OHL Alumni Central

It looks as though a change of scenery from North America to Europe has helped Ontario Hockey League grad Jonathan D’Aversa regain his offensive power from the blue line. D’Aversa is in his first year with Augsburger Panthers of Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga. In 31 games to date this season, Jon has 14 goals and 23 points in 31 games, already equaling his best year in professional hockey. D’Aversa had 23 points in 68 games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL in 2008-09. Just one of those 23 points came from a goal.

Jonathan D’Aversa played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2003-04 to 2006-07, all with the Sudbury Wolves. In his final season, despite the team finishing below .500 during the regular season, the Wolves made it to the Robertson Cup finals before losing to the Plymouth Whalers in six games. That season, D’Aversa wore the ‘A’ on his jersey, appeared in the OHL All-Star Classic and was third among league defensemen in scoring with 60 points.

Despite not being drafted by an NHL club, Jon was picked up by the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. He split the past three seasons between Pittsburgh’s AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and their ECHL club, the Wheeling Nailers. In his rookie season, 2007-08, he represented Wheeling at the ECHL All-Star game.

Last season, Augsburger made it the DEL finals (read previous post here). This season to date, the Panthers are in eleventh spot in the 14 team league.

Check out Jonathan D’Aversa’s profile page on the Augsburger Panther official website.

Check out Jonathan D’Aversa’s profile page on the DEL official website.

D’Aversa joins two other Ontario Hockey League alumni with Augsburger. Check out these previous posts at OHL Alumni Central:

Jeff Szwez

Peter Flache

Looking for a good hockey read? Check out the new book review page at OHL Alumni Central.

Hockey – It’s popular everywhere. Ontario Hockey League grad Richard Rochefort is one of a handful of Canadians that is bringing credibility to the Asia League Ice Hockey.

Rochefort played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1994-95 to 1996-97. His first two seasons were played with the Sudbury Wolves and his final season was split between the Wolves and the Sarnia Sting. Richard was a steady 20+ goal scorer in each of his three seasons and had seasons of 65, 65 and 70 points.

Rochefort was drafted in the seventh round of the 1995 NHL draft by the New Jersey Devils, 174th overall. He spent five seasons, from 1997-98 to 2001-02, with the Albany River Rats of the American Hockey League.

Starting in 2002-03, Richard became a world traveller, toting his hockey equipment from country to country. He has played in Finland, Switzerland, Denmark, Italy, Germany and Japan. This past season, Rochefort played in Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) with the Augsburg Panthers.

This upcoming season, 2010-11, Richard returns the ALIH with the Nikko Icebucks. The Icebucks have been less than marvelous over the past few seasons. They’re counting on Rochefort to help them into a top four position in the seven team league in order to move on to the post season.

Richard played previously in the ALIH for two seasons, 2007-08 and 2008-09. Both seasons were played with the Seibu Prince Rabbits which played out of Tokyo. The team is now defunct.

The ALIH official website is in English and can be found here.

The Nikko Icebucks website is only in Japanese and is not quite ready to go the for new season. The site can be found here.

Check out this previous post on the Asia League Ice Hockey.

Guelph Storm grad, Matt Ryan, has made the jump from Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) to Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (EBEL). Ryan played the past two seasons with Augsburger Panther of the DEL, a team that went to the league play-off finals this past season, only to lose out to the Hannover Scorpions. This upcoming season, Matt begins play with EC-VSV of the EBEL.

Matt Ryan played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with the Guelph Storm, 2002-03 and 2003-04. He played only 48 games in his first season after starting the season in the NCAA with Niagara University. In 2003-04, Matt netted 42 goals and added 35 assists while helping the Storm to a Robertson Cup championship and a Memorial Cup appearance.

Matt got to the big show during the 2005-06 season and played 12 games with the Los Angeles Kings. Mostly, from 2004-05 to 2007-08, Ryan played with the Kings’ AHL affiliate, the Manchester Monarchs.

EC-VSV looks to Ryan for his penalty killing skills. The team finished eighth in the ten team league in 2009-10. EC-VSV plays out of Villach, Austria, a city of nearly 60,000 residents located in the far south of Austria. The city is within 2okm of both Slovenia and Italy. The team plays out of the Stadthalle in Villach which houses 4,500 for hockey.

Matt Ryan’s profile page has not been added to EC-VSV’s official website yet, but you can find the news article about his arrival on the site. The article is in German. What follows is a rough translation using Google Translate:

15:06:10 13:06

Newcomer in Villach
Transfer news there was today for the EC VSV! The eagles were with Matt Ryan, an experienced DEL Center a contract.
The 26-year-old Canadian Matt Ryan Center will occupy the third position in the team of the EC VSV. “With Damon Kaspitz and we have occupied the first two lines already, Matt is a very good two-way player who also plays strong defensively,” said Giuseppe Mion.

The VSV-manager ran especially strong Penaltykilling stock and the technical capabilities of the Canadian show. The NHL-experienced center – 12 games for the Los Angeles Kings are in his bio – the last two seasons playing for the Augsburg Panthers.

The shooter began his legal career in 2001 at Niagara University and joined the team only one season later in the OHL with Guelph Storm where he won the 2003/04 championship. With good performance, he managed in the AHL (Manchester Monarchs), and then even made it into the NHL.

Welcome to Villach Matt Ryan!

Matt is featured in this previous post on the 2003-04 Robertson Cup winning Guelph Storm.

Above photo originally appeared in this article on the Augsburger Panther official website.

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Currently, the #4 seed Hannover Scorpions are playing the #8 seed Augsburger Panthers in Germany’s DEL playoff final. There are three Ontario Hockey League alumni on the Scorpions. Click on the names below to view each player’s profile page on the Hannover Scorpions official website. The site is in German but you can use our German Hockey Language Guide to help navigate.

Matt Dzieduszycki has one of the hardest to spell names in OHL history and played in the league for two seasons with the Barrie Colts, 1999-00 and 2000-01. Matt was part of the 2000 Colts team that won the J. Ross Robertson Cup as OHL playoff champions. Matt is in his fourth season in the DEL and his third with Hannover.

Levente Szuper is part of the tandem of OHL grads that guards between the pipes for the Scorpions. Levente played two seasons in the OHL with the Ottawa 67′s, 1998-99 and 1999-00. Szuper has been around since leaving the OHL, playing in the ECHL and AHL in North America as well as playing in Italy, Sweden and Austria as well as Germany. This is his first season with the Scorpions.

Travis Scott played three seasons between the pipes in the OHL from 1993-94 to 1995-96. His first two seasons were spent with the Windsor Spitfires and his final season was with the Oshawa Generals. His NHL experience is limited to one game with the Los Angeles Kings in 2000-01 when he played just 25 minutes, allowing 3 goals on 13 shots. Travis has been in Europe since the start of the 2005-06 season. This is his first with Hannover.

Check out the previous post on Hannover’s opponent in the DEL final, Augsburger Panther.

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In Germany’s DEL (Deutsche Eishockey Liga), the Augsburger Panthers are battling it out with the Hannover Scorpions in the best of 5 2010 playoff final. Among those on the Augsburger roster are two Ontario Hockey League alumni, Matt Ryan and Richard Rochefort. Click on their names below to view their profile pages at the Augsburger Panthers official website. Use our German Hockey Language Guide to help navigate the site.

Matt Ryan played two seasons in the OHL with the Guelph Storm, 2002-03 and 2003-04. In his final season, he was a big part of Guelph’s run to a Memorial Cup berth. The team upset the London Knights in the Conference final and swept the Mississauga IceDogs to win the J. Ross Robertson Cup. The team was outplayed at the Memorial Cup, losing all three games in the round-robin portion.

Matt spent four seasons in the Los Angeles Kings organization, mostly with the Manchester Monarchs of the AHL. However, he was able to suit up as a King for 12 games during the 2005-06 season. This is Matt’s second season with Augsburger.

Richard Rochefort played three seasons in the OHL from 1994-95 to 1996-97. Richard played for the Sudbury Wolves up until midway through his final season when he was traded to the Sarnia Sting. A seventh round pick of the New Jersey Devils in the 1995 NHL draft, Richard never go a chance to play in the show. He played five seasons in the AHL with the Albany River Rats right out of junior before heading on a European tour that would take him to Finland, Switzerland, Italy and Germany. This is Rochefort’s first season with Augsburger and he has been used sparingly.

Check out these other posts on OHLers in Germany:

Patrick Jarrett with Dresdner Eislowen

Ron Newhook with Starbulls Rosenheim

OHL Grads with Bad Nauheim

Rob Zepp with Eisbaren Berlin

John Tripp represents Germany at the 2010 Olympics