OHL Alumni Central

Is Great Britain’s Elite Ice Hockey League just using Ontario Hockey League grads for their fists? The EIHL typically has more than a few OHL alumni among the top ten scorers in the league. This year, there are just two in the top 20 with approximately 10 games to go in the regular season. These two, Mike Ramsay and Corey Neilson, fall in the 16th and 20th position. Ramsay, a player who was used sparingly by the Peterborough Petes over two partial seasons and Neilson, a 35 year old defenseman who last played for the Barrie Colts in 1997.

Yet, when it comes to time spent in the box, seven the OHL can lay claim to seven of the top 20, including three of the top five. Derek Campbell is the highest, sitting in second place with 209 PIM in just 44 games, a 4.75 PIM/GM pace. However, he doesn’t hold a candle to league leader Chris Frank of the Cardif Devils who has 286 PIM in 42 games – a 6.81 PIM per game pace!

It’s not that the British Isles are developing better talent. Just three of the top 20 point getters are from Great Britain and one includes Corey Neilson. Neilson is Canadian born but has since gotten his UK citizenship. For the most part, it’s just the way it goes in European hockey. It’s a transient hockey world and by next year at this time, OHL boys could be clogging the scoring race.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the players involved:

Top Scorers:

Mike Ramsay is tied for 16th wit 47 points in just 33 games, not bad for a guy who totaled just 5 goals with the Petes. Ramsay played with Peterborough for parts of the 2001-02 and 2002-03 season. He moved on to the QMJHL where he achieved greater success. This is Mike’s first year with the Sheffield Steelers of the EIHL.

Corey Neilson is in his sixth year with the Nottingham Panthers and truly leads by example. Neilson has also been the coach of the team for the past four years. The defenseman has 45 points in 45 games to rank him at the edge of the top 20. Ironically, his 81 PIM actually tied him for the 20th in that race, as well. Corey played in the Ontario Hockey League from 1993-94 to 1996-97 with the North Bay Centennials, Detroit Whalers and Barrie Colts.

Top Bad Boys:

Derek Campbell sits in second with 209 PIM in 44 games as a member of the Hull Stingrays. This his sixth year in the EIHL and first with Hull. Campbell played four years in the OHL from 1997-98 to 2000-01 with the Belleville Bulls, Owen Sound Platers and Kingston Frontenacs.

No surprise to Kitchener Rangers fans, Adam Keefe holds down the number 4 spot with 164 PIM in 41 games with the Belfast Giants. Keefe is in his first year in the EIHL and already has a ‘A’ on his jersey. Adam played in the Ontario Hockey League from 2000-01 to 2004-05 with the Sudbury Wolves and Kitchener.

A position behind Keefe is Colt King with 135 PIM in 41 games with the Sheffield Steelers. This is Colt’s first season in the EIHL. He played in the OHL from 1999-00 to 2003-04 with what seems like half the league. King wore the OHL jersey’s of the Guelph Storm, North Bay Centennials, Saginaw Spirit, Oshawa Generals, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and Sarnia Sting.

Frantisek Bakrlik is tied for 12th with 90 PIM in 48 games. It’ll be interesting to see how many regular season games Bakrlik ends up playing. The Fife Flyers are his third team this season in the EIHL and it looks like he’s picked up a few extra games due to scheduling differences at the time of each of his trades. Frantisek played in the OHL in 2000-01 and 2001-02 with the Barrie Colts and Sarnia Sting. This is his first year in the EIHL.

Darryl Lloyd is in 15th with 88 PIM in 37 games with the Belfast Giants. Lloyd is in his first season in the EIHL and is currently injured. Darryl played three seasons with the Windsor Spitfires from 2001-02 to 2003-04.

Drew Bannister falls in 17th spot with 84 PIM in 40 games with the Braehead Clan. Bannister will turn 38 in a few months and began his OHL career way back in 1990. He played four seasons with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds from 1990-91 to 1993-94. A second round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1992, Bannister has 176 NHL games under his belt, including playoffs. This is his second year in the EIHL and first with the Clan.

Just a minute behind Bannister is Sylvain Cloutier of the Hull Stingrays. Cloutier has 83 minutes in 41 games. This is Cloutier’s fifth EIHL season and third with the Stingrays. Like Corey Neilson with Nottingham, Sylvain is also the coach of the team and is in the third year of that position. Cloutier played three years in the OHL with the Guelph Storm from 1991-92 to 1993-94. A veteran of seven NHL games, all with the Chicago Blackhawks in 1998-99.

With Great Britain broken down into it’s individual countries (England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales), Canadian players outnumber any other nationality in Great Britain’s Elite Ice Hockey League. According to EliteProspects.com, there are currently 57 Canadians, topping England which has 55. Therefore, it’s not all that shocking that three of the top ten and four of the top twenty in penalty minutes are Ontario Hockey League grads (all numbers are as of October 27, 2011).

Derek Campbell of the Hull Stingrays is no stranger to the penalty box but has also contributed nearly a point per game in his 260+ EIHL games since joining the league for the 2006-07 season. Campbell played four years in the Ontario Hockey League from 1996-97 to 2000-01. He played his first two with the Belleville Bulls, his third with the Owen Sound Platers and his final season with the Kingston Frontenacs. He currently leads the EIHL in PIM with 88 in 13 games. He also has 10 points in that time.

Colt King sits tied for third with 64 PIM in 14 games with the Sheffield Steelers. This is Colt’s first season in the EIHL after seven years in North America with teams in the ECHL, UHL, CHL and AHL. King played five seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1999-00 to 2003-04 with the Guelph Storm, North Bay Centennials, Saginaw Spirit, Oshawa Generals, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and Sarnia Sting. Colt played this past season with the Rapid City Rush of the CHL, wearing the ‘A’ on his jersey. Like Campbell, he also can help out in the offensive department, scoring five and assisting on four, so far this season.

Adam Keefe is another newbie to the EIHL. Keefe sits in seventh with 55 PIM in 14 games with the Belfast Giants. Adam played five seasons from 2000-01 to 2004-05 in the Ontario Hockey League with the Sudbury Wolves and Kitchener Rangers. He brings a ton of American Hockey League experience to a league that is producing a higher quality game each year.

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Darryl Lloyd is also new to the EIHL. In his first season with the Belfast Giants, Lloyd currently sits in 18th position with 36 PIM in 14 games. Darryl has spent the past five years in the ECHL with the last two as a member of the Kalamazoo Wings. Although providing a physical presence, Darryl also contributed 51 points in 72 games in 2010-11. Lloyd played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2001-02 to 2003-04, all with the Windsor Spitfires.

Of course, Canadians are also in the top 20 scorers in this exciting league. Among them are Ontario Hockey League grads. Stay tuned to OHL Alumni Central as we profile these players in the near future.

The Belfast Giants of Great Britain’s Elite Ice Hockey League have started the 2011-12 season with a bang, going 11-1 with an additional shootout loss. Despite this, the team sits just three points ahead of the Nottingham Panthers atop the league. The team is on track to challenge for the league championship, something they accomplished in 2009-10.

Adam Keefe has fit right in with the Giants. The Ontario Hockey League grad has brought his tough brand of hockey to Ireland and currently sits seventh in the EIHL in penalty minutes. Keefe wears the ‘A’ on his jersey. Another OHL Alumnus, Jeremy Rebek (Owen Sound Platers) is the team captain.

Adam played in the Ontario Hockey League for five years from 2000-01 to 2004-05. He began with the Sudbury Wolves and moved over the Kitchener Rangers during his second season. In his first full season with Kitchener, 2002-03, the team won the Robertson Cup and the Memorial Cup.

Undrafted, Keefe has toiled in the AHL and ECHL since 2005-06. This past season, 2010-11, started with the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL but saw Adam play 40 games with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins.

With six points already this season, Keefe is on pace to have his best offensive season since entering professional hockey in 2005-06. That season, with the Toledo Storm of the ECHL, Adam contributed 21 points in just 28 games while sitting out 174 minutes in the penalty box. He also spent 31 games with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose that season, with much lower offensive results.

Alex Penner in black for the Nottingham Panthers.

Over the past week and a half, the Nottingham Panthers of Great Britain’s Elite Ice Hockey League have lost an Ontario Hockey League grad and gained another. Alex Penner, or as he was known in England ‘Weapon X’, returned to North America to play for his 2009-10 club, the Colorado Eagles of the Central Hockey League. Daniel Tkaczuk signed on with the Panthers for the rest of this season after playing the first half with EC Dornbirn in Austria’s tier 2.

Penner was on his way to beating the best single season goal production in his professional hockey career with the Panthers. Weapon X has notched four in 30 games. His previous best was five with Colorado last season. In that 30 games, Alex amassed 291 minutes in penalties, which is his highest single season total.

Alex Penner played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 2004-05 and 2005-06. His first season in the OHL consisted of just eleven games with the Guelph Storm. In his second season, he put in 55 games with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. Check out this previous post at OHL Alumni Central on Alex Penner.

Daniel Tkaczuk on the left with ERC Ingolstadt during the 2006-07 DEL season.

Daniel Tkaczuk will definitely be an offensive threat with the Panthers. The team currently sits fourth in the ten team league. Between fourth and fifth is the line between the have and have-nots of the EIHL. Nottingham is just six points behind Belfast and Sheffield. The Panthers sit nine points behind the first place Cardiff Devils. There is a twelve point difference between Nottingham and the fifth place Braehead Clan (a first year team).

Tkaczuk played four stellar seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1995-96 to 1998-99, all with the Barrie Colts. Daniel was team captain in the final three of the four seasons and went to the world juniors for Team Canada in 1998 and 1999. He was a sixth overall draft pick in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, going to the Calgary Flames. He appeared in 19 games with the Flames in 2000-01.

After six seasons in Europe from 2003-04 to 2008-09, Tkaczuk returned to North America last season and was bounced around from four different teams, inlcuding: Charlotte Checkers (ECHL), Syracuse Crunch (AHL), Rochester Americans (AHL) and Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL). His European tour has taken him to Finland, Italy, Germany, Austria and now England. Check out this previous post at OHL Alumni Central featuring Daniel Tkaczuk.

Of course, both players appear on the OHL Alumni Big List.

Jeff Heerema with Medvescak Zagred of Austria's EBEL during the 2009-10 season.

The Nottingham Panthers sit in second place in the ten team Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) of Great Britain. The Panthers are three points  back of the Belfast Giants but have three games in hand. The Panthers have brought in a dangerous weapon to subdue the Giants and push into first place.

Ontario Hockey League grad Jeff Heerema has finally found a home for the 2010-11 season. He was not invited back to Medvescak Zagreb of Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (EBEL) after a successful regular season but less than stellar playoff run in 2009-10.

Heerema played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1997-98 to 1999-00, all with the Sarnia Sting. Jeff was a picture of consistency with the Sting with seasons of 32, 31 and 36 goals and 72, 70 and 77 points. He led the Sting in all offensive categories in his final season with 36 goals, 41 assists and 77 points.

Heerema was thought of quite highly by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 1998 NHL draft. Jeff went in the first round, eleventh overall. He saw action with the Hurricanes in the 2002-03 season, a year before cousin Eric Staal made his debut in Carolina. Heerema played ten games with the Hurricanes that season and 22 with the St. Louis Blues the following year to round out his NHL career.

Jeff twice led his American Hockey League team in points. in his first season in the AHL, 2001-02, he led the Lowell Lock Monsters in goals (33), assists (37) and points (70). In his last season in North America, 2006-07, Heerema led the Binghamton Senators in goals with 36 and points with 67.

The greatest playoff success Jeff achieved in North America was during the 2004-05 season. Playing for the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, the team made it to the Western Conference finals before being swept by the Chicago Wolves.

In 2007-08, it was off to Germany for Heerema. For two seasons, he played for the Frankfurt Lions of Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL).

Jeff joins two other OHL grads on the Nottingham Panthers, Alex Penner (click here for a previous post on Alex) and Jonathan Zion (click here for a previous post on Jonathan). The Belfast Giants have brought in artillery in the form of OHL grads as well with the aquisition of Brad Smyth (click here for previous post on Brad) and Michael Jacobsen (click here for previous post on Michael). The Panthers lost OHL great Cameron Mann to retirement after the 2009-10 season (click here for previous post on Cameron).