OHL Alumni Central

Ontario Hockey League grad Daniel Erlich joins three returning OHL Alumni hoping to send Red Bull Salzburg to a three-peat in Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga. Salzburg should be of particular interest to London Knights fans with Erlich playing with Danny Bois – two very popular Knights with the fans.

In seven years since being promoted from tier 2, Salzburg has been to the EBEL finals six times. The Red Bulls have won the championship four of the past five years and the past two in a row.

Erlich spent four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2007-08 to 2010-11. He played with the Knights until halfway through last season when he was traded to the Guelph Storm to finish out his OHL career. His size, 5’6″ and 150 lbs. might not be suitable for the North American game but his amazing speed and quick hands should be ideal for Europe.

Danny Bois enters his second sesaon with Salzburg, having contributed decent offense in his first season as well as trademark toughness. Bois spent four years in the Ontario Hockey League from 2000-01  to 2003-04 where he was team captain. Despite being drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in the third round of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, 97th overall, it was with the Ottawa Senators organization that Bois spent is first five years of pro hockey.

After five years with the Binghamton Senators, and one game with the Ottawa Senators, Bois spent 2009-10 with Chicago’s AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs. With Salzburg last season, Danny contributed 29 points in 48 regular season games and sat out 136 minutes in the sin bin.

Erik Reitz played three years on the point in the Ontario Hockey League from 1999-00 to 2001-02, all with the Barrie Colts. Reitz was Barrie’s captain in his final season and also played for Team USA at the IIHF World Junior Championships. The Colts went to the Robertson Cup finals that season, as well, losing to the Erie Otters.

Reitz was drafted after his first OHL season by the Minnesota Wild in the sixth round of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, 170th overall. Erik played in Minnesota’s system from 2002-02 to midway through the 2008-09 season, mostly with the Houston Aeros of the AHL. In total, Reitz played 48 NHL games with the Wild and New York Rangers. In 2009-10, he made the jump across the pond and played in Russia’s KHL. He was signed to Salzburg last season but didn’t play any games due to injury. After a playing seven games in a pre-season tournament, Reitz is once again on the disabled list this year.

Markus Pock played just three games in the Ontario Hockey League. The native of Austria played three games for the Sudbury Wolves last season before returning to Austria to play for Salzburg.

The Salzburg Red Bulls of Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga are playoff champions for the second year in a row. Salzburg has dominated the EBEL with four championships in the past five years.

This year, they had three Ontario Hockey League grads contributing as the Red Bulls took Klagenfurter to seven games in the final. Klagenfurter finished atop the EBEL during the regular season, followed closely by Salzburg and breezed through the playoffs before meeting up with their nemesis. Salzburg beat Ljubljana easily in the first round but was taken to seven by the Vienna Capitals in the semi-final.

Andre Lakos was born in Vienna, Austria and played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 1997-98 and 1998-99. In his first season of OHL hockey, Andre played for the Toront St. Michael’s Majors. In his second, he played for the Barrie Colts. After his season in Barrie, the New Jersey Devils selected him in the third round of the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, 95th overall.

Lakos played three years in the American Hockey League before returning to Europe. Since, he has played in Sweden, Russian and Austria. At 6’8″ and 238 lbs., Andre was the tallest and heaviest player in the EBEL this season.

Danny Bois played four seasons with the London Knights from 2000-01 to 2003-04. The Colorado Avalanche draft pick played several years in the Ottawa Senators system with their AHL affiliate, the Binghamton Senators. After the 2009-10 season playing with Chicago’s AHL team, the Rockford IceHogs, it was off to Austria for the 2010-11 season.

As usual with Bois, he provided muscle, earning 136 PIM in 48 regular season games while also providing offense with 29 points.

Martin St. Pierre saw the most of Europe this season. He began in Russia’s KHL, switched to Finland’s SM-Liiga after eight games and finished off the season with Salzburg. St. Pierre played in the Ontario Hockey League the same four years as Danny Bois but with the Guelph Storm. He saw some NHL action through the years with the Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins and Ottawa Senators. Like Bois, this was Martin’s first year in Europe.

With 913 penalty minutes over his four year Ontario Hockey League career with the London Knights, Danny Bois is the Knights all-time leader by 254 minutes. Next in line is Brad Marsh with 659. Despite the penalty numbers, Bois captained the team in the final three of his four seasons and scored 70 regular season goals over his OHL career.

Originally drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in the third round of the 2001 NHL draft, 97th overall, Bois was never signed by Colorado and was eventually picked up as a free agent by the Ottawa Senators. Danny spent five seasons with Ottawa’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Binghamton Senators. He was able to make it up to the NHL for one regular season game in 2006-07 where he had a minor penalty and a fight.

This past season, 2009-10, Bois became property of the Chicago Blackhawks and had hopes of joining fellow London Knights alumni, David Bolland and Patrick Kane on the big club. That didn’t pan out and Danny spent the season with the Rockford Icehogs of the American Hockey League. In six seasons in the AHL, Bois accumulated 1124 minutes in penalties.

Danny has decided to take a new direction and is heading to Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (EBEL) to play with EC Salzburg Red Bulls for the 2010-11 season.

Danny Bois does not yet have a profile page on the EC Salzburg Red Bulls official website but the site can be accessed by following this link.

Danny Bois also appears in this previous post listing the London Knights alumni still active in professional hockey during the 2009-10 season.