OHL Alumni Central

Ontario Hockey League grad Kevin Mitchell has been conditionally joined on Villacher SV of Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (EBEL) by two other OHL Alumni. Mitchell is entering his second year with Villacher. One of the others has already been playing in the EBEL while the second has played in Switzerland for the past four years. Both are with the team on a try-out basis for now.

Mike Craig is one of the oldest active Ontario Hockey League alumni in the world right now. Craig played three years with the Oshawa Generals from 1987-88 to 1989-90, twice playing for Team Canada at the IIHF World Juniors. Mike was drafted by the Minnesota North Stars in the second round of the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, 28th overall. He played 423 regular season NHL games with the North Stars, Dallas Stars, Toronto Maple Leafs and San Jose Sharks.

After one season in Switzerland in 2002-03, Craig has played in the EBEL since. In 2004-05 with the Vienna Capitals, he led the league in points with 71. In both 2006-07 and 2008-09, he led the EBEL in goals with 43 and 30. This past season, he scored 24 and added 14 assists for 38 points in 46 games for Klagenfurter AC.

Cory Pecker played five years in the Ontario Hockey League from 1997-98 to 2001-02. He began his career with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and was traded to the Erie Otters during the 2000-01 season. In his final year with Erie, he scored 53 goals in just 56 games and totalled 99 points. His 25 goals and 42 points in 21 playoff games helped the Otters to a Robertson Cup victory and a Memorial Cup berth. Cory was taken by the Calgary Flames in the sixth round of the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, 166th overall.

Pecker spent most of his North American pro career in the American Hockey League between 2002-03 and 2006-07, never making it to the big show. For the 2007-08 season, he crossed the pond to play in Switzerland’s National League B. With Visp in 2009-10, Cory scored 40 and contributed 101 points in just 41 games. This past season was spent split between Visp and Lausanne.

Kevin Mitchell spent four years in the Ontario Hockey League from 1997-98 to 2000-01, his first three with the Guelph Storm and his final season with the Oshawa Generals. Mitchell was drafted by the Calgary Flames in the ninth round of the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, 234th overall. He began playing in Europe for the 2004-05 season after three years on a handful of teams in the AHL and ECHL. Kevin has played in Germany, Switzerland and the Czech Republic before settling in with Villacher this past season.

Villacher went through a ten year period from 1998-99 to 2006-07 where they were in the league finals nine times and were crown champions on three occasions. Since, the team has fallen into mediocrity.

Ontario Hockey League grad Daniel Erlich joins three returning OHL Alumni hoping to send Red Bull Salzburg to a three-peat in Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga. Salzburg should be of particular interest to London Knights fans with Erlich playing with Danny Bois – two very popular Knights with the fans.

In seven years since being promoted from tier 2, Salzburg has been to the EBEL finals six times. The Red Bulls have won the championship four of the past five years and the past two in a row.

Erlich spent four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2007-08 to 2010-11. He played with the Knights until halfway through last season when he was traded to the Guelph Storm to finish out his OHL career. His size, 5’6″ and 150 lbs. might not be suitable for the North American game but his amazing speed and quick hands should be ideal for Europe.

Danny Bois enters his second sesaon with Salzburg, having contributed decent offense in his first season as well as trademark toughness. Bois spent four years in the Ontario Hockey League from 2000-01  to 2003-04 where he was team captain. Despite being drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in the third round of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, 97th overall, it was with the Ottawa Senators organization that Bois spent is first five years of pro hockey.

After five years with the Binghamton Senators, and one game with the Ottawa Senators, Bois spent 2009-10 with Chicago’s AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs. With Salzburg last season, Danny contributed 29 points in 48 regular season games and sat out 136 minutes in the sin bin.

Erik Reitz played three years on the point in the Ontario Hockey League from 1999-00 to 2001-02, all with the Barrie Colts. Reitz was Barrie’s captain in his final season and also played for Team USA at the IIHF World Junior Championships. The Colts went to the Robertson Cup finals that season, as well, losing to the Erie Otters.

Reitz was drafted after his first OHL season by the Minnesota Wild in the sixth round of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, 170th overall. Erik played in Minnesota’s system from 2002-02 to midway through the 2008-09 season, mostly with the Houston Aeros of the AHL. In total, Reitz played 48 NHL games with the Wild and New York Rangers. In 2009-10, he made the jump across the pond and played in Russia’s KHL. He was signed to Salzburg last season but didn’t play any games due to injury. After a playing seven games in a pre-season tournament, Reitz is once again on the disabled list this year.

Markus Pock played just three games in the Ontario Hockey League. The native of Austria played three games for the Sudbury Wolves last season before returning to Austria to play for Salzburg.

The Graz 99ers of Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga have bolstered their blue line for 2011-12 with two Ontario Hockey League alumni. Cole Jarrett comes from Japan and Dustin VanBallegooie played the past three seasons in Denmark.

Cole Jarrett played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1999-00 to 2002-03, all with the Plymouth Whalers. He proved his offensive abilities in his final season with 55 points in 58 regular season games for the Whalers. Undrafted, he was picked up by the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the American Hockey League and played seasons with the New York Islanders affiliate, appearing in one game with the NHL club in 2005-06.

2006-07 saw Cole jump the Atlantic to play in Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) with Eisbaren Berlin. Since, he was played in Finland, Sweden and Japan. He played for Graz two years ago before jumping to the Aisa League of Hockey last season, playing for Tohoku Free Blades. Tohoku was to play for the league championship when the devastating earthquake and tsunami hit. Tohoku was named co-champion with Jarrett leading the league in goals and points for defensemen.

Thought of highly in Graz, Jarrett starts the 2011-12 season as team captain. Graz finished sixth out of ten teams in 2010-11, one game over .500 and made a quick quarter-final exit. They’ll need the defensive help if they plan to take on Salzburg, champions 4 of the past 5 years, who have a tandem of London Knights in Danny Bois and Daniel Erlich.

Dustin VanBallegooie scored 23 goals from the point over four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League between 2000-01 and 2003-04. In his first season in Denmark, Dustin scored 17 to lead all defensemen. In fact, over his three years with Sonderjysk in Denmark, VanBallegooie led the league’s blueliners in goals each year.

Dustin started his Ontario Hockey League career with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and played for the Oshawa Generals and Owen Sound Attack before finishing with the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors. Undrafted, VanBallegooie played three seasons in the East Coast Hockey League with the Fresno Falcons (with an 11 game call-up to the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers in 2006-07) before heading to Europe. Dustin played one season in Germany’s DEL with Duisburg before heading to Denmark.

Ontario Hockey League grad Pat Kavanagh is going from a team that didn’t make the playoffs last season and has only proceeded to the post season once since 2000-01 to a team that finished third and is a perennial contender.

Pat Kavanagh with the AHL's Manitoba Moose.

Kavanagh will spend 2011-12 with the Vienna Capitals of Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (EBEL). The Peterborough Petes alumnus has spent the past four years in Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) with this past season in an Iserlohn Roosters jersey.

Pat played three years in the Ontario Hockey League from 1996-97 to 1998-99, all with the Peterborough Petes. Kavanagh was a second round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, 50th overall. He has 14 games of regular season NHL experience as well as three games in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He split his NHL time between the Vancouver Canucks and Philadelphia.

Kavanagh began his European odyssey in 2006-07, playing in both Finland and Sweden. From 2007-08 to 2010-11, Pat played in the DEL. His first and last seasons were with the Iserlohn Roosters and in between he played for the Frankfurt Lions and ERC Ingolstadt. In 2007-08, he played a major role in Iserlohn’s only venture into the post season.

This past season, Vienna finished third in the ten team EBEL during the regular season and lost in the semi-finals.

Medvescak Zagreb of Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga has said goodbye to two Ontario Hockey League grads, Jeff Heerema and Brad Smyth. Remaining captain Alan Letang and alternate captain John Hecimovic will be joined by three other OHL alumni for the 2011-12 season.

Zagreb, a city in Croatia, will enter it’s third season in the EBEL. The Austrian based elite league has truly become an international league with teams in Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia, as well as Austria. Zabreb finished each of it’s first two seasons in the EBEL in eighth place in the ten team league.

Michael Ouzas brings some great goaltending talent to ‘The Bears’. Ouzas played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2002-03 to 2005-06 with the Barrie Colts, Toronto St. Michael’s Majors, Mississauga IceDogs and Owen Sound Attack. In 2004-05, Ouzas was the OHL’s Goaltender of the Year with a 2.18 GAA and .926 save percentage in 44 games with the IceDogs.

Undrafted, Michael played two seasons with the University of New Brunswick before becoming a regular in the ECHL. This psat season, 2010-11, Ouzas started the ECHL All-Star game as a member of the Las Vegas Wranglers. He was a call-up for on game with the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League.

Andy Delmore brings 283 games of NHL experience to Zagreb, despite the fact that he joins the team on a ‘try-out’ basis. Delmore played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1993-94 to 1996-97 with the North Bay Centennials and Sarnia Sting. He played NHL hockey with the Philadelphia Flyers, Nashville Predators, Buffalo Sabres and Columbus Blue Jackets.

Delmore’s highlight season came in 2005-06 with the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL. In 66 games, he scored 17 goals and totalled 72 points. He won the Eddie Shore Award as the league’s top defenseman while leading all blue liners in goals, assists and points. He played an additional seven games with the NHL’s Blue Jackets that season.

This year will not be Andy Delmore’s first European experience. He has played in Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) and played this past season in Norway’s Get-Ligaen.

The team captain of Medvescak Zagreb, Alan Letang, begins his fourth season in the EBEL and third with Zagreb. Letang played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1991-92 to 1994-95. After playing his rookie season with the Cornwall Royals, he followed the franchise as they morphed into the Newmarket Royals and then the Sarnia Sting. In his final season, he was a teammate of Andy Delmore.

A late pick of the Montreal Canadiens in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, Letang appeared in 14 NHL games with the Dallas Stars, Calgary Flames and New York Islanders. Letang spent four years in Germany’s DEL before moving to the EBEL.

John Hecimovic enters his third season with Zagreb. He played five seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2000-01 to 2004-05. Hecimovic was a Sarnia Sting until midway through his final season when he was sent to the Mississauga IceDogs. John has been in Europe since 2007-08. He played two seasons with The Hague in the Netherlands before moving to the EBEL.

Tom Zanoski returns to his roots, having been born in Zagreb. Tom played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2001-02 to 2004-05, starting with the Owen Sound Attack and moving to the Mississauga IceDogs midway through his third season. Zanoski is surely looking for stability with Zagreb after playing for six different teams in 2009-10 and three teams in 2010-11.

Zagreb Medvescak has been in existence since 1961. Originally part of the Yugoslav Hockey League, the have played in the Croatian Ice Hockey League from 1991. They actually play in both the CIHL and EBEL at the same time. The team plays out of the 6400 seat Dom Sportova in Zagreb.