OHL Alumni Central

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.

The Coventry Blaze of Great Britain’s Elite Ice Hockey League will have two Ontario Hockey League grads on the roster for 2011-12. As mentioned in an earlier article, Mike McLean is taking his first step across the pond to play with Coventry. Just a few days ago, it was announced that Peterborough Petes alumnus Dustin Wood will be playing the point for the Blaze.

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Also, another Ontario Hockey League alumnus, Neal Martin seems to the be the first to be honoured on the Coventry Blaze Wall of Fame. Inducted June 9, 2011, Martin was a standout defenseman for the club for four seasons from 2004-05 to 2007-08. Martin last played pro hockey with AaB in Denmark. He played in the OHL for four seasons from 1992-93 to 1995-96 with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and Sudbury Wolves. After three years of bouncing around the North American minors, Martin left for Europe, never looking back. Along with Great Britain and Denmark, Neal also played in Germany and Austria.

Dustin Wood spent the past two seasons in the Asia League with Anyang Halla. Both seasons, the team was league champion, although this past season they were co-champs after play was suspended due to the Earthquake/Tsumani. Wood played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1998-99 to 2001-02, all with the Peterborough Petes. He was team captain in his final season. Wood was destined to start the 2011-12 season with HC Ceske Budejovice in the Czech Extraliga but things fell through. He will start with Coventry in a couple of weeks after the paperwork is processed.

Mike McLean played in the Ontario Hockey League for parts of five seasons with the Oshawa Generals and Guelph Storm. After playing for nine different teams in the North American minors between 2007 and 2011, he makes the journey to Great Britain in search of stability. A Central Hockey League all-star last season with the Quad City Mallards, McLean totalled 51 points in 55 games.

After a great season in the Central Hockey League with the Quad City Mallards, Ontario Hockey League grad Mike McLean is off to Great Britain to play in the EIHL with the Coventry Blaze.

Mike McLean with the ECHL's Dayton Bombers in 2008-09.

Mike McLean played in the Ontario Hockey League from 2002-03 to 2006-07. His first year consisted of just two games with his hometown Oshawa Generals. His second season started with the Generals and saw him end up with the Guelph Storm after eleven games. McLean was a mainstay with the Storm until the end of the 2006-07 season.

Undrafted by an NHL club, McLean has spent the past four seasons playing for eight different clubs in three different leagues. He was a point per game man with the Dayton Bombers of the ECHL in 2008-09 with 46 points in 47 games. This past season, Mike was tied for the points lead on the Quad City Mallards of the Central Hockey League with 51 in 55 games. The player he was tied with played eleven more games. McLean played in the CHL All-Star game in 2010-11. The Mallards finished seventh out of nine teams in the Turner Conference and made a quick exit from the first round of the playoffs.

McLean’s arrival in Coventry is highly anticipated. The Blaze finished sixth in the ten team Elite Ice Hockey League this past season and lost to the Belfast Giants in the first round of the playoffs. The team plays out of the Skydome Arena in Coventry which seats just 3,000 for hockey. Since 2002-03, the Coventry Blaze have been regular season champions five times and have been playoff champs twice.

Drew Bannister, as mentioned yesterday, is one of four players from the 1993 Memorial Cup winning Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds that are still playing in professional hockey today.

Bannister played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1990-91 to 1993-94, all with the Greyhounds. His first and second year, the Greyhounds were the Robertson Cup champions. In 1993, the team won the Memorial Cup, despite not winning the Robertson. They earned a berth in the Mem as the host city. In both 1992 and 1993, Drew Bannister was named to the Memorial Cup All-Star team.

In his final season in the Ontario Hockey League, Drew played for Team Canada at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. The tournament was held in the Czech Republic and Canada won gold. Oddly enough, not a single Canada player made the tournament All-Star team.

Bannister was taken by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round of the 1992 NHL Entry Draft, 26th overall. Drew has seen a total of 164 NHL games with the Lightning, Edmonton Oilers, Anaheim Ducks and New York Rangers. The last NHL game Drew played was during the 2001-02 season. Bannister has been in Europe since the 2002-03 season, with exception of 2009-10 when he returned to the American Hockey League to play for the Binghamton Senators.

Not just a champion in the OHL, Bannister was also part of the AHL’s Calder Cup winning team in 2000, the Hartford Wolf Pack. In 2007-08, he was named the top defenseman in Germany’s 2.Bundesliga as he led the Kassel Huskies to a playoff championship. This allowed Kassel to move up to the elite DEL for the next season.

This season, 2010-11, Bannister has been playing for the Hull Stingrays of Great Britain’s Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL). Drew has worn an ‘A’ on his jersey for Hull and is currently trying to help the team through the playoffs.

Check out Drew Bannister’s profile page at the Hull Stingrays official website.