OHL Alumni Central

The Hannover Indians completed their first season in Germany’s Bundesliga 2 in 2009-10 after competing in the lower Oberliga for the past decade. The Bundesliga is a level below the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), Germany’s elite hockey league. The team finished 13th in the 14 team division.

Two Ontario Hockey League alumni are signed on with the Hannover Indians for the 2010-11 season. D.J. (Dirk Joachim) Jelitto played just one season in the OHL, playing the rest of his junior hockey in his native United States. In 2002-03, Jelitto played five games for the Sarnia Sting and 21 for the Saginaw Spirit.

From 2005-06 to 2007, D.J. played in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) for the Utah Grizzlies. After just three games in the 2007-08 season, he moved on to the Oklahoma City Blazers of the Central Hockey League (CHL). He played for the Blazers again in 2008-09. In each of his two seasons with Oklahoma City, D.J. netted 25 goals. 2009-10 was his first season with the Hannover Indians. He contributed 30 points in 51 games which was good enough for third on the team in scoring.

Jamie Chamberlain played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1998-99 to 2001-02. he was a member of the Peterborough Petes for his first three seasons. In his final season, he started the season with the Kingston Frontenacs but after nine games, he found his way back to Peterborough. He was drafted by the Dallas Stars in the ninth round of the 1999 NHL draft, 265th overall.

After junior, Chamberlain played four seasons in the Canadian university ranks with the University of Western Ontario. For the most part, Jamie was a point per game player with the Mustangs.

Jamie has been a member of the Hannover Indians since 2006-07. In the first three seasons, when the Indians were a member of the Oberliga, Jamie’s point production was great. Chamberlain contributed 217 points in just 144 regular season games. In 2007-08, he netted a incredible 43 goals in just 51 games and led the team in total points with 84. This past season, in the Bundesliga, Jamie had 15 goals and 32 assists for 47 points in 46 games which was good enough for the team lead.

Check out D.J. Jelitto’s profile page on the Hannover Indians official website.

Check out Jamie Chamberlain’s profile page on the Hannover Indians official website.

Ontario Hockey Alumnus, John Hughes, played with the team last season but has signed with Tampere in Finland for the 2010-11 season. Check out this previous post on John Hughes.

No, not the famous director of 1980′s teen angst movies. This John Hughes played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2004-05 to 2007-08. John began his OHL career with the Belleville Bulls and played two full seasons there before being traded midway through the 2006-07 season to the Brampton Batallion.

Hughes has played in Europe since leaving the OHL. This past season, John played for the Hannover Indians of Germany’s Bundesliga and finished off the season with Tappara Tampere in Finland. In his first season in Europe, he played for Salzburg Red Bulls in Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga.

An offensive minded forward, Hughes totalled 283 points over his 256 regular season game OHL career. In 2005-06, he led the Belleville Bulls in points with 82 on 28 goals and 54 assists.

In 2006-07, his 59 points with the Battalion was good for second on the team. With the 20 points he obtained with the Bulls before being traded to Brampton, he was easily the team’s top point getter.

In his final season, John’s 91 points were good for tops on the team and earned him a Jim Mahon Trophy for the Ontario Hockey League’s top point-getting right winger.

Hughes was honoured in Austria as the player with the best plus/minus in 2008-09.

View John’s profile page as a Hannover Indian.

View John’s profile as a Tappara Tampere.

John Hughes is also featured in a previous post listed Brampton Battalion grads playing professional hockey.

Don’t forget to show off your OHL trivia skill before May 31, 2010.