OHL Alumni Central

Not active as a player, Ontario Hockey League alumnus Stan Drulia is still much a part of the professional hockey world. Stan is entering his ninth year of coaching since retiring as a player and his first as head coach of the Wheeling Nailers of the East Coast Hockey League.

Stan Drulia played five seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1984-85 to 1988-89. Be began his OHL career with the Belleville Bulls. He played his first two seasons in Belleville, highlighted by a 43 goal performance in his sophomore year. In 1986-87, Stan moved to the Hamilton Steelhawks. After two seasons in Hamilton, Drulia followed the team as they picked up and moved down the QEW to Niagara and became the Thunder.

In 1987-88 with the Steelhawks, Stan was sixth on the Ontario Hockey League scoring list with 121 points on 52 goals and 69 assists. In his final season, he was second only to teammate Bryan Fogarty in league scoring with his 145 points on 52 goals and 93 assists. Drulia added 37 points in 17 playoff games that season as the Thunder reached the Robertson Cup finals before losing out the Peterborough Petes in six games.

In that final season, Stan was awarded the Leo Lalonde Memorial Trophy as the Ontario Hockey League’s best overage player and also the Jim Mahon Memorial Trophy as the league’s top scoring right winger.

Drulia was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the eleventh round of the 1986 NHL draft, 214th overall. He would end up his career with 126 NHL games played, all with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He played 24 games with Tampa Bay in 1992-93 then didn’t play again in the NHL for six seasons before ending out his NHL career with the Lightning in 1999-00 and 2000-01.

In 1990-91, his one and only season in the ECHL, Stan tallied 140 points in just 64 games for the Knoxville Cherokees en route to becoming the ECHL MVP. That point total stands today as the fourth best single season mark in ECHL history. The following season, Drulia notched 49 goals and 53 assists for 102 points for the New Haven Nighthawks in the higher calibre AHL which placed him third in league scoring.

Drulia’s greatest pro success came in the old IHL. He played eight seasons in the league, including the six between stints with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Twice he was on Turner Cup winning teams, the 1993-94 Atlanta Knights and the 1996-97 Detroit Vipers. Twice he was awarded the N.R. “Bud” Poile Trophy as the league’s playoff MVP, first with those 1993-94 Atlanta Knights and again in 1998-99 with the Vipers despite the team losing in the Turner Cup finals to the Chicago Wolves.

Stan played three seasons with the Atlanta Knights of the IHL from 1993-94 to 1995-96. He will forever be etched in that team’s record books as the player with most career goals, assists and points. Drulia also is second on Atlanta’s all-time games played list and appears in the top ten for all-time penalty minutes. The Knights moved to Quebec City for the 1996-97 season and became the Rafales. The Rafales lasted just two seasons.

Check out Stan Drulia’s Wheeling Nailers at their official website.

This video was a promo that was sent out to Vipers season ticket holders after winning the 1997 Turner Cup. Stan Drulia appears at around the 1:50 mark of the video, scoring a big goal for Detroit.

Rob Dmytruk played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2000-01 to 2002-03. Each season he played in the OHL, he found himself on a different team’s roster.

Dmytruk’s Ontario Hockey League career began with the Belleville Bulls. His second season consisted of only 19 games with the Sudbury Wolves. In his final season, he went west and played for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. In total, Rob played in 89 regular season games in the OHL as well as six total playoff games.

After his Ontario Hockey League career, Dmytruk went the Canadian university route and played five seasons at Wilfred Laurier University. In his fourth season, 2006-07, he developed into an offensive defenseman scoring 11 goals and adding 21 assists for 32 points in 28 games. In his final two seasons with Laurier, Rob was a first team all-star.

2008-09 was Rob Dmytruk’s only season of professional hockey in North America and he bounced around between three different clubs in two leagues. He began the season with the Phoenix Roadrunners of the ECHL and moved on to the Rapid City Rush and Tulsa Oilers of the Central Hockey League.

This past season, Dmytruk moved to the European hockey scene and played with Eindhoven Kemphanen in the Netherlands. He continued his offensive ways with 14 goals and 20 assists for 34 points in 42 games.

This upcoming season, Rob has shifted to France’s Ligue Magnus and the Ducs Dijon. We’ve noted before that not many Ontario Hockey League alumni play in the Ligue Magnus. Hopefully Rob will find great success with Dijon.

Rob Dmytruk’s profile has yet to appear on the Ducs Dijon official website but you can follow this link to the story on the the website announcing the arrival of Rob.

Kris Newbury played five seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1998-99 to 2002-03. His first season in the OHL was played with the Belleville Bulls He was part of a Robertson Cup winning Bulls team that beat out the London Knights in the OHL final and went on to an appearance at the Memorial Cup.

Newbury’s stint with the Belleville Bulls came to an end in his second season when he was traded mid-way to the Sarnia Sting. In 2001-02, Kris was fourth in Ontario Hockey League scoring with 104 points, just six points behind first place Nathan Robinson of the Belleville Bulls. In his final season in the OHL, Kris dropped to ninth in league scoring with 92 points, 59 points behind first place Corey Locke of the Ottawa 67′s. In each of those final two seasons, Kris had over 140 penalty minutes.

Kris Newbury was drafted in the fifth round of the 2002 NHL draft by the San Jose Sharks, 139th overall. In 2003, he was signed by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Kris remained in the Maple Leafs organization until the start of the 2009-10 season. Newbury played mostly with Toronto’s AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies.

Kris became property of the Detroit Redwings for the 2009-10 season and played mostly with their AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins. Near the end of this past season, Newbury was traded to the New York Rangers system. He will start the upcoming season in the American Hockey League with the Hartford Wolf Pack.

In all, Newbury has played 48 total games in the NHL, all but four have been with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the remainder with the Detroit Red Wings. In 395 career games in the AHL, Kris has accumulated 936 penalty minutes.

Check out Kris Newbury’s profile page on the Hartford Wolf Pack official website.

If you haven’t yet checked it out, the OHL Alumni In Europe For 2010-11 early bird version is available for download free.

Sean Brown played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1993-94 to 1995-96. Until midway through his final season, Brown played for the Belleville Bulls. He was traded to the Sarnia Sting to finish off his OHL career.

In 1995, Brown was a first round pick of the Boston Bruins, 21st overall. He did play for the Bruins but not until after being traded back to Boston from the Edmonton Oilers. In all, Sean Brown played 437 games in the National Hockey League with Edmonton, Boston, New Jersey Devils and Vancouver Canucks.

No stranger to the penalty box, the big defenseman sat out 515 minutes in 149 regular season OHL games as well as 122 minutes in 34 OHL playoff games. In the NHL, Brown sat out 909 minutes in the 437 games. In 2007-08, he was the most penalized player in Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). He sat 206 minutes in just 53 games for the Nurmberg Ice Tigers. This was a continuation from the season before when in just 3 playoff games with the DEG Metro Stars of the DEL, Brown had 64 minutes in penalties.

The upcoming season will be his fifth in Europe since leaving the NHL. The first two seasons were in the DEL and the past two have been played with Klagenfurter AC (EC-KAC) of Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (EBEL). The team won the Austrian Championship in 2008-09. Sean is signed on for the 2010-11 season with Klagenfurter again.

Check out Sean Brown’s profile page on the Klagenfurter official website.

Matt Kelly with the ECHL's Victoria Salmon Kings.

A couple of Belleville Bulls alumni will be playing together in Italy for the 2010-11 season with HC Pusteral of the Lega Italiana Hockey Ghiaccio (LIHG).

Matt Kelly enters his second season with the Pusteral Wolves. Matt played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2002-03 to 2005-06, all with the Belleville Bulls. The defenseman played three seasons in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) with the Victoria Salmon Kings before heading to Italy. Additionally, Kelly has a total of ten games in the American Hockey League (AHL), all with the Manitoba Moose. Matt lead the LIHG in 2009-10 with the most assists and points by a defenseman.

Tyler Doig played in the Ontario Hockey League for four seasons from 2003-04 to 2006-07. His first season in the OHL consisted of just one game with the Barrie Colts. The following two and a half seasons were spent with the Guelph Storm. In his final Ontario Hockey League season, 2006-07, Doig was traded to the Belleville Bulls mid-season. Tyler played 25 regular season games and 15 playoff games with the Bulls. In his final season, he contributed 80 points in 61 regular season games as well as 17 points in 15 playoff games with the Bulls.

For the three seasons since leaving the OHL, Tyler Doig has played for three different ECHL teams (Columbus Inferno, Reading Royals, Charlotte Checkers) and two different AHL teams (Toronto Marlies, Hartford Wolf Pack). Pusteral is looking forward to Doig’s consistent offensive abilities.

The team plays out of Bruneck which is located in the far northeast of Italy, very near the border with Austria. 83% of the population speak German and only 15% speak Italian. The team plays out of the Leitner Solar Arena which seats just 2,100 for hockey.

Read the article on Tyler Doig’s signing that appears on the team’s official website (sorry – only in Italian and German).

Check out Matt Kelly’s profile page on the team’s official website.