OHL Alumni Central

Jakub Koreis played just one season in the Ontario Hockey League, 2003-04. He played 48 regular season games with the Guelph Storm and 22 games in the playoffs as the Storm captured the Robertson Cup by upsetting Ontario Hockey League top seed, London Knights, in the Western Conference final and sweeping the Mississauga IceDogs in the final.

Koreis represented the Czech Republic three time during his junior career. In 2002, he was part of the bronze medal winning IIHF World Junior under-18 tournament team. He also appeared at the 2003 and 2004 under-20 World Juniors.

The Phoenix Coyotes had high hopes in Jakub as they drafted him in the first round of the 2002 NHL draft, 19th overall. After his season in the Ontario Hockey League, Koreis spent three seasons in the AHL, one with the Utah Grizzlies and two with the San Antonio Rampage.

In 2007-08, Koreis left North America and played in Finland’s SM-Liiga with Ilves. He returned home in 2008-09 and has been a member of HC Sparta Praha of the Czech Extraliga since. He is signed on with Prague for the 2010-11 season.

With HC Sparta Praha, he will join Ontario Hockey League alumnus Radek Smolenak, who was featured yesterday on OHL Alumni Central. Click here to check out the post. Former Barrie Colt, Lukas Bolf is also on the team.

Check out Jakub Koreis’ profile page on the HC Sparta Praha official website.

Vojtech Kloz played just one season in the Ontario Hockey League. Kloz was a Kingston Frontenac in 2003-04. He played 62 games and was definitely a stay-at-home defenseman getting only three assists over the season.

Kloz returned to his native Czech Republic in 2004-05 and played pro in that country at various levels until midway through last season when he made the switch to the Slovak Extraliga and HK 36 Skalica. Vojtech played a total of 39 games at the highest level in the Czech Republic, the Extraliga.

For a reference, the IIHF ranks the Czech Extraliga third in Europe while the Slovak Extraliga is fifth.

Michael Kolarz played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2004-05 to 2006-07, all with the Kingston Frontenacs. Good enough to earn a spot on Team Czech Republic at the 2007 IIHF World Junior Hockey Tournament but not good enough to be drafted by an NHL club.

Kolarz played a partial season in the Central Hockey League after graduation from the Ontario Hockey League but has since mostly toiled in the Czech Extraliga 2. Last season was his first with MsHK Zilina of the Slovak Extraliga and he is back with the team for the 2010-11 season.

The Slovak Extraliga consists of 13 teams throughout the country of Slovakia. This past season, 2009-10, HK 36 Skalica finished sixth and MsHK Zilina finished tenth.

Check out Michael Kolarz’s profile page on the MsHK Zilina official website.

Check out Vojtech Kloz’s profile page on the HK 36 Skalica official website.

Check out this previous post about OHL alumni playing for HK 36 Skalica.

Marek Kvapil played just one season in the Ontario Hockey League, 2004-05, with the Saginaw Spirit. Kvapil started that season with HC Slavia Praha in the Czech Republic under-20 league. After eight games, he made the move to the Ontario Hockey League and was an offensive powerhouse on a Spirit team that had the least goals for in the OHL. He added seven games for the Czech Republic at the 2005 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships where he produced two goals and three assists as the Czech’s lost out to Canada in the semi-finals but beat the USA for the bronze.

Kvapil finished up his season in Saginaw with 25 goals and 37 assists for 62 points in just 53 games. With the Spirit scoring just 150 goals on the season, Marek factored in on 43.4% of the team’s total goals, despite missing 15 games.

Kvapil found his way into the Ontario Hockey League record books during his short career. He is tied for the OHL record for the fastest goal to begin a period. He scored four seconds into the third period of a game against the Mississauga IceDogs.

The Tampa Bay Lightning drafted Marek in the sixth round of the 2005 NHL draft, 163rd overall. He spent three years following his one year stint in the Ontario Hockey League playing for teams in the AHL and ECHL (AHL – Springfield Falcons, Norfolk Admirals; ECHL – Johnstown Chiefs, Mississippi Sea Wolves).

Kvapil will start his third season in the Czech Republic’s Extraliga this upcoming season. His first two seasons were played with HC Vitkovice but he has made a change this year and signed on with HC Kometa Brno. Marek hopes to help lift Brno from 12th in the 14 team league in 2009-10 to at least a playoff berth this season. In the Extraliga, the top ten teams make the post season.

Marek had the fortune of representing the Czech Republic this past spring at the IIHF World Hockey Championships in Germany as the Czechs won the gold medal. He was mentioned in this previous post regarding OHL alumni on the Czech team for the tournament.

Check out Marek Kvapil’s profile page on the HC Kometa Brno official website.

Check out this great profile of Marek Kvapil in the alumni section of the Saginaw Spirit official website.