OHL Alumni Central

Martin Skoula with the Minnesota Wild.

Martin Skoula played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 1997-98 and 1998-99, both with the Barrie Colts. The big blueliner from the Czech Republic provided the Colts with plenty of offence, contributing 44 points in 66 games in his first year and 59 points in 67 games in his second.

Skoula wasn’t offence only for the Colts. He led the Ontario Hockey League with a +58 plus/minus in his senior season. In his rookie season, he was selected to the CHL’s All-Rookie Team.

Martin was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the 1998 NHL draft, 17th overall. He played with the Avalanche for five seasons and won a Stanley Cup with the team in 2001.

Throughout his NHL career, Skoula has played for the Avalanche, Anaheim Ducks, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils for a combined total of 776 games. He has represented the Czech Republic on the world scene as a junior, in the 2002 Winter Olympics and at several other international tournaments.

Martin has just signed on with Avangard Omsk in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) after a season split between the Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils where he only appeared in a combined total of 52 regular season games and four in the play-offs with the Devils.

Skoula will join fellow Ontario Hockey League alumnus Brendan Bell in Omsk for 2010-11. Brendan was featured in a recent post here at OHL Alumni Central. Avangard Omsk is better known as the team that former NHL legend Jaromir Jagr plays for.

To see the article on Avangard Omsk’s official website announcing the arrival of Martin Skoula, you can check it out here. The website is only in Russian.

Bell as a Syracuse Crunch

Former Ottawa 67′s standout defenseman, Brendan Bell, has has enough of North American hockey and has signed on with Avangard Omsk of Russia’s KHL for the 2010-11 season.

Brendan played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1999-00 to 2002-03, all with his hometown Ottawa 67′s. Twice, he was part of 67′s teams that went to the Robertson Cup final. In 2000-01, the 67′s won the Robertson by beating out the Plymouth Whalers and went on to an unsuccessful Memorial Cup Tournament in Regina. In 2002-03, Ottawa lost out to the Kitchener Rangers in the final.

In his final season in the OHL, Brendan was honoured with the Max Kaminsky Trophy for the league’s top defenseman.

Brendan was picked 65th overall in the 2001 NHL draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Bell played a total of 32 games over two seasons, 2005-06 and 2006-07, with the Leafs. He also put in 16 games with the Phoenix Coyotes over two seasons, 2006-07 and 2007-08. In 2008-09, he had his most successful, and last, NHL season, playing 53 games on the blueline with the Ottawa Senators.

This past season, 2009-10, Brendan played the entire season in the AHL with the Peoria Rivermen and the Syracuse Crunch. His combined points total between the two teams made him the top point-getter on the Crunch.

The move puts him on an Avangard Omsk team that finished 11th overall in the 24 team KHL despite a team centred around the great Jamomir Jagr. The story can be found on the team’s official website. The site is in Russian. The translation is roughly:

HC Avangard – News May 20, 2010 “Vanguard” is in talks with Brendan Bell

————————————————– ——————————

Omsk Avangard in talks with a Canadian defender attacker plan
Brendan Bell from the system “Ottawa. In 2001, Bell in the NHL Entry Draft was selected
in round 3 under the 65 rooms of the club “Toronto Maple Leafs.”
The past season of 27-year-old defender clearance (height 188 cm, weight 96 kg) held in
AHL club: Peoria Rivermen “and” Syracuse Crunch “, recorded in its assets in the 71-th
Game 52 (14 +38) points. In the National Hockey League played 101 games in which
scored 28 (7 +21) points. During his career overseas, speaking in different
leagues, Bell scored 85 washers and made 312 broadcasts.

Brendan Bell’s profile page on the Syracuse Crunch official website can be found here.