OHL Alumni Central

Since the name ‘International Hockey League’ is no longer in use in North America, Austria’s elite Erste Bank Eishockey Liga might think about changing their name to just that. The eleven team EBEL is truly an international hockey league. Just six of the eleven teams are based in Austria for 2011-12. There are two teams in Slovenia and one each in Hungary, Croatia and the Czech Republic. Halfway through the 54 game regular season schedule, the team is currently tied for ninth in the EBEL.

The latest team to join from outside Austria is Orli Znojmo. The ‘Eagles’ previously played out of the Czech Republic’s Extraliga 2. With the recent aquisition of Mike Danton, Orli Znojmo now has four Ontario Hockey League grads on the roster. One other, Jan Platil is rumoured to return to the team after being released by Tappara in Finland’s SM-Liiga. Platil started the season playing ten games with Znojmo.

Lubomir Stach played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 2004-05 and 2005-06. He began with the Belleville Bulls but was moved to the Guelph Storm during his first season. In 2005-06, he was picked up mid-season by the Peterborough Petes and the compact defenseman played a major role in the Petes winning the Robertson Cup. Lubomir contributed 18 points from the point in 19 playoff games. Stach spent the past five years in his native Czech Republic, the last two years mostly with Znojmo.

Mike Danton played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, as Mike Jefferson, from 1997-98 to 1999-00. He began with the Sarnia Sting, made a stop with the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors before finishing his OHL career with the Barrie Colts. Like Stach, Danton was a member of a Robertson Cup winning team in his final OHL season. Danton was a fifth round pick of the New Jersey Devils at the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, 135th overall. He has appeared in NHL games with the Devils and St. Louis Blues.

After a five year hiatus from the game, Danton returned to play two years at the Canadian university level with Saint Mary’s. He started the 2011-12 season with IFK in Sweden’s Division 1. He was just picked up by Znojmo a few days ago.

Richard Jarusek played just one season in the Ontario Hockey League, 2008-09, with the Saginaw Spirit. Jarusek was a 49th overall pick of the Spirit at the 2008 CHL Import Draft. He returned to his homeland and played with the Under-20 version of Orli Znojmo in 2009-10 and 2010-11.

Yet another Robertson Cup winner, Petr Kanko, played three years with the Kitchener Rangers from 2001-02 to 2003-04. Kanko was taken by the Los Angeles Kings after his first OHL season in the third round of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, 66th overall. He played ten games with the Kings in 2005-06, playing the rest of his North American professional career with their AHL affiliate, the Manchester Monarchs. Kanko returned to his native Czech Republic in 2008-09. This is first season in the EBEL and with Orli Znojmo.

Jan Platil played three years in the Ontario Hockey League with the Barrie Colts from 2000-01 to 2002-03. A seventh round pick of the Ottawa Senators in 2001, Platil played three years with their AHL affiliate in Binghamton before returning to Europe for the 2006-07 season. Since, Jan has played in Finland, Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany and Austria. There is a pretty strong rumour that Platil will soon return to Znojmo.

Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) is nearing the halfway point of its 52 game 2011-12 season and three Ontario Hockey League grads can be found among the league’s top four point-getters. All three players are members of Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg. Wolfsburg is currently placed fourth in the fourteen team league. Last season, Grizzly Adams was first overall during the regular season and lost in the playoff finals.

Matt Dzieduszycki is currently tied for first in the league, with another member of Wolfsburg, with 11 goals and 14 assists for 25 points in 23 games. Matt played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 1999-00 and 2000-01, with the Barrie Colts. He has been playing in the DEL since the 2006-07 season. He spent his first year with EV Duisburg then followed up with four years with the Hannover Scorpions. This is Dzieduszycki’s first season with Grizzly Adams.

Sitting alone in third place with 24 points is Tyler Haskins. Just one goal differentiates Haskins from Dzieduszycki. Haskins played five years in the Ontario Hockey League from 2002-03 to 2006-07. He began his OHL career with the Guelph Storm and was traded to the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors nine games into his second season. His final year in the OHL was spent with the Saginaw Spirit, where his 60 regular season assists placed him eighth in the league. Haskins was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in the fifth round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. 2011-12 is Tyler’s second year in the DEL and second with Wolfsburg.

With one point less than Tyler Haskins, Norm Milley sits tied for fourth with four other players. Milley played four years with the Sudbury Wolves from 1996-97 to 1999-00. In 98-99, he was second in points to just Peter Sarno. He surpassed the 50 goal and 100 point plateaus in both his final two seasons with Sudbury. Norm was a second round pick of the Buffalo Sabres at the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. In all, Milley played 29 NHL games, all with Buffalo. 2011-12 is his fourth in the DEL and fourth with Wolfsburg.

Ontario Hockey League grad Vladimir Nikiforov is an undersized man putting up oversized numbers with the Brooklyn Aviators so far this season. Brooklyn plays in the Federal Hockey League and Vlad is currently seventh overall in the league with 19 points in just nine games.

Vlad Nikiforov on the right with the ECHL's Utah Grizzlies.

Nikiforov played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2005-06 to 2007-08. He was a lowly ninth round pick of the Barrie Colts in the 2005 OHL Priority Draft, 175th overall. The 5’6″ 160 lb’er scored 19 and totalled 55 points in his rookie season with the Colts. He added seventeen points in fourteen Robertson Cup playoff games as the Colts made it to the Eastern Conference finals before losing in five to the eventual Robertson Cup winners, the Peterborough Petes.

Vlad played with Barrie until being traded to the Sarnia Sting for the 2007-08 playoff run. In just 36 games with the Colts in that final season before moving west to Sarnia, Nikiforov scored 21 and added 32 assists for 53 points. Those totals were enough to be Barrie’s assist leader for the season, as well as finishing second in points, two behind team leader Alex Hutchings.

Over the past three seasons, Nikiforov has played for four teams in the ECHL and had a 19 game stint with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the American Hockey League in 2008-09. This past season, 2010-11, he played games with the Florida Everblades, Bakersfield Condors and Reading Royals.

With Brooklyn, Vlad has eight goals and eleven assists in nine games. The team is sitting tied for fourth in the seven team league. Last season, the Aviators finished first overall in the FHL and lost in the playoff finals to the Akwesasne Warriors. Not surprisingly, Nikiforov currently holds the honour of the FHL’s shortest player.

Ontario Hockey League grad Jaroslav Kruzik started the 2011-12 season with HC Litomerice of the Czech Republic Extraliga Tier 2. After moving over to the Slovak Extraliga a few days ago, Kruzik has now played his first game for HK Nitra.

Jaroslav played in the Ontario Hockey League for three years from 2007-08 to 2009-10. He began his OHL career with the Barrie Colts after Barrie chose him 49th overall in the first round of the CHL Import Draft in 2007. Previous to starting with the Colts, Kruzik played for Rytiri Kladno in his home Czech Republic.

After 50 games for Barrie in his first OHL season, Kruzik was shipped to Kingston after just one game with the Colts in 2008-09. He played 64 games with the Frontenacs that season, contributing 23 points from the blue line. In his final season with the Kingston Frontenacs, his point total dropped by one while playing five less regular season games. He got a taste of Robertson Cup playoff hockey with four games in the spring of 2010.

Kruzik returned to the Czech Republic for the 2010-11 season, once again playing for Rytiri Kladno, this time for their under-20 team. His game total was held to just eight.

Jaroslav played 12 games with HC Litomerice this season, scoring a goal and adding an assist for two points. Nitra can use some strength on defense. The team is off to a rough three win start and sits in tenth place in the eleven team league. Their goals against is the second worst in the league at the moment.

HK Nitra plays out of the 4,800 seat Nitra Zimny Arena in Nitra, Slovakia. The Slovakian Extraliga is currently dominated by former National Hockey League players, Zigmund Palffy and Miroslav Satan. The two sit one and two in league scoring.

Since the end of the 1995-96 National Hockey League season, when the Winnipeg Jets fled south to Phoenix, Canadians have collectively cried foul that Bettman and the NHL were systematically taking our game away from us. On Sunday, October 9, 2011, the Winnipeg Jets return to the National Hockey League with their season opener against the Montreal Canadiens at home. At 4:00 pm CST (5:00 in Ontario) on Sunday, there better be 34,607,141 Winnipeg Jets fans glued to their televisions as NHL hockey returns to Manitoba.

The Jets return as the team formerly known as the Atlanta Thrashers. Winnipeg is relying heavily on Ontario Hockey League alumni with seven former OHL stars currently on the roster.

Zach Bogosian played two years with the Peterborough Petes, 2006-07 and 2007-08. He was the third overall pick at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, taken by the Thrashers. Bogosian has been with the NHL club since.

Alexander Burmistrov played just one season in the Ontario Hockey League, 2009-10, with the Barrie Colts. he was the eighth overall pick of the Thrashers in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft and stuck with the team as an eighteen year old this past season.

Bryan Little is another former Barrie Colts standout. Little played in the Ontario Hockey League for four seasons from 2003-04 to 2006-07, all with Barrie. Another first round pick of the Thrashers, Bryan was taken 12th overall in the 2006 draft. A two-time 100 point man with the Colts, Little’s 31 goals in 2008-09 represent his best NHL production to date.

Brett McLean was claimed off waivers by the Jets on October 6. McLean played four seasons in the OHL from 2004-05 to 2007-08 with the Erie Otters and Oshawa Generals. Brett benefited from having John Tavares as a set-up man in Oshawa, scoring 47 and 61 goals in his final two seasons. McLean was a second round pick of the Phoenix Coyotes in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, 32nd overall. He played 13 games with the Coyotes in 2010-11.

Mark Scheifele is just 18 and is fresh off his rookie season with the Barrie Colts. Mark was the first ever draft pick of the new Jets, going 7th overall in the 2011 draft. Scheifele will start with Winnipeg but will most likely be returned to Barrie.

Chris Thorburn played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1999-00 to 2002-03. After playing for the North Bay Centennials in their last three years as a franchise in the northern Ontario city, he moved with the club to Saginaw for his final season. After 37 games with the Spirit, Thorburn was moved to the Plymouth Whalers to finish out the year. A second round pick of the Buffalo Sabres in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, Chris has played 354 NHL games with the Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins and Thrashers.

Kyle Wellwood is back and looking to stay in the NHL. After starting the 2010-11 season in Russia’s KHL, Wellwood returned to the NHL to finish off the season with the San Jose Sharks. Kyle was a fifth round pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2001 draft after a stellar four year career in the OHL from 1999-00 to 2002-03 with the Belleville Bulls and Windsor Spitfires. Wellwood has appeared in 373 NHL games to date with Toronto, the Vancouver Canucks and the Sharks.