OHL Alumni Central

The Lake Erie Monsters are an AHL team that plays out of the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. The Monsters are the latest incarnation of professional hockey in Cleveland. The previous AHL franchise here was the Barons that lasted from 2002 to 2006. Before that, the IHL’s Lumberjacks lasted from 1992-2001. The city had short lived franchises in the 1970′s, both in the NHL (Barons) and the WHA (Crusaders).

The team is the AHL affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche and currently has four ex-OHLers on the roster. Current details on each of the players listed below can be found on the roster page of the team’s official website.

Randy Rowe played for the Belleville Bulls from 1997-98 to 2000-01. In his final year, 2000-01, he recorded 102 points. He split last season between the Monsters and their ECHL affiliate in Johnstown.

Brian Willsie was a Guelph Storm from 1995-96 to 1997-98. Brian spent a few years as a regular in the NHL. He was originally drafted 146th overall by the Avalanche in 1996. He spent time with the Avalanche before moving on to the Washington Capitals and Los Angeles Kings. In 2008-09, he returned to the Avalanche organization splitting that season half and half with the Monsters and only playing 4 games so far this season with the big club.

Tom Zanoski played with the Owen Sound Attack from 2001-02 to 2003-04. He split the 2003-04 season with the Mississauga Ice Dogs and finished off his OHL career in 2004-05 with the Dogs.

Kevin Montgomery was one of many players snatched from U.S. Collegiate hockey by the Hunter brothers in London. Kevin spent his time in the OHL with the Knights from 2006-07 to 2008-09. Each season in junior, he joined the Monsters for their playoffs after the Knights were eliminated from the OHL bracket.

To see the article on OHLers in the 2009-10 All-Star Classic, click on this.

On the right is London Knight grad, Kevin Montgomery.

The Brampton Battalion are relative newcomers to the OHL, beginning play in 1998-99. 5 players from the original roster are still playing professional hockey and three of them are in the NHL. Jason Spezza may be considered by some as a star for the Ottawa Senators, Raffi Torres is a grinder for the Columbus Blue Jackets and Jay Harrison is with the Carolina Hurricanes. In total, 34 Brampton alumni are currently still playing professional hockey in various locations throughout the world.

Check out these other OHL teams and their alumni currently playing professional hockey:

Barrie Colts

London Knights

Bolzano is currently in 4th place in the 9 team Italian Serie A1. The city is in northern Italy near the border with Austria. The population is just over 100,000 and German is spoken as much as Italian due to the close proximity to their German speaking neighnours.

There are four graduates of the Ontario Hockey League currently playing for Bolzano. What is different from many other Italian teams is that none of these players are of Italian descent. Often the players that go from Canada to play in Italy are sons or grandsons of Italian immigrants.

The four players are listed below. By clicking on their names, their page on the official Bolzano HC website will open up in a new window. The page is in Italian but is easily understandable as hockey is a universal language. Current stats are updated there.

Shawn Mather, Windsor Spitfires, 1999-00 and 2000-01.

Fraser Clair, Barrie Colts, 1998-99, 2000-01 and 2001-02. Mississauga Ice Dogs, 1998-99 to 2000-01.

Kenny Corupe, Toronto St. Michael’s Majors, 1997-98 to 1999-00. Kenny Corupe, Owen Sound Platers 1999-00.

Ryan Jardine, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, 1997-98 to 1999-00.

Italia team location map

Other posts on OHL Alumni Central that might interest you:

Asiago HC of the Italian League

HC Ocelari Trinec of the Czech Republic

Barrie Colts Alumni in Professional Hockey

It is a true measure of the leadership qualities learned in the Ontario Hockey League when just about a third of the teams in the National Hockey League are captained by players that graduated from the OHL. 9 teams in total are currently captained by ex-OHLers.

Craig Rivet, captain of the Buffalo Sabres. Craig played from 1991-92 to 1993-94 with the Kingston Frontenacs.

Eric Staal, captain of the Carolina Hurricanes. Eric played from 2000-01 to 2002-03 with the Peterborough Petes.

Adam Foote, captain of the Colorado Avalanche. Adam played from 1988-89 to 1990-91 with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

Rick Nash, captain of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Rick played from 2000-01 to 2001-02 with the London Knights.

Ethan Moreau, captain of the Edmonton Oilers. Ethan played from 1991-92 to 1994-95 with the Niagara Falls Thunder and finished off 1994-95 with the Sudbury Wolves.

Dustin Brown, captain of the Los Angeles Kings. Dustin played from 2000-01 to 2002-03 with the Guelph Storm.

Jason Arnott, captain of the Nashville Predators. Jason played from 1991-92 to 1992-93 with the Oshawa Generals.

Jamie Langenbrunner, captain of the New Jersey Devils. Jamie played from 1993-94 to 1994-95 with the Peterborough Petes.

Mike Richards, captain of the Philadelphia Flyers. Mike played from 2001-02 to 2004-05 with the Kitchener Rangers.

With the trade deadline looming and a few current captains ready for retirement, the potential is there for the number of OHL captains to increase by next season.

The Barrie Colts were granted an OHL franchise for the 1995-96 season. The team has enjoyed some success with a league championship in 1999-00 and a Memorial Cup appearance the same season.

Three Colts grads are currently in the NHL, including: Martin Skoula of the Pittsburgh Penguins, B.J. Crombeen of the St. Louis Blues and Bryan Little of the Atlanta Thrashers. The full list of Barrie Colts alumni still playing professional hockey as of the 2009-10 season is provided below.