OHL Alumni Central

Ontario Hockey League grad Jason Bacashihua held the American Hockey League’s eighth best goals against average in 2010-11. Playing 42 games for the Lake Erie Monsters, Bacashihua recorded a 2.29 GAA and .917 save percentage with four shutouts.

Jason played one season in the Ontario Hockey League with the Plymouth Whalers in 2001-02. In leading the Whalers to a Hamilton Spectator Trophy as the OHL’s best regular season team, Bacashihua put up outstanding numbers and won several accolades.

In 46 games with the Whalers in 2001-02, Jason had a 2.34 GAA and a .921 save percentage. He was honoured with the Dinty Moore Trophy as the first year goaltender with the lowerst GAA. Together with Paul Drew, he won the Dave Pinkney Trophy for the goaltending duo with the lowest GAA. Not only was he selected to the OHL First All-Rookie Team, he was also named to the CHL All-Rookie Team.

Unfortunately, the Whalers ran up against a giant killer in the first round of the Robertson Cup playoffs that season. The London Knights, who finished eighth in the West, took out Plymouth in six games. London would be dispatched in the second round by the Erie Otters.

Bacashihua came into the Ontario Hockey League already a prospect of the Dallas Stars. After two seasons with the Chicago Freeze, prior to coming to Plymouth, Jason was taken in the first round of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, 26th overall by the Stars. His only NHL action to date has been with the St. Louis Blues. Bacashihua played 19 games for the Blues in 2005-06 and 18 the following year. In 2005-06 and 2006-07, he was chosen to play for U.S.A. at the IIHF World Championships.

Another Ontario Hockey League great has decided to hang up the blades. At 39 years old and with 19 NHL seasons under his belt, Adam Foote has announced his retirement.

Foote played three seasons with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds from 1988-89 to 1990-91. In his final season, he was name an OHL First Team All-Star while leading the Greyhounds to a Robertson Cup victory and a Memorial Cup berth.

Adam was selected by the Quebec Nordiques in the second round of the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, 22nd overall. With exception to six games played in the AHL in his first professional season, Foote has been one of the NHL’s premier defensemen since.

Other than three years played with the Columbus Blue Jackets, 2005-06 to 2007-08, Foote has remained with the Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche franchise. In total, Adam played in 1153 regular season and 170 playoff games in the NHL. He was the alternate captain to Joe Sakic in the four years leading up to his hiatus in Columbus. With Columbus, he was team captain for the three seasons. He got his ‘A’ back upon his return to Colorado and when Joe Sakic called it quits two years ago, Foote was named team captain in his place.

Foote was part of two Stanley Cup winning teams with the Avalanche. In 1996, Colorado swept the Florida Panthers. In 2001, it took seven games to defeat the New Jersey Devils. Adam also won gold with Team Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games and the 2004 IIHF World Cup. In total, Foote was on Team Canada for three Olympic Games and two World Cups.

Team Slovakia has three Ontario Hockey League alumni on the roster for the 2010 IIHF World Hockey Championships. Two of the three were also on the National team at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Olympians Peter Budaj and Andrej Sekera

 are joined by Richard Panik for the Worlds.

Richard Panik is one of the newest OHL grads to be playing at the pro level. He played his only OHL season in 2009-10 and split the year between the Windsor Spitfires and the Belleville Bulls and could potentially be back with the Bulls next season. He completed the season with the Norfolk Admirals of the AHL. Richard was a second round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2009 NHL draft.

Peter Budaj played three seasons between the pipes for the St. Michael’s Majors from 1999-00 to 2001-02. A second round pick of the Colorado Avalanche in the 2001 NHL draft, Peter has just completed his fifth season with the NHL club.

Andrej Sekera played two seasons in the OHL with the Owen Sound Attack, 2004-05 and 2005-06. Drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2004 NHL draft, Andrej has remained in the Sabres organization.

Click on the country to see what OHL grads are on the roster for the 2010 IIHF World Hockey Championships: Latvia, Canada, Italy(1), Italy (2), Czech Republic, Norway, Finland.

The San Jose Sharks will meet the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the 2010 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. 14 Ontario Hockey League grads will be on the rosters for this match-up including 9 for Colorado and 5 for San Jose. The 9 OHL alumni on Colorado is the most on any team in this year’s playoffs, tied with Buffalo.

The Avalanche have picked from a good selection of OHL teams, whereas the Sharks have 3 of the 5 players having played at least a portion of their OHL careers with the Ottawa 67′s.

The 14 OHL grads are listed below. As always, you can click on each player’s name to view their profile page on the team’s official website.

San Jose Sharks

Manny Malhotra played two full seasons in the OHL for the Guelph Storm in 1996-97 and 1997-98. He then played a full season with the New York Rangers in 1998-99 before returning to the Storm for 5 regular season games and 6 playoff games in 1999-00. He had huge expectations on his shoulders back in 1998 when he was picked seventh overall by the New York Rangers. He played sparingly with the Rangers until 2001-02 when he was traded mid-season to the Dallas Stars. Dallas didn’t really pan out and Manny was traded to Columbus during the 2003-04 season where he finally became a regular. This is first season with the Sharks.

Jamie McGinn played four seasons in the OHL with the Ottawa 67′s from 2004-05 to 2007-08. Drafted by the Sharks 36th overall in the 2006 draft, Jamie is in his first full season with San Jose after splitting last season between the Sharks and their AHL affiliate in Worcester.

Logan Couture, like Jamie McGinn, played four seasons in the OHL with the Ottawa 67′s but from 2005-06 to 2008-09. A ninth overall pick by the Sharks in the 2007 draft, Logan started the season with Worcester of the AHL but looks to have overcome that hurdle to be part of the best team in the west.

Joe Thornton played two seasons in the OHL with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, 1995-96 and 1996-97. His final season, he had a stellar 41 goals and 81 assists for 122 points in just 59 games to finish second to Marc Savard in league scoring. Joe was the first overall pick in 1997 by the Boston Bruins and has lived up to ever expectation in his incredible career that has seen him produce over a point a game in over 900 regular season games. Joe is in his fifth season as a Shark.

Brad Staubitz played four seasons in the OHL from 2001-02 to 2004-05. His career was entirely with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds up until midway through his final season when he was traded to an Ottawa 67′s team that would go to the OHL finals before losing out to the mighty London Knights. With London hosting the Memorial Cup, Ottawa competed as well as the finalist from the host league. Brad is in his second season with the Sharks.

Colorado Avalanche

Matt Duchene played two seasons in the OHL with the Brampton Battalion, 2007-08 and 2008-09. As the third overall pick in the 2009 NHL draft, Matt jumped right into life in the NHL, playing 81 of 82 games this season.

Ryan O’Reilly played two seasons in the OHL with the Erie Otters, 2007-08 and 2008-09. He made the jump smoothly right into the NHL this season, playing 81 games with the youthful Avalanche.

Craig Anderson stopped pucks for the Guelph Storm for three season from 1998-99 to 2000-01. Craig has been mostly a backup goalie in the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks and the Florida Panthers until this season. Craig played in 71 games with the Avalanche in his first season with the team.

Chris Stewart was a Kingston Frontenac for three seasons from 2004-05 to 2006-07. Stewart is in his second season with the Avalanche, the team that picked him in the first round of the 2006 NHL draft.

Kyle Quincey played three seasons in the OHL from 2002-03 to 2004-05. His first season was with the London Knights. He was traded to Mississauga 5 games into his second season and finished off his OHL career with the IceDogs. Used sparinginly by the Detroit Red Wings in his first three seasons of professional hockey, Kyle became a regular with Los Angeles last season in a break-out season and has been a leader on the blueline for the Avalanche this season.

Stephane Yelle played three seasons in the OHL with the Oshawa Generals from 1991-92 to 1993-94. He began his NHL career with the Avalanche and spent his first seven seasons in the league with the team. He’s had stints in Calgary, Boston and Carolina before being returned to Denver at the trade deadline this season.

Adam Foote was as Sault Ste. Marie Greyhound for three seasons from 1988-89 to 1990-91. He began play with the Avalanche franchise back in 1991-92 when they were still known as the Quebec Nordiques. With the exception of two and a half seasons spent with the Columbus Blue Jackets before being returned to the Avalanche, Adam has spent his entire career with Colorado.

Ryan Wilson played a fairly rare five seasons in the OHL. He played for the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors for three seasons from 2003-04 to 2005-06. He then played for the Sarnia Sting for the 2006-07 and 2007-08 season. This is Ryan’s first season with Colorado and his first in the NHL.

Peter Budaj played three seasons in the OHL with the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors from 1999-00 to 2001-02. Peter is in his fifth season between the pipes for the Avalanche but has lost his starting role to fellow former OHLer Craig Anderson. Peter played for Slovakia at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Trevor Cann played 4 solid seasons between the pipes in the Ontario Hockey League. He began his OHL career with the Peterborough Petes in 2005-06. He was a Pete until just after the start of the 2008-09 season when he was traded to the London Knights to try and fill a goaltending void left by Steve Mason the year before.

Cann was a second round draft pick of the Colorado Avalanche in 2007. In his first season of professional hockey, Trevor started out with the Tulsa Oilers of the Central Hockey League. His 2.81 GAA and .915 save percentage were enough to get him promoted to Colorado’s AHL affiliate, the Lake Erie Monsters.

To view Trevor’s profile page on the Tulsa Oilers official website, click here.

To view Trevor’s profile page on the Colorado Avalanche official website, click here.

To view an interview with Trevor on the Lake Erie Monsters official website, click here.