OHL Alumni Central

Ontario Hockey League grad David Kuchejda will return for his fifth season with HC Ceske Budejovice in 2011-12. HC Ceske Budejovice finished the 2010-11 season sixth place in the 14 team Czech Republic Extraliga. The team made a quick exit from the playoffs, losing in the quarter-finals.

Kuchejda came to the Ontario Hockey League already a prospect of the Chicago Blackhawks. David was taken by Chicago in the seventh round of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, 202nd overall. He made his first appearance in the OHL in 2005-06 after being a 13th overall pick by Sault Ste. Marie in the 2005 CHL Import Draft.

Kuchejda played two seasons with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, 2005-06 and 2006-07. In his rookie season, he scored 19 and totalled 40 points in a year when the Greyhounds were the third lowest scoring team in the OHL. The following season, playing just 59 games, he scored 25 and added 28 assists in the Greyhounds first season in their new arena, the Steelback Centre.

David played for the Czech Republic at the 2007 IIHF World Under-20 Hockey Championships, held in Leksand, Sweden. The team went 2-2 in the round robin and made a quick exit from the playoffs with a loss to Sweden in the Quarter-Finals. Kuchejda played in all the team’s games but didn’t register a point.

Kuchejda immediately returned to the Czech Republic upon graduation from the Ontario Hockey League. He has played with HC Ceske Budejovice (Mountfield) since, with some trips down to the tier 2 league. The team plays out of Budvar Arena which holds 6,421 for hockey. The team was founded in 1928 but has won only one league championship, all the way back in 1951.

Although in Czech, you can check out David Kuchejda’s profile page at the HC Ceske Budejovice official website.

Three other Ontario Hockey League grads are playing on HC Ceske Budejovice:

Dustin Wood

Michael Kolarz

Jakub Kovar

Ivan Svarny – ring a bell with you Belleville Bulls fans? Svarny played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 2002-03 and 2003-04, both with the Bulls.

The big defenseman from Slovakia played a season with the New Mexico Scorpions of the Central Hockey League in 2004-05 after going undrafted in the NHL Entry Draft.

Svarny returned to Slovakia for the 2005-06 season and played with his hometown HK Nitra in the Slovak Extraliga. The following season with HK Nitra, Ivan set career bests for goals (9) and points (22) in just 47 games. He also spent more time in the penalty box than any other season during his career, including junior. In those 47 games, Svarny sat out 146 minutes, nearly double his highest single season count with the Bulls.

Ivan switched to the Czech Republic for the 2007-08 season and has been in the Czech Extraliga since. He has played the last three full seasons with HC Litvinov. In 2008-09, he joined his countrymen on Team Slovakia at the IIHF World Hockey Championships. Ivan was on the pre-tournament roster for Slovakia for the 2011 tournament but was left off the team for the main tournament. The Worlds this year are being played in his home country of Slovakia.

It has been confirmed that Svarny is looking for a new team for the 2011-12 season after Litvinov released at the end of the 2010-11 season.

Vaclav Meidl played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2003-04 to 2006-07. He began his OHL career with the Plymouth Whalers after being drafted 3rd overall in the 2003 CHL import draft and was traded to the Saginaw Spirit midway through the 2005-06 season. Meidl played eight games with the Oshawa Generals during the 2006-07 season before returning to his native Czech Republic.

Vaclav’s most productive season in the Ontario Hockey League was his first with 14 goals and 42 points in 67 games. His numbers dropped each successive season after that. Meidl was a member of Team Czech Republic at the 2006 IIHF World Under-20 Championships. The team lost to the United States in the quarter finals.

After his first season with Plymouth, Meidl was drafted in the third round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft by the Nashville Predators, 81st overall. Vaclav’s professional career since leaving Oshawa in 2006-07 has been a split between the Czech Republic’s Extraliga and Extraliga 2.

This past season, 2010-11, Vaclav played six games with the Extraliga’s HC Kometa Brno and 39 with the Extraliga 2′s HC Havlickuv Brod. With Brod, Meidl contributed 33 points on 15 goals, his best professional output to date. He is set to return to Brod for the 2011-12 season.

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Radim Bicanek played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with the Belleville Bulls, 1993-94 and 1994-95. He came to the OHL already drafted by an National Hockey League club. Bicanek was taken in the second round of the 1993 NHL Entry Draft by the Ottawa Senators, 27th overall.

The season before joining Belleville, Radim played for Czechoslovakia’s Under-18 European Junior Championships Team and Under-20 World Junior Team. Czechoslovakia finished third behind Canada and Sweden at the Under-20 tournament.

Bicanek provided great offense from the blueline for the Bulls with 43 points in his rookie season and 39 in his second season. In the playoffs, Bicanek contributed 21 points over 28 games over the two seasons combined.

Radim played 122 NHL games starting with the Senators. In 2000, he was picked up by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the NHL Expansion Draft. He played parts of two seasons with Columbus before returning to the Czech Republic. Bicanek also appeared in 18 games with the Chicago Black Hawks over his NHL career.

Since 2004-05, Bicanek has been playing in the Czech Republic’s Extraliga. His first five seasons were played with HC Znojemsti where he was team captain for the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons. He has been a member of HC Kometa Brno since the start of the 2009-10 season. Radim has worn the ‘A’ on his jersey since coming to Brno. He will return for the 2011-12 season.

Check out Radim Bicanek’s profile page on the HC Kometa Brno official website.

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Peter Hamerlik played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2000-01 to 2002-03, all with the Kingston Frontenacs. In all three seasons, the netminder played the bulk of Kingston’s games.

In 2002, Hamerlik played for Slovakia at the IIHF World Under-20 Hockey Championships. The team finished on top of Group A during the preliminary round but were upset by Switzerland in the first game of the playoff round by losing 3-2 in a shootout. Hamerlik previously played for Slovakia’s squad at the Under-18 tournament in 1999 and 2000. In 1999, the team won bronze.

Peter twice entered the NHL Entry Draft. In 2000, before playing a game in the Ontario Hockey League, Hamerlik was taken by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the third round, 84th overall. In 2002, he was picked by the Boston Bruins in the fifth round, 153rd overall. Peter hasn’t appeared in the NHL but played for four different teams from the AHL and ECHL in 2003-04, his only full season of North American pro hockey.

Hamerlik returned to Slovakia midway through the 2004-05 season after things failed to work out with the Providence Bruins of the AHL. Since, he has played in Slovakia, Belarus, Russia and the Czech Republic. Peter was on the Slovakia team at the 201o World Hockey Championships, although he didn’t get into any games.

Over the past two seasons, Hamerlik has been the number one goaltender for HC Trinec of the Czech Republic’s Extraliga. Currently, the team has just finished up the regular season in first place and move towards a long playoff run. Peter played 34 of the team’s 52 regular season games and put up great numbers with a 2.33 goals against average and a .929 save percentage.

Check out Peter Hamerlik’s profile page at the HC Trinec official website.