OHL Alumni Central

With the exception of 2007-08, when they were ousted in the Quarter-Finals, the Iserlohn Roosters of Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) have failed to make the post-season in each season since 2000-01. Things don’t look much brighter in 2011-12 with the team struggling in eleventh position in the fourteen team league. On the team are three hockey veterans and alumni of the Ontario Hockey League. All three played in the 1990′s. One actually started at the end of the 1980′s.

Sean Blanchard was CHL defenseman of the year in 1996-97, his third of four seasons with the Ottawa 67′s. Along with that, of course, he was selected as the recipient of the Max Kaminsky Trophy as the Ontario Hockey League’s top blue liner. In his final season of junior, Blanchard played for Team Canada at the 1998 World Junior Hockey Championships.

Sean was a fourth round pick of the Los Angeles Kings at the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, 99th overall. He has never played a regular season game in the National Hockey League. After just three years of playing in the North American minor pros, Blanchard moved on to Europe. He has played in Great Britain, Italy and Switzerland before settling into the DEL. After a return to North American for the 2006-07 season, Sean has been in the DEL since. 2011-12 sees him return to his first team, the Iserlohn Roosters. In 2010-11, he was a member of the Nurnberg Ice Tigers.

Jassen Cullimore played in 812 regular season NHL games between 1994-95 and 2010-11 with the Vancouver Canucks, Tampa Bay Lightning, Chicago Blackhawks and Florida Panthers. This past season, 2010-11, he mixed his season between Chicago and their AHL affiliates, the Rockford IceHogs.

Cullimore played four seasons with the Peterborough Petes from 1988-89 to 1991-92. In his first season, he appeared in just 20 regular season games and two in the playoffs. That season, Peterborough beat the Niagara Falls Thunder in six games to win the Robertson Cup. In 1992, Jassen played for Team Canada at the IIHF World Juniors.

Jassen was a second round pick of the Canucks at the 1991 NHL Entry Draft, 29th overall. He was a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning when the won the Stanley Cup in 2003-04, appearing in eleven playoff games. This is his first season with Iserlohn.

Like Cullimore, Jeff Cowan is in his first season with the Roosters after a lengthy career, split between the NHL and AHL. From 1999-00 to 2007-08, Cowan played 434 regular season NHL games with the Calgary Flames, Atlanta Thrashers, Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks. He has spent the past three seasons in the AHL.

Cowan played parts of three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1993-94 to 1995-96. He played his first two seasons with the Guelph Storm and his final season with the Barrie Colts. He wore the ‘C’ in Barrie. Undrafted, Jeff played his most of his first four years in the pros with the Saint John Flames of the AHL.

Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) is nearing the halfway point of its 52 game 2011-12 season and three Ontario Hockey League grads can be found among the league’s top four point-getters. All three players are members of Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg. Wolfsburg is currently placed fourth in the fourteen team league. Last season, Grizzly Adams was first overall during the regular season and lost in the playoff finals.

Matt Dzieduszycki is currently tied for first in the league, with another member of Wolfsburg, with 11 goals and 14 assists for 25 points in 23 games. Matt played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 1999-00 and 2000-01, with the Barrie Colts. He has been playing in the DEL since the 2006-07 season. He spent his first year with EV Duisburg then followed up with four years with the Hannover Scorpions. This is Dzieduszycki’s first season with Grizzly Adams.

Sitting alone in third place with 24 points is Tyler Haskins. Just one goal differentiates Haskins from Dzieduszycki. Haskins played five years in the Ontario Hockey League from 2002-03 to 2006-07. He began his OHL career with the Guelph Storm and was traded to the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors nine games into his second season. His final year in the OHL was spent with the Saginaw Spirit, where his 60 regular season assists placed him eighth in the league. Haskins was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in the fifth round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. 2011-12 is Tyler’s second year in the DEL and second with Wolfsburg.

With one point less than Tyler Haskins, Norm Milley sits tied for fourth with four other players. Milley played four years with the Sudbury Wolves from 1996-97 to 1999-00. In 98-99, he was second in points to just Peter Sarno. He surpassed the 50 goal and 100 point plateaus in both his final two seasons with Sudbury. Norm was a second round pick of the Buffalo Sabres at the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. In all, Milley played 29 NHL games, all with Buffalo. 2011-12 is his fourth in the DEL and fourth with Wolfsburg.

For Ontario Hockey League fans, there’s an interesting situation in Germany that should trigger the memory machine. There are four OHL grads playing for Nurnberg Ice Tigers of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). Three of the four haven’t played in the OHL since the early to mid-1990′s. With Nurnberg off to a 1-8 start, who knows how long this group will be together.

Starting from the youngest:

Patrick Ehelechner is a ripe 27 years old and played two years in the Ontario Hockey League during the present millenium. Ehelechner tended goal for the Sudbury Wolves in 2003-04 and 2004-05. He came to the Wolves already a prospect of the San Jose Sharks, taken in the fifth round of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, 139th overall. It’s been the DEL all the way for Patrick, entering his seventh year in the league. The past five years, he has played for Nurnberg.

Paul Traynor played for the Kitchener Rangers for three years from 1994-95 to 1996-97. The 34 year old was drafted by the original Winnipeg Jets in the seventh round of the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, 162nd overall. Traynor has been in the DEL since 2004-05 and is in his first season with the Ice Tigers.

Backing up Ehelechner in net is 36 year old Tyler Moss. Moss played three years in the Ontario Hockey League from 1992-93 to 1994-95, all with the Kingston Frontenacs. A second round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1993, Tyler is the only one of the four to have NHL experience. He played games for the Calgary Flames, Carolina Hurricanes and Vancouver Canucks between 1997-98 and 2002-03. This is Tyler’s second year in the DEL and first with Nurnberg after playing in Russia and Switzerland since 2005.

At just 40 years old, Rob Leask is an inspiration to us all. I am fairly certain that he is the last active Toronto Marlboro and Hamilton Duke. Leask played in the Ontario Hockey League for four years from 1988-89 to 1991-92 with Toronto, Hamilton, Guelph Storm and Oshawa Generals (of course, the first three were all the same franchise).

The Washington Capitals picked him up in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft, 209th overall. To put that in perspective, Eric Lindros was the first overall pick that year and other first rounders included Pat Falloon, Scott Niedermayer, Peter Forsberg and Markus Naslund – all no longer active as players. Yet, this 10th rounder from North York still keeps chugging along. Leask is captain of the club and is in his third year with Nurnberg. He has been in the DEL since 1996-97.

Thomas Dolak played one season in the Ontario Hockey League, 1997-98. He began that season with three games in a Kingston Frontenacs uniform before heading north to North Bay and playing 48 more games with the Centennials. In those 51 games, Dolak totalled 45 points.

Thomas, born in the Czech Republic, played his pre-OHL hockey in Germany and has represented the country twice in international play. Dolak was a member of Germany’s under 20 team at the world junior championships in 1999 and played for Germany in the World Championships in 2000.

After his one year in the Ontario Hockey League, Dolak returned to Germany and has played in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) since. 2011-12 will mark his fourteenth year in the league and will be played with the Hamburg Freezers, a team Thomas last played for in 2002-03.

For the past eight years, Dolak has played for the Hannover Scorpions, winning a DEL championship with the club in 2009-10. That season, his 53 points in 56 regular season games placed him tied for 17th in the league. He added 11 points in 10 playoff games on the way to the championship.

This past season, Thomas contributed 46 points in 51 regular season games as the Scorpions finished fifth in the 14 team DEL. Hannover bowed out of the playoffs in the quarter-finals. Dolak’s 46 points placed him 21st in the league.

Other than Hannover and Hamburg, Dolak has also played for the Kassel Huskies and Munchen (Munich) Barons in the DEL. He played in the DEL All-Star game as a member of the Huskies in 2000 and as a member of the Scorpions in 2004.

After two consecutive years helping the Salzburg Red Bulls win the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga championships in Austria, Ontario Hockey League grad Andre Lakos is moving on. Lakos will start the 2011-12 season with Kolner Haie of Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga. Lakos will join OHL grads John Tripp, Charlie Stephens, Jason Jaspers and Jonathan D’Aversa on the Cologne Sharks team that finished ninth in the fourteen team DEL in 2010-11 and were an early first round exit from the playoffs.

Andre Lakos as a member of Salzburg Red Bulls of Germany's DEL.

Lakos played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 1997-98 and 1998-99. His first year was spent on the point with the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors and his last season was in a Barrie Colts jersey.

Andre was a third round draft pick of the New Jersey Devils in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, 95th overall. He spent three years with New Jersey’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Albany River Rats, from 1999-00 until midway through the 2001-02 season when he was shifted to the Utah Grizzlies of the AHL.

2002-03 marked the Austrian’s return to his home country. He played two seasons with the Vienna Capitals of the EBEL. With all the NHL players coming to Europe during the 2004-05 lockout season, Andre made a return to North America, playing one season with the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL. The following season, it was back to Austria.

Along the way, Lakos has played stints in Sweden’s Eliteserien and Russia’s KHL. Through the years, Andre has been a regular on Austrian national teams, playing in the World Juniors, World Championships on several occasions and even playing in the Olympic Games in 2002.

Andre provides a great amount of offense from the blue line, something uncharacteristic in European hockey. Not surprising when you picture a 6’8″ 238 lb. behemoth barrelling down on opposing teams defense. Coincidentally, Lakos becomes the league’s tallest and heaviest player. Kolner should be the team to watch in the DEL this year, at least for OHL fans.