. Take note that the totals will add up to more than 93. Players that played on more than one team over their OHL career were counted on each team they played on. With all the flash of the London Knights and Windsor Spitfires, it is the Sudbury Wolves that are the biggest producer of talent in this year’s playoffs. The team that is expected to be in the OHL finals this season, the Barrie Colts, have the least.

Team	Alumni
Sudbury Wolves	10
Peterborough Petes	9
Owen Sound Attack	9
London Knights	8
Guelph Storm	8
Ottawa 67′s	7
Kitchener Rangers	7
Windsor Spitfires	7
Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds	7
Kingston Frontenacs	6
Erie Otters	6
Oshawa Generals	5
Mississauga Majors	5
Belleville Bulls	4
Brampton Battalion	4
Sarnia Sting	4
Saginaw Spirit	4
Niagara IceDogs	3
Plymouth Whalers	3
Barrie Colts	2

On February 16, the 2010 Olympic Hockey Tournament begins. OHL Alumni Central will update the stats of all OHL graduates throughout the tournament.

Currently, here is the full list of OHL alumni filling roster spots:

Belarus

Sergei Kostitsyn

Canada

Drew Doughty

Chris Pronger

Rick Nash

Corey Perry

Mike Richards

Eric Staal

Joe Thornton

Czech Republic

Josef Vasicek

Finland

Currently no OHL grads on rosters.

Germany

John Tripp

Latvia

Arvids Rekis

Kaspars Daugavins

Herberts Vasiljevs

Norway

Mathis Olimb

Russia

Fedor Tyutin

Slovakia

Peter Budaj

Andrej Sekera

Branko Radivojevic

Sweden

Currently no OHL grads on roster.

Switzerland

Yannick Weber

USA

Dustin Brown

Ryan Callahan

Patrick Kane

Jamie Langenbrunner

Bobby Ryan

Tim Gleason

Ontario Reign of Ontario, California will host the 2010 ECHL All-Star Game. The game is set for Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at the Citizens Business Bank Arena.

The format features players from the National Conference facing off against players from the American Conference. The OHL is represented on each team by three players.

For the National Conference:

Adam Perry of the Utah Grizzlies. Adam spent his OHL days with the London Knights and the Belleville Bulls. Adam is the younger brother of London Knight grad, Corey Perry.

Eric Regan of the Bakersfield Condors. Eric started his OHL career with the Erie Otters and finished closed to his Whitby home with the Oshawa Generals.

David Shantz of the Victoria Salmon Kings. David spent time between the pipes with the OHL’s Mississauga IceDogs and the Peterborough Petes.

For the American Conference:

Justin Donati of the Elmira Jackals. Justin played for three different teams during his OHL career: Oshawa Generals, Toronto St. Michael’s Majors and Sudbury Wolves. Justin’s twin brother, Tyler, is also on the Jackals roster.

Brandon Buck of the Florida Everblades. Brandon spent all his time in the OHL with the Guelph Storm.

Jeremy Smith of the Cincinnati Cyclones. Jeremy tended goal for the Plymouth Whalers and later the Niagara Ice Dogs.