OHL Alumni Central

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).

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The Hull Stingrays find themselves 13 points out of first place in Great Britain’s Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) standings and they’ve yet to play their first game of the season. Because of turmoil during the summer when the existence of the franchise was in doubt, the team has had to scramble to fill a roster and to slot themselves back in the league’s schedule.

Ontario Hockey League alumnus and Hull Stingrays player/coach, Sylvain Cloutier has brought in another OHL grad that may not put many pucks in the net but will intimidate other teams from scoring on Hull.

Jozef Sladok played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 2006-07 and 2007-08, both with the Plymouth Whalers. In his second season Sladok had the dubious destinction of leading the OHL in penalty minutes during the regular season with 223 in 60 games. He added 19 more PIM in just three playoff games that season. In his first season with Plymouth he sat out 100 minutes in just 28 games. His goal scoring total at graduation from the OHL is zero.

The Slovakian played the 2008-09 season in the Central Hockey League with the Corpus Christi IceRayz, playing 29 games and sitting out 154 PIM. This past season, 2009-10, Jozef began the season in his native country but after a game each in the Slovak Extraliga and Extraliga 2, he ended up in Great Britain’s EPIHL which is a tier lower than the EIHL. With the Romford Raiders, the 6’5″, 220 lb. defenseman racked up 149 minutes in penalties in just 31 games. However, he also netted four goals and added 13 assists.

The following video features Jozef Sladok fighting Leigh Salters in 2008 when Salters was still a member of the Guelph Storm.

Check out the roster page at the Hull Stingrays official website.

Jozef Sladok is on the OHL Alumni Big List!

It’s been a turbulent summer for Guelph Storm graduate, Sylvain Cloutier. As player/coach with the Hull Stingrays, things seemed all set heading into the 2010-11 season when the bottom fell out. The owners couldn’t carry the team and the Stingrays were no more.

But wait! All was not lost. New ownership jumped in almost immediately and Hull will field a team for the upcoming season. Some players were lost in the shuffle but Sylvain remains and has his work cut out for him.

Sylvain Cloutier played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1991-92 to 1993-94, all with the Guelph Storm. His 35 goals in his rookie season stands as a Storm record for first year players. His 71 assists and 116 points in his final season when he captained the Storm are team single season records for a left winger. Cloutier is seventh on Guelph’s all-time list for goals scored and assists. He is tied for sixth when it comes to Storm all-time points. In his final season in the Ontario Hockey League, Cloutier finished tied for ninth in league scoring.

He was drafted in the third round of the 1992 NHL draft, 70th overall by the Detroit Red Wings. Sylvain played four seasons in the American Hockey League with Detroit’s affiliate, the Adirondack Red Wings. It wasn’t until 1998-99, after shifting to the Chicago Black Hawks system, that Cloutier got a taste of the NHL, appearing in seven games with the Hawks. This would prove to be the extent of his NHL career.

Cloutier split his time between the AHL and the United Hockey League until the start of the 2006-07 season. He made the jump to European hockey, playing for the Coventry Blaze of Great Britain’s Elite Ice Hockey League. He played two seasons with the Blaze and was better than a point per game player. In each of his two seasons with Coventry, the team won the EIHL championship.

He took time off from playing the game during the 2008-09 season to coach. His stint behind the bench with the Corpus Christi IceRayz of the Central Hockey League lasted 50 games and ended in February of 2009.

Sylvain returned to the EIHL this past season, this time as a player and a coach for the Hull Stingrays. The team finished last among the eight teams in the league with just 43 points in 56 regular season games.

Because of the ownership change, the Hull Stingrays official website is still a work in progress. It can be found here.

However, a better source of all things Hull Stingrays is the F Block Blog.

Check out the following video of highlights from a game between Hull and the Belfast Giants. For North American fans, it’s a great intro to the EIHL game. OHL fans will notice a few familiar names other than Sylvain Cloutier, including Sean McMorrow, George Halkidis and Jeff Szwez. At 1:08 of the video, Cloutier walks away from a fight with ‘The Sheriff’ McMorrow – which is probably a very good idea. At 3:40, he leaves with an injury as a result of a high stick. Cloutier is #83 for the dark jerseys.

Other than what looks to be a small ice surface and a smaller seating area than the Ontario Hockey League, the game itself looks to be pretty fast and exciting. The game is decided in a shootout – you’ll have to watch to see who wins…

Ontario Hockey League grad Joe Talbot is entering his fourth season with the Sheffield Steelers. This is almost unheard of for an import in Great Britain’s Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL). For imports, the EIHL, or any other European elite league for that matter, can be pretty transient with stops of just one season before moving on to the next team, league or country.

Joe Talbot played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1997-98 to 2000-01, all with the Ottawa 67′s. In his final season, his 39 goals and 40 assists for 79 points in a full 68 games helped Ottawa to a third seed ranking in the Eastern Conference. His 28 points in 20 playoff games helped the 67′s win the Robertson Cup as the Ontario Hockey League’s playoff champion. The team was unsuccessful at the Memorial Cup tournament in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Joe went undrafted by any NHL club and decided on the university route, playing two seasons with the University of Western Ontario in London.

From 2003-04 to 2006-07, Talbot played in the East Coast Hockey League with the Alaska Aces. Over the four seasons, Joe consistently averaged 25 goals per season.

For the start of the 2007-08 season, Joe travelled to England to play with the Sheffield Steelers. In each of his first three seasons with the club, his point totals have increased from 59 to 62 to 67 points. The team was EIHL playoff champion in his first two seasons.

Talbot is not alone on the team as an OHL alumus. Ontario Hockey League grads Kevin Bolibruck and Derek Campbell will also be Sheffield Steelers this season.

Check out Joe Talbot’s profile page on the Sheffield Steelers official website.

Talbot is featured in this previous post at OHL Alumni Central listing OHL grads playing for Sheffield during the 2009-10 season.

Greg Chambers was a 40 goal scorer in two of his three Ontario Hockey League seasons. The NHL shunned him but Great Britain cherishes him. Greg played three seasons with the Peterborough Petes from 2000-01 to 2002-03. He led the Petes in total points for the 2001-02 season and was just slightly overshadowed by Eric Staal for the team lead in 2002-03.

Chambers played one season in the ECHL with the Pensacola Ice Pilots in 2003-04 before heading to Europe. He played a season in Italy’s LIHG before settling down in Great Britain’s Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL).

Greg spent his first four seasons with the now defunct Basingstoke Bison of the EIHL. This past season was his first with the Coventry Blaze and he contributed 75 points in 51 games while helping the Blaze to the EIHL title.

For the past three seasons, Chambers has represented Great Britain at the D1 World Championships. In 2007-08, he lead all scorers in the tournament with 11 points. In 2008-09, while helping Great Britain to a bronze medal, Greg led the tournament with six assists. This past world championship, 2009-10, Chambers had the distinction of being the most penalized player in the tournament.

Greg has signed on for the 2010-11 season with the Coventry Blaze. This upcoming season looks to be a fantastic season for the EIHL as more and more imports find their way to Great Britain and mix with some great local talent. The Blaze are looking to be one of the front-runners again. Word is, ice hockey is taking over as the country’s most popular sport.

Check out Greg Chambers’ profile page on the Coventry Blaze official website.

Above photo courtesy of BRLD @ Flickr.