OHL Alumni Central

With the exception of 2007-08, when they were ousted in the Quarter-Finals, the Iserlohn Roosters of Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) have failed to make the post-season in each season since 2000-01. Things don’t look much brighter in 2011-12 with the team struggling in eleventh position in the fourteen team league. On the team are three hockey veterans and alumni of the Ontario Hockey League. All three played in the 1990′s. One actually started at the end of the 1980′s.

Sean Blanchard was CHL defenseman of the year in 1996-97, his third of four seasons with the Ottawa 67′s. Along with that, of course, he was selected as the recipient of the Max Kaminsky Trophy as the Ontario Hockey League’s top blue liner. In his final season of junior, Blanchard played for Team Canada at the 1998 World Junior Hockey Championships.

Sean was a fourth round pick of the Los Angeles Kings at the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, 99th overall. He has never played a regular season game in the National Hockey League. After just three years of playing in the North American minor pros, Blanchard moved on to Europe. He has played in Great Britain, Italy and Switzerland before settling into the DEL. After a return to North American for the 2006-07 season, Sean has been in the DEL since. 2011-12 sees him return to his first team, the Iserlohn Roosters. In 2010-11, he was a member of the Nurnberg Ice Tigers.

Jassen Cullimore played in 812 regular season NHL games between 1994-95 and 2010-11 with the Vancouver Canucks, Tampa Bay Lightning, Chicago Blackhawks and Florida Panthers. This past season, 2010-11, he mixed his season between Chicago and their AHL affiliates, the Rockford IceHogs.

Cullimore played four seasons with the Peterborough Petes from 1988-89 to 1991-92. In his first season, he appeared in just 20 regular season games and two in the playoffs. That season, Peterborough beat the Niagara Falls Thunder in six games to win the Robertson Cup. In 1992, Jassen played for Team Canada at the IIHF World Juniors.

Jassen was a second round pick of the Canucks at the 1991 NHL Entry Draft, 29th overall. He was a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning when the won the Stanley Cup in 2003-04, appearing in eleven playoff games. This is his first season with Iserlohn.

Like Cullimore, Jeff Cowan is in his first season with the Roosters after a lengthy career, split between the NHL and AHL. From 1999-00 to 2007-08, Cowan played 434 regular season NHL games with the Calgary Flames, Atlanta Thrashers, Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks. He has spent the past three seasons in the AHL.

Cowan played parts of three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1993-94 to 1995-96. He played his first two seasons with the Guelph Storm and his final season with the Barrie Colts. He wore the ‘C’ in Barrie. Undrafted, Jeff played his most of his first four years in the pros with the Saint John Flames of the AHL.

 

 

Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) is nearing the halfway point of its 52 game 2011-12 season and three Ontario Hockey League grads can be found among the league’s top four point-getters. All three players are members of Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg. Wolfsburg is currently placed fourth in the fourteen team league. Last season, Grizzly Adams was first overall during the regular season and lost in the playoff finals.

Matt Dzieduszycki is currently tied for first in the league, with another member of Wolfsburg, with 11 goals and 14 assists for 25 points in 23 games. Matt played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 1999-00 and 2000-01, with the Barrie Colts. He has been playing in the DEL since the 2006-07 season. He spent his first year with EV Duisburg then followed up with four years with the Hannover Scorpions. This is Dzieduszycki’s first season with Grizzly Adams.

Sitting alone in third place with 24 points is Tyler Haskins. Just one goal differentiates Haskins from Dzieduszycki. Haskins played five years in the Ontario Hockey League from 2002-03 to 2006-07. He began his OHL career with the Guelph Storm and was traded to the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors nine games into his second season. His final year in the OHL was spent with the Saginaw Spirit, where his 60 regular season assists placed him eighth in the league. Haskins was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in the fifth round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. 2011-12 is Tyler’s second year in the DEL and second with Wolfsburg.

With one point less than Tyler Haskins, Norm Milley sits tied for fourth with four other players. Milley played four years with the Sudbury Wolves from 1996-97 to 1999-00. In 98-99, he was second in points to just Peter Sarno. He surpassed the 50 goal and 100 point plateaus in both his final two seasons with Sudbury. Norm was a second round pick of the Buffalo Sabres at the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. In all, Milley played 29 NHL games, all with Buffalo. 2011-12 is his fourth in the DEL and fourth with Wolfsburg.

 

***Update***(Feb. 4, 12)

Missed one! Not sure how Jakub Svoboda got missed. Jakub played the 2008-09 season with the Saginaw Spirit. Thank you to Miroslava Svoboda for the reminder! Here is Jakub’s career stats, courtesy of eliteprospects.com:

 

HC Kometa Brno was promoted back to the top division of the Czech Republic Extraliga for the 2009-10 season. Brno won the Czechoslovakia championship eleven of twelve years between 1954-55 and 1965-66. The one season in that span when they didn’t win, 1958-59, they finished second. The team fell on hard times, dealing with relegation over the past few decades.

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HC Kometa currently sits tenth in the fourteen team league, playing out of the 7,200 seat Kajot Arena in Brno. Brno is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, next to Prague, and has a metro population of 810,000. The hockey team has three Ontario Hockey League grads helping the cause, all natives of the Czech Republic.

Radim Bicanek played two years in the Ontario Hockey League with the Belleville Bulls, 1993-94 and 1994-95. The solid D-man came to Belleville already a prospect of the Ottawa Senators. Bicanek was taken in the second round of the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, 27th overall. Radim’s NHL career consisted of 122 games with the Senators, Chicago Blackhawks and Columbus Blue Jackets. He has been in the Czech Extraliga since the 2004-05 season and is in his third year with Brno. Bicanek has been an assistant captain with HC Kometa since coming from HC Znojemsti Orli where he served as team captain for two seasons.

Jakub Koreis came to Brno during the 2010-11 season from HC Sparta Prague and finished off the season with six games in a HC Kometa uniform. Koreis played just one season in the Ontario Hockey League, 2003-04 with the Guelph Storm. In 48 regular season games, Jakub contributed 38 points to Guelph’s cause. In the Storm’s run to a Robertson Cup championship, Koreis totalled 18 points in 22 games. He played for Guelph at the Memorial Cup and the Czech Republic at the 2004 IIHF World Juniors.

Koreis was drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes at the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, over a year before even playing a game in the Ontario Hockey League. Jakub was a first round pick, going nineteenth overall. After three years in the American Hockey League, Koreis returned to Europe, playing one year in Finland’s SM-Liiga before heading to the Czech Republic.

Tomas Pospisil played two years in the Ontario Hockey League with the Sarnia Sting, 2005-06 and 2006-07. Like Jakub Koreis and Radim Bicanek, Pospisil came to the OHL already drafted to an NHL club. Tomas was a fifth round pick of the Atlanta Thrashers in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, 135th overall. He was twice a member of the Czech Republic’s team at the IIHF World Juniors. After two years in the AHL, Pospisil returned to the Czech Republic for the 2009-10 season.

 

Ontario Hockey League grad Kent McDonell has started his fifth season in Sweden’s Elitserien and his second with AIK. In an odd twist of European hockey, McDonell was loaned to Rapperswil of Switzerland’s National League ‘A’ for ten games but is back with his Swedish club.

Check out the surprising number of Kent McDonell hockey cards on eBay!

Kent played four years in the Ontario Hockey League from 1996-97 to 1999-00, all with the Guelph Storm. In 60 games during the 1998-99 season, McDonell scored 31 goals. He helped Team Canada to a Silver Medal at the IIHF World Junior Tournament in 1999. In his final season with Guelph, he scored 35 and assisted on 35 others for 70 points in just 56 games.

McDonell was taken in the ninth round of the 1997 NHL Entry Draft by the Carolina Hurricanes, 225th overall. He was put back into the draft in 1999 and was a sixth round pick by the Detroit Red Wings, 181st overall. To date, Kent has played in 32 National Hockey League games, all with the Columbus Blue Jackets during the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons.

During the 2004-05 NHL lockout season, McDonell got his first taste of the European game, splitting the season between Norway’s Get-Ligaen and Germany’s 2.Bundesliga. He returned to North America for 2005-06, playing for the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins and putting up decent numbers with 21 goals and 58 points.

After a season in Finland’s SM-Liiga, Kent found his niche in Sweden. AIK is his third team in five years and he currently wears the ‘A’ on his jersey. He is under contract by AIK until the end of the 2011-12 season.

 

Ontario Hockey League grad Kevin Mitchell has been conditionally joined on Villacher SV of Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (EBEL) by two other OHL Alumni. Mitchell is entering his second year with Villacher. One of the others has already been playing in the EBEL while the second has played in Switzerland for the past four years. Both are with the team on a try-out basis for now.

Mike Craig is one of the oldest active Ontario Hockey League alumni in the world right now. Craig played three years with the Oshawa Generals from 1987-88 to 1989-90, twice playing for Team Canada at the IIHF World Juniors. Mike was drafted by the Minnesota North Stars in the second round of the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, 28th overall. He played 423 regular season NHL games with the North Stars, Dallas Stars, Toronto Maple Leafs and San Jose Sharks.

After one season in Switzerland in 2002-03, Craig has played in the EBEL since. In 2004-05 with the Vienna Capitals, he led the league in points with 71. In both 2006-07 and 2008-09, he led the EBEL in goals with 43 and 30. This past season, he scored 24 and added 14 assists for 38 points in 46 games for Klagenfurter AC.

Cory Pecker played five years in the Ontario Hockey League from 1997-98 to 2001-02. He began his career with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and was traded to the Erie Otters during the 2000-01 season. In his final year with Erie, he scored 53 goals in just 56 games and totalled 99 points. His 25 goals and 42 points in 21 playoff games helped the Otters to a Robertson Cup victory and a Memorial Cup berth. Cory was taken by the Calgary Flames in the sixth round of the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, 166th overall.

Pecker spent most of his North American pro career in the American Hockey League between 2002-03 and 2006-07, never making it to the big show. For the 2007-08 season, he crossed the pond to play in Switzerland’s National League B. With Visp in 2009-10, Cory scored 40 and contributed 101 points in just 41 games. This past season was spent split between Visp and Lausanne.

Kevin Mitchell spent four years in the Ontario Hockey League from 1997-98 to 2000-01, his first three with the Guelph Storm and his final season with the Oshawa Generals. Mitchell was drafted by the Calgary Flames in the ninth round of the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, 234th overall. He began playing in Europe for the 2004-05 season after three years on a handful of teams in the AHL and ECHL. Kevin has played in Germany, Switzerland and the Czech Republic before settling in with Villacher this past season.

Villacher went through a ten year period from 1998-99 to 2006-07 where they were in the league finals nine times and were crown champions on three occasions. Since, the team has fallen into mediocrity.