OHL Alumni Central

What should have been the pinnacle of the Asia League Hockey’s 2010-11 season, turned into an escape from disaster. The Tohoku Free Blades were to meet Anyang Halla in the league finals when the devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit Japan. Tohoku is right in the impact zone and the players experienced the phenomenon first hand, though all escaped safely.

The finals were to feature two Ontario Hockey League alumni going head to head. Dustin Wood plays for the South Korean Anyang Halla and Cole Jarrett plays for the Free Blades. The two teams have been declared co-champions as obvious more important matters are at hand in Japan.

Dustin Wood played four seasons in the OHL from 1998-99 to 2001-02, all with the Peterborough Petes. In his final season with Peterborough, Wood was the team captain.

After four years of jumping around in the North American pro leagues, Dustin made the jump to Europe for the 2007-08 season. Wood played two seasons in Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) before switching to the Asia League for the 2009-10 season. Anyang Halla was Asia League champion in his first year and were co-champions this year after the rest of the playoffs were called off.

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Cole Jarrett played four years in the Ontario Hockey League from 1999-00 to 2002-03, all with the Plymouth Whalers. Jarrett was a fifth round pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, 141st overall. His only NHL game came during the 2005-06 season with the New York Islanders.

From 2006-07 to 2009-10, Jarrett toured Europe playing for teams in Germany, Finland, Sweden and Austria. He joined the Free Blades this season and led the league’s defensemen in goals (18) and points (51).

Check out this article from Pro Hockey News for more information on how the Disaster affected the players in the ALH.

We just had a post on Australia’s AIHL. Almost as far from the mainstream hockey world is the Asia Ice Hockey League. The league consists of 7 teams: 4 in Japan, 2 in South Korea and 1 in China. The league’s official website is in Japanese and English and the English is pretty good. The site can be viewed here. There are currently two Ontario Hockey League alumni playing in the Asia League.

Dustin Wood played his OHL days with the Peterborough Petes from 1998-99 to 2001-02. He is currently with Anyang Halla which plays out of Anyang City, Korea. To find Dustin’s profile page on the team’s official website (mostly in Korean), click here to go to the website – mouseover ‘TEAM’ on the upper tool bar and click on the first item in the list. This will bring you to the roster list. Dustin is number 23 under defenceman.

Trevor Gallant played for the Kitchener Rangers from 1991-92 to midway through 1994-95 when he was traded to the North Bay Centennials. He finished out his OHL career with the Centennials in 1995-96. He finished 7th in league scoring in 1993-94 with the Rangers with 39 goals and 80 assists for 119 points. He was 4th in league scoring in his final season with totals of 47 goals and 58 assists for 105 points.

Trevor is also in Korea, playing with the High1 Ice team out of Soeul. A small picture and profile can be found at the league website here , just scroll down. The team’s website is still under construction and is only in Korean.