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Four Staals and a Heerema. Five related Ontario Hockey League grads out of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Switch one from forward to defense and add a goaltender and you have a pretty decent line.

Jared Staal, the youngest of the group, is in his first year of professional hockey after a four year Ontario Hockey League career that spanned from 2006-07 to 2009-10, all with the Sudbury Wolves. Jared was a second round pick of the Phoenix Coyotes in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, 49th overall. However, he is currently in the Carolina Hurricanes system. Jared has split the 2010-11 season between the ECHL’s Florida Everblades and the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers and is biding his time until he can play with older brother, Eric, on the NHL team.

Jordan Staal played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with the Peteborough Petes, 2004-05 and 2005-06. Jordan won the Robertson Cup with the Petes in 2006 as the OHL’s playoff champions. He one-upped that with a Stanley Cup victory with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009. Jordan was a second overall pick at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft by the Penguins and had missed only one regular season game in his first four before being hampered by injuries at the start of the 2010-11 season.

Marc Staal in the only one of the family to play for Team Canada at the IIHF Under-20 World Junior Hockey Championships. Marc played in the 2006 and 2007 tournaments. Like brother Jared, Marc played four seasons with the Sudbury Wolves. He played from 2003-04 to 2006-07 and was team captain in his final campaign. Marc was the twelth overall pick in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, going to the New York Rangers. He is currently in his fourth season with the Rangers.

Eric Staal played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2000-01 to 2002-03, all with the Peterborough Petes. Like brother Jordan, Eric was a second overall pick in the NHL Entry Draft. Eric went to the Carolina Hurricanes in 2003. Also, like Jordan, he has one Stanley Cup on the mantle, winning with the Hurricanes in 2006. Eric is currently the captain of the NHL club.

Cousin Jeff Heerema played three years in the Ontario Hockey League from 1997-98 to 1999-00, all with the Sarnia Sting. Jeff was an eleventh overall pick of the Carolina Hurricanes in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. Heerema played 32 games in the NHL, split between the Hurricanes and the St. Louis Blues in 2002-03 and 2003-04. He has spent the past four seasons in Europe and is currently playing for the Nottingham Panthers of Great Britain’s Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL). Check out this previous article at OHL Alumni Central featuring Jeff Heerema.

In case you missed it, subscribers to OHL Alumni Central get a discount on any of our eBay listings. Check out this post for more details.

Oskar Osala played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 2005-06 and 2006-07, both with the Mississauga IceDogs. After his first season, he was taken by the Washington Capitals in the fourth round of the NHL Entry Draft, 97th overall.

During the second season of Osala’s Ontario Hockey League career, he represented Finland at the Under-20 World Junior Hockey Championships. Although the team lost out in the first game of the playoff round, Oskar tied for the tournament lead in goals (5) and was tied for fifth in points with eight, two points off the leader. Osala had previously played for Finland at the Under-18, Under-17 and Under-16 tournaments.

His first year of professional hockey, 2007-08, saw him return to Finland to play for the Espoo Blues of the elite SM-Liiga. Oskar’s 18 goals and 17 assists for 35 points in 53 regular season games earned him the destinction of being the SM-Liiga’s Rookie of the Year. He played another 17 games in the playoffs as the Blues made it to the finals before losing out.

The Capitals were showing great interest in Osala and he returned to North America for the 2008-09 season. He appeared in two games with the NHL club and enjoyed some pretty good success with the AHL’s Hershey Bears. Oskar was second among AHL rookies with 23 goals. He played 22 games in the playoffs as the Bears captured the Calder Cup as the American Hockey League playoff champions.

Midway through the 2009-10 season, Osala was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes system. He played one game with the Hurricanes and finished the season with the AHL Albay River Rats. With a fairly quick exit from the playoffs, Oskar was off to Germany to represent Finland at the World Hockey Championships.

Oskar has been putting up decent numbers with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers this season (54-13-28-40) and is still looking for an extended stay in the National Hockey League.

Check out Oskar Osala’s profile page at the Charlotte Checkers official website.

Mike Murphy hasn’t missed a beat since graduating from the Ontario Hockey League. The Carolina Hurricanes prospect has been putting up great numbers between the pipes in the American Hockey League over the past two seasons, biding his time until he gets the call from the Hurricanes.

Murphy played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2005-06 to 2008-09, all with the Belleville Bulls. Over the last two seasons, Mike was the Belleville Bulls. It was his stellar goaltending that had the team finish first in the Eastern Conference both seasons. He led Belleville to the Robertson Cup final in 2007-08 before losing in seven games to the Kitchener Rangers.

Because Kitchener was the host of the 2008 Memorial Cup, the Bulls were the fourth team in the tournament. Belleville lost out to Kitchener in the semi-final.

In both those last two seasons in the OHL, Murphy was the OHL Goaltender of the Year, an OHL First Team All-Star, a CHL All-Star, had the OHL’s best goals against average and save percentage. He also won the Dave Pinkney Trophy in his final season for the team with the lowest GAA.

Mike was selected by Carolina in the sixth round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, 165th overall. Murphy played last season with their AHL affiliate, the Albany River Rats. He switched to the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL this season as the Hurricanes switched affiliates. Over both seasons in the AHL, Murphy has maintained a GAA less than 3.00 and a save percentage over .900.

Check out Mike Murphy’s profile page at the Charlotte Checkers official website.

Michal Jordan played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2007-08 to 2009-10. Jordan began his OHL career with the Windsor Spitfires before being traded midway through is first season to the Plymouth Whalers.

During his first season in the Ontario Hockey League, Michal represented the Czech Republic at both the Under-18 and Under-20 World Hockey Championships. Jordan would appear in the Under-20 Tournament in each of his three OHL seasons and was the captain of the Czech team in 2010.

Michal Jordan was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes in the fourth round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, 105th overall. The following year, Jordan was taken in the fourth round of Russia’s KHL draft, 80th overall by SKA St. Petersburg.

Jordan is currently playing with Carolina’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers. Michal is under contract in the Carolina organization until the end of the 2012-13 season.

Check out Michal Jordan’s profile page at the Charlotte Checkers official website.

Plymouth Whalers fans will undoubtedly remember Tomas Kurka. The Ontario Hockey League grad played two seasons in the OHL, 1999-00 and 2000-01, both with the Whalers.

Both season Kurka played in the OHL, Plymouth went to the Robertson Cup finals. In his first year, the Whalers lost to the Barrie Colts in seven games. In his second, they were on the losing end of a six game series with the Ottawa 67′s. In his rookie season, Tomas led the Ontario Hockey League’s first year players with 36 goals. He was named to the OHL’s and CHL’s All-Rookie Teams.

After his first season with Plymouth, Kurka was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, 32nd overall. Tomas spent his first three years of pro hockey in Carolina’s system, mostly with their AHL affiliate, the Lowell Lock Monsters. However, in 2002-03 he dressed for 14 games with the NHL squad and played an additional three with the Hurricanes the following season.

After starting the 2004-05 season in his native Czech Republic then returning the the AHL’s Providence Bruins to finish out the season, Kurka was back in Europe to stay for the 2005-06 season. Tomas has spent time in Finland’s SM-Liiga, Switzerland’s National League A and Sweden’s Allsvenskan. He has been in the Czech Extraliga since the 2007-08 season.

Kurka started the 2010-11 season with HC Sparta Praha (Prague) and was recently loaned to HC Pardubice.

Check out Tomas Kurka’s profile page at the HC Pardubice official website.

Tomas Kurka was featured in these two previous posts at OHL Alumni Central:

OHL Grads Competing Against Canada at the Spengler Cup

HC Slavia Praha Home to 5 Ontario Hockey League Grads in 2009-10