OHL Alumni Central

Tomas Zaborsky was the 36th overall pick in the 2006 CHL Import Draft. He didn’t disappoint the Saginaw Spirit. Zaborsky played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 2006-07 and 2007-08, both with the Spirit. In his first season, he recorded 43 points in 59 games. In his second season, he finished third on the club, behind Jack Combs and Ryan McDonough, with 31 goals and 70 points in 68 games.

During his first season with Saginaw, Zaborsky was excused from the team to play for Slovakia at the 2007 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. The team went winless in the opening round and won just one game in relegation but by virtue of goals scored, were safe from being sent down.

Zaborsky came to the Ontario Hockey League already drafted to the National Hockey League. Tomas was taken by the New York Rangers in the fifth round of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, 137th overall. After splitting his first year of professional hockey, 2008-09, with the Charlotte Checkers (ECHL), Dayton Bombers (ECHL) and Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL), it was off to Finland for Zaborsky.

Tomas is in his second season with Ässät of Finland’s SM-Liiga. The team is currently in second place in the fourteen team league. Zaborsky has contributed 22 points in 37 games. He is under contract to be a member of Ässät until the end of the 2011-12 season.

Check out Tomas Zaborsky’s profile page at the Ässät official website.

In a similar situation to yesterday’s post, today’s features a team losing one Ontario Hockey League grad and gaining another. Yesterday, it was the Nottingham Panthers of the Great Britain’s EIHL (click on the team name to view article). Today, it’s Kärpät of Finland’s SM-Liiga. 

Snopek was drafted in the fifth round of the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, 109th overall by the Edmonton Oilers. Jan’s pro career in North America consisted of just two games in the American Hockey League during the 1997-98 season. He has been in the Czech Extraliga since the 1998-99 season. During his five year stint with HC Pardubice from 2004-05 to 2008-09, the team won the league championship in his first year and he was team captain in the final two seasons. This year was Snopek’s second season with HC Ceske Budejovice. 

Martin St. Pierre started this season with Neftekhimik of Russia’s KHL but after just eight games found himself with Kärpät. He played 25 games with the club, contributing 14 points before parting ways with the club this week. 

Martin St. Pierre as a member of the AHL's Rockford IceHogs

St. Pierre played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2000-01 to 2003-04, all with the Guelph Storm. In his first season, he was the OHL’s rookie leader in assists and points. In his final season, the Storm won the Robertson Cup and Martin led the league in playoff assists and points. He was awarded the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award as the playoff MVP. He was also awarded the Leo Lalonde Trophy as the OHL’s Overage Player of the Year. 

Undrafted, St. Pierre has made his way into 38 games in the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins and Ottawa Senators. He has averaged well over a point per game in 367 AHL games with 405 points. Twice he was an AHL All-Star. 

Rumours abound that St. Pierre will be heading to EC Salzburg Red Bulls in Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga. Salzburg has always been very OHL alumni friendly. 

Jan Snopek was featured in this previous post at OHL Alumni Central. 

Martin St. Pierre was featured in this previous post at OHL Alumni Central.

Robert with Kiekko-Vantaa of Finland's Mestis.

The Ontario Hockey League European import list is typically dominated by Russians and Czechs. Robert Nyholm was one of the few that came to the OHL from Finland.

Nyholm played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 2006-07 and 2007-08, both with the Kingston Frontenacs. In his rookie season he contributed 34 points in 66 games and in his second just 5 in 27 with Kingston.

Robert came to the OHL already a draft pick of the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets. He was taken in the fifth round of the 2006 draft, 129th overall. He has yet to play a game of professional hockey in North America, choosing to return to his home Finland immediately after leaving the OHL.

Nyholm twice represented Finland at the IIHF under-18 tournament, 2005 and 2006. In 2006, Finland took the silver medal with Robert putting in two goals and an assist in five games.

Nyholm has gone through the ranks of the Finnish hockey club HIFK. He played for the HIFK junior team before leaving for Kingston and is now entering his third season playing for the elite club in Finland’s SM-Liiga. He has also spent time with their affiliate in the Mestis (tier 2), Kiekko-Vantaa, each season.

Check out Robert Nyholm’s profile page at the HIFK official website.

Check out Robert Nyholm’s profile page at the SM-Liiga official website. With a little translation, this is one of the most indepth sites for player stats.

Robert Nyholm, and all other OHL Alumni still active in pro hockey, can be found on the OHL Alumni Central Big List.

Dale McTavish with Zug in Switzerland.

Dale McTavish played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1989-90 to 1992-93, all with the Peterborough Petes. A consistent offensive producer right from the start, Dale scored 103 regular season goals and 246 regular season points for the Petes over the four years.

In his final season with Peterborough, the Petes won the Hamilton Spectator as the league’s regular season champion and won the Robertson Cup with a 4-1 victory over the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. Dale contributed 17 points in 21 playoff games for the team.

McTavish went undrafted by an NHL team and chose to play in the Canadian university system after graduating from the Ontario Hockey League. In two seasons with St. Francis Xavier, Dale led the team in scoring each year.

During the 1995-96 season, McTavish played for the Canadian National Team. he was the team’s points leader with 56 in 53 games. He would later return to play for Team Canada during the 1999-00 season, appearing in four games.

McTavish caught the attention of the Calgary Flames and played nine games with the club during the 1996-97 season. He also appeared in 53 games with the Saint John Flames of the American Hockey League that year.

Since the start of the 1997-98 season, Dale has played in Europe. His first three seasons were spent in Finland’s SM-Liiga, two with SaiPa and one with the Espoo Blues. Each of those three seasons, McTavish led his team in total points. In his first season in Finland, he led the league in goals scored with 25 in 47 games.

2000-01 saw the start of a 10 year stretch in Switzerland’s National League A. Three times he was his team’s leading point getter and was a member of the All-Star team for the 2007-08 season. In all, he played 361 games in the NL-A, scoring 188 goals and adding 190 assists for 378 points.

This season sees Dale return to SaiPa of Finland’s SM-Liiga, eleven years after last playing for the club. He is joined by fellow Ontario Hockey League and Peterborough Petes grad, Scott Barney.

Check out Dale McTavish’s profile page on the SaiPa official website.

Michal Birner played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 2004-05 and 2005-06. His first season in the OHL was split between the Barrie Colts and the Saginaw Spirit. His final season in the Ontario Hockey League was played exclusively with Saginaw. While with Saginaw, he set the team’s mark for the fastest three goals scored.

Over the 2005-06 season, Birner was second on Saginaw Spirit scoring during the regular season, three points behind team leader Ryan McDonough. However, Michal played eight less games during the season. The missed games were in part due to Birner representing his native Czech Republic at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships (under-20) that were played in Canada. The Czechs left the tournament without a medal.

Birner also represented the Czech Republic on the international stage earlier on in his hockey career when he was on the roster for the 2004 IIHF World Under-18 Championships. Michal contributed five points in seven games as the Czech’s won bronze with a win over Canada in Belarus.

Birner was drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the fourth round of the 2004 NHL draft, 116th overall. He spent his first full season after graduating from the Ontario Hockey League with the Blues’ AHL farm team, the Peoria Rivermen. The following season, he started with Peoria and ended with the Portland Pirates. In 2008-09, he played two games with the AHL’s Iowa Chops before being demoted to the ECHL. Birner chose not to report and instead signed with Pelicans of Finland’s SM-Liiga.

Michal’s season with Pelicans lasted only six games and he was sidelined for the rest of the season with a broken hand. This past season, he remained in the SM-Liiga but with TPS, a storied team that has been around since 1929 (as a sports club, TPS has been around since 1922). His 45 regular season points with TPS was good enough for third on the team in scoring, only four points from the leader. More importantly, TPS won the league championship.

Birner is signed on with TPS for the upcoming 2010-11 season.

Check out Michal Birner’s profile page on the TPS official website.

Check out this recent post on Michal’s teammate with the Spirit, Patrick Asselin.