OHL Alumni Central

For Ontario Hockey League grad Rob Schremp, 2010-11 seemed looked like the year he’d finally crossed the mountain and became a full-fledged National Hockey League regular. However, Schremp has left the NHL and North America behind to play for MODO of Sweden’s Elitserien for the 2011-12 season.

Rob Schremp as a member of the AHL's Springfield Falcons.

Schremp played four season in the Ontario Hockey League from 2002-03 to 2005-06. He began his career with the Mississauga IceDogs and won the Emms Family Award as OHL rookie of the year in his first season, playing along side fellow American born player, Patrick O’Sullivan.

In 2003-04, after just three games with the IceDogs in which he average two points per game, Rob was traded to the London Knights. He scored 28 goals and totalled 90 points with London that season. The following year, he increased his point total to 90 on 41 goals and added another 29 points in the playoffs as the Knights won the Robertson Cup and Memorial Cup.

2005-06 was by far Schremp’s most productive in the Ontario Hockey League. His 57 goals, 88 assists and 145 points in just 57 games were all league highs. He won the Eddie Powers Trophy as the league’s top point-getter but was denied the Red Tilson Trophy as MVP which went to Wojtek Wolski of the Brampton Battalion.

In both his final two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, Schremp played for Team USA at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. In both years, USA was denied the podium, taking fourth place in both tournaments.

Rob was taken by the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, 25th overall. In his first pro season, he played just one regular season with the Oilers while spending the rest of his time in the AHL with the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. The following season, he doubled his total of NHL games with two. He was the ninth leading point-getter during the 2007-08 season, contributing 67 for the Springfield Falcons.

2008-09 saw him double his NHL games from the previous season again. He played four games for the Edmonton Oilers, registering his first NHL points with three assists. A trade to the New York Islanders organization in saw him finally play a significant amount of games with 44. He produced 25 points for the Islanders, including seven goals in those 44 games.

This past season, Schremp started out with the Islanders, playing 45 games. He finished the season with the Atlanta Thrashers, playing 18 more games.

The KHL regular season has come to a close in Russia for 2010-11 and Traktor Chelyabinsk finds themselves in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, 11 points out of a playoff spot. Chelyabinsk is the current club of Ontario Hockey League grad, Vitaly Yachmenev.

Yachmenev played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 1993-94 and 1994-95 and took the league by storm. In his first season, he led the league with 61 goals and was named not only the OHL’s rookie of the year but the CHL’s rookie of the year as well. He helped the North Bay Centennials to a Hamilton Spectator Trophy as regular season champs and a Robertson Cup as the OHL’s playoff champions. Vitaly added 32 points in 18 playoff games for the Centennials. The team’s luck ran out at the Memorial Cup, going 0-3.

The following season, Yachmenev scored 53 for the Centennials while adding 52 assists for 105 points in 59 games. The 105 points was good enough for ninth in the OHL. He helped Russia to a Silver Medal at the IIHF Under-20 World Hockey Championships. Vitaly was also awarded the William Hanley Trophy as the Ontario Hockey League’s Most Sportsmanlike Player. The award is representative of the way Yachmenev has played the game throughout his career. His highest penalty minute total came in 2005-06 with just 30 in Russia’s Super League.

After his first season with North Bay, Yachmenev was drafted surprisingly low, going in the third round of the 1994 NHL Entry Draft, 59th overall to the Los Angeles Kings. Vitaly put in  almost 500 games in the NHL with Los Angeles and the Nashville Predators before skipping to Russia for the start of the 2003-04 season. Unfortunately, the goal scoring ability that he showed with the Centennials never really resurfaced and he topped out with a season of 19 goals with the Kings.

In his eighth season in Russia, Yachmenev scored just four goals and added 12 assists in 43 games for Chelyabinsk. His current contract expired at the end of this season.

Vitaly spent the year playing with another Ontario Hockey League grad, Alexander Buturlin, on Traktor Chelyabinsk.

Check out Vitaly Yachmenev’s profile page at the KHL official website.

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Peter Sarno was left without a team for the 2010-11 season until this week when the Ontario Hockey League grad signed up with Lausanne of Switzerland’s National League B. Sarno had spent the past three seasons in Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga.

Peter played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1996-97 to 1998-99. His first two seasons were spent with the Windsor Spitfires and his final season was with the Sarnia Sting. In his final two seasons in the league, Sarno won the Eddie Powers Trophy as the league’s top point getter. In 1997-98 he notched 121 points and in his final season he increased the total to 130. He also led the league in assists both seasons with totals of 88 and 93. In his first season with Windsor, he was honoured with the Emms Family Award as the OHL’s rookie of the year.

Sarno was taken by the Edmonton Oilers in the sixth round of the 1997 NHL draft, 141st overall. In all, Peter got into seven career NHL games, six with the Oilers and one with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

A set up man in the style of Adam Oates or Joe Thornton, Sarno led the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs in assists during the 2000-01 season with 46. He led the AHL’s Manitoba Moose in assists (66) and points (82) in 2004-05 while finished sixth in league scoring. In 2007-08, he led the DEL’s Hamburg Freezers in assists (48) and points (74).

His European play began with a test season in 2002-03 with the Blues of Finland’s SM-Liiga. He returned to Europe for 2006-07 to play for Gottéron of Switzerland’s National League A. He followed that up with two seasons with Hamburg and this past season he played for the DEL’s Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg.

He is currently under contract with Lausanne until January 31, 2011.

Check out Peter Sarno’s profile page on the Lausanne official website.

We don’t often feature NHLers on OHL Alumni Central, but since yesterday we featured Cory Stillman the Kingston Frontenacs and Barrie Colts grad, we figured today we better feature Cory Stillman the Windsor Spitfires and Peterborough Petes grad.

Today’s Cory Stillman played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1990-91 to 1992-93. His first two seasons were with the Windsor Spitfires and his final season was spent in his hometown with the Peterborough Petes.

With Windsor, he was awarded the Emms Family Award as the Ontario Hockey League’s best first year player. He earned this by contributing 101 points in 64 regular season games and leading the Spitfires in scoring. He added an additional 9 points in 11 playoff games that season.

With the Peterborough Petes, Stillman was part of a Robertson Cup winning team after the Petes beat out the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the OHL final. Ironically, it was the same Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds that beat the Petes in the Memorial Cup final. The Greyhounds gained a berth in the Memorial Cup that season as the host.

This Cory Stillman was drafted by the Calgary Flames in the first round of the 1992 NHL draft, sixth overall. He played parts of seven seasons with the Flames before moving on the St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning, Carolina Hurricanes, Ottawa Senators and finally the Florida Panthers. He has been on two Stanley Cup winning teams: the 2003-04 Tampa Bay Lightning and the 2005-06 Carolina Hurricanes.

Cory will be entering his 16th NHL season in 2010-11 with the Panthers. Sitting at 960 NHL regular season games played and 688 regular season points, Cory is assured of reaching the 1000 game and 700 plateau’s this season.

Check out Cory Stillman’s profile page on the Florida Panthers official website.

To view yesterday’s post on the other Cory Stillman, click here.