OHL Alumni Central

In keeping with the Spengler Cup theme of late, today we’re looking at a member of Genève-Servette that happens to be an Ontario Hockey League grad. Despite relative success in North America since leaving the OHL after the 2004-05 season, Dan Fritsche opted to play in Switzerland this season. Perhaps, following his roots as his uncle John played several years in Switzerland. Genève-Servette is one of the six teams participating in the annual Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland over the Christmas holidays.

Fritsche played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2001-02 to 2004-05. He was a member of the Sarnia Sting until his final season when he was moved to the London Knights to bolster their powerhouse team. The Knights, of course, went on to win the Hamilton Spectator as regular season champs, the Robertson Cup as OHL playoff champs and the Memorial Cup as CHL champs.

Dan twice was a member of Team USA at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. In 2004, USA won gold win a victory over Team Canada. In 2005, Fritsche finished just out of the top ten scorers with seven points but the USA didn’t fare too well with a fourth place finish.

Fritsche was picked up in the second round of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets, 46th overall. Dan caught on right away with Columbus and played regularly for three seasons from 2005-06 to 2007-08. In 2008-09, he split his season between the New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild. This past season, 2009-10, he was back in the Blue Jackets organization playing for their AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. Despite only 42 points with the Crunch, Dan was five points out of the team lead. He represented Syracuse at the AHL All-Star Classic.

Dan is featured in these previous posts at OHL Alumni Central:

OHL Alumni at the 2010 Spengler Cup

Alumni of the 2004-05 London Knights Still Active in 2009-10

OHL Alumni at the 2010 AHL All-Star Classic

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Dan LaCosta played between the pipes in the Ontario Hockey League for four seasons, from 2002-03 to 2005-06. He started his OHL career with the Owen Sound Attack and moved to the Barrie Colts midway through the 2004-05 season. He played in the net for 59 games for the Colts in his final season in the Ontario Hockey League.

In that final season with the Barrie Colts, LaCosta was second, only to Dan Turple of the Kitchener Rangers, amongst Ontario Hockey League goalies in wins and goals against average. The Colts lost out in the Eastern Conference finals to the eventual Robertson Cup winning Peterborough Petes.

LaCosta was taken by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the third round, 93rd overall, in the 2004 NHL draft. Dan appeared in four games with the Blue Jackets, one in 2007-08 and three in 2008-09. In 2007-08, he appeared in relief playing 13 minutes of shutout hockey while making five saves. In 2008-09, LaCosta had his only NHL shutout while maintaining a 1.54 GAA and a .950 save percentage over the three games.

The rest of LaCosta’s professional career has been mostly played with the American Hockey League’s Syracuse Crunch, the affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets. He has also appeared with the Dayton Bombers and the Elmira Jackals of the East Coast Hockey League.

LaCosta has taken a new direction for the upcoming season and has signed on with EC Salzburg Red Bulls of Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga. After a somewhat disappointing season with Syracuse during the 2009-10 season when Dan had a 3.96 GAA and a save percentage of .882, LaCosta is looking to turn things around in Europe.

Check out Dan LaCosta’s profile page on the EC Salzburg Red Bulls official website by following this link and clicking on Dan’s name on the right hand column.

Dan Lacosta appears in this previous post listing the Barrie Colts alumni still active in professional hockey during the 2009-10 seeason.

Despite the fact that many Russians have played in the OHL in recent years, there is only one OHL grad that will play on Team Russia at the Olympic Games in Vancouver.

Fedor Tyutin was a member of the Guelph Storm for the 2001-02 season. That season, he had 19 goals and 40 assists for 59 points in 53 games. He was drafted 40th overall by the New York Rangers and went on to play 4 seasons for the team before moving on to Columbus in 2008-09, where he remains today.

Check out these other posts of OHL grads going to the Olympics:

Latvia, Norway, Germany, Czech Republic, United States and Canada.