OHL Alumni Central

Branislav Mezei has moved much closer to home. The native of Slovakia has signed on

 with HC Eaton Bardubice in the O2 Extraliga of the Czech Republic. Mezei finished 2009-10 with the Espoo Blues in Finlands SM-Liiga.

Branislav played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1997-98 to 1999-00, all with the Belleville Bulls. He played an important defensive role on the 1998-99 Bulls team that beat out the London Knights for the Robertson Cup and made an unsuccessful Memorial Cup appearance.

Mezei was originally drafted by the New York Islanders in the first round of the 1999 NHL draft, tenth overall. Branislav played parts of two seasons with the Islanders and was used sparingly by the Florida Panthers for five seasons. In all, he played in 240 NHL games between 2000-01 and 2007-08. He spent one season, 2008-09, in Russia’s KHL with Astana Barys.

HC Eaton Bardubice finished the O2 Extraliga regular season tied for second out of 14 teams over the 52 game season. The team was the league’s playoff champion this past season led in net by none other than Dominic Hasek.

Pardubice is a city of around 90,000 people in the north central of the Czech Republic, nearest to the Poland border. The team plays out of the CEZ Arena, which holds 10,300 for hockey and has twice been the host of the IIHF World Junior Hockey Tournament.

Check out Branislav Mezei’s profile page on the HC Eaton Pardubice official website. The site is in Czech. Try our Czech Hockey Language Guide for help navigating around the site.

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Fredrik Naslund played just one season in the Ontario Hockey League. During the 2005-06 OHL season, the big Swede played with the Peterborough Petes for 66 regular season games. He was also a part of Peterborough’s Robertson Cup winning playoff run and subsequent unsuccessful Memorial Cup appearance.

Naslund has spent the past three seasons with Nybro Vikings out of Nybro, Sweden. For his first two seasons, the team was in the first division of the HockeyAllsvenskan. This past season, the team was relegated to the third division. The HockeyAllsvenskan is Sweden’s second level hockey league after the Elitserien.

Fredrik was drafted by the Dallas Stars in the 2004 NHL draft, picked in the fourth round, 104th overall. After his season with Peterborough, he immediately returned to Sweden, playing one season with Nykoping in the same HockeyAllsvenskan.

Click here to view Fredrik Naslund’s profile page on the Nybro Vikings official website. The site is in Swedish but the profile is loaded with pictures of Fredrik as well as a list of new articles that Naslund has been featured in.

Check out these related posts:

OHL Grad Dan Hinote playing in Sweden.

Guelph Storm Alumni Playing in the Swedish Elitserien.

Former Kingston Frontenac, Mike Zigomanis, Playing in Sweden.

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In 2003-04, the Guelph Storm finished second in the Ontario Hockey League standings, 7 points behind division rivals, the London Knights. The Storm would get revenge on the Knights by beating them in the seventh game of the Western Conference final. Guelph met the Mississauga IceDogs in the OHL final and swept their way to the J. Ross Robertson Cup. The Memorial Cup was the end of the team’s winning ways as they failed to win a single game at the tournament in Kelowna, British Columbia.

19 players that suited up at some point in 2003-04 with the Storm, played professionally in 2009-10. 5 of those players were not involved in the playoffs due to trades or other reasons. To put this number in contrast, the next season, 2004-05, the London Knights fielded what is still considered the best junior hockey team ever assembled in this country. From that London team, just one more player, 20, are still playing professionally and two of those players also played on the Storm the year before.

What follows is a quick summary of each player’s whereabouts during the 2009-10 season and a link to their player profile on their current team’s official website if available.

Martin St. Pierre – Marty played most of the season with the Binghamton Senators of the AHL while being called up for 3 games with Ottawa.

Daniel Paille – Daniel was traded from the Buffalo Sabres to the Boston Bruins after just two games.

Matt Ryan – Matt was with the Augsburger Panthers of Germany’s DEL.

Ryan Callahan – Ryan played for the New York Rangers.

Daniel Girardi – Dan joins Ryan Callahan on the New York Rangers.

Jakub Koreis – Jakub played his second season with Sparta Praha (Prague) in his home country’s Extraliga.

Ryan Garlock – Ryan was traded to Windsor in 2003-04, mid-season. Ryan is another in the Rangers organization, splitting time this season between the ECHL’s Charlotte Checkers and the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack.

Kevin Klein – Kevin played this season with the Nashville Predators.

Mark Versteeg-Lytwyn – Mark split this season between the IHL’s Dayton Gems and the SPHL’s Fayetteville FireAntz.

Cam Janssen – Cam was dropping the gloves with the St. Louis Blues this season.

Ryan Parent – Ryan played for the Philadelphia Flyers this season.

Tyler Haskins – Tyler was traded to Toronto St. Michael’s Majors during the 2003-04 season. He played this season with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the AHL.

George Bradley – George played just 6 games with the Allen Americans of the Central Hockey League.

Jiri Drtina - Drtina played just 14 games with the Storm in 2003-04 and didn’t appear in the playoffs. Jiri finished his fifth season with Slavia Praha (Prague) in the Czech Republic’s Extraliga.

Adam Dennis – Adam played in Italy this season with Fassa HC.

Colin Power – Colin was traded to Toronto St. Michael’s Majors during the 2003-04 season. He split this season between two ECHL clubs, the Stockton Thunder and the Wheeling Nailers.

Darryl Smith – Darryl played just 6 games with the Storm in 2003-04 and didn’t appear in the playoffs. He played for the Laredo Bucks of the Central Hockey League this season as well as one game with the Manitoba Moose of the AHL.

Danny Taylor – Danny split his time between the Gwinnett Gladiators of the ECHL and the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL.

Mike McLean – Mike played on three different teams this season. He started out with the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL, played 6 games with the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL and finished up with the Gwinnett Gladiators of the ECHL.

The 1999-00 Barrie Colts were the bad boys of OHL hockey. In only their fifth season in the Ontario Hockey League, the Colts won the J. Ross Robertson Cup as playoff champions. They would come up short of a Memorial Cup victory, however.

Sheldon Keefe was the league scoring champion with 121 points and teammates Denis Shvidki and Mike Danton would also make it into the top 10. Keefe also won the Jim Mahon Memorial Award for the top scoring right winger. Goaltender Brian Finley won the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award for playoff MVP.

There are currently 7 players from the 1999-00 Colts roster that are still active in professional hockey. Interestingly, 5 of the 7 players were in their OHL rookie season that year. This does not include Mike Danton’s return to University hockey but we hope he will return to the professional ranks in the future.

Where available, click on the player’s names below to view their profile page on their current team’s official website.

Denis Shvidki was the team’s second highest point getter in the 1999-00 season, his second with the Colts, with 106 points. He played two seasons in the OHL, both with Barrie. Denis has played 76 games in the NHL scattered over 4 seasons and all with the Florida Panthers. Currently, he is with Karpat of the SM-Liiga in Finland, although his season consisted of only 4 games.

Michael Henrich (to view his profile, click the ‘Senior’ drop-down box and click on ‘Roster’ – scroll across until you find him) started his OHL career with the Colts in 1996-97 and finished in 1999-00. A sniper with 41, 38 and 38 goals in his final three seasons with the team. He was a first round pick of the Edmonton Oilers in 1998, 13th overall. He has never played a game in the NHL and has never been able to reproduce his OHL scoring ability until this season. With Asiago HC in Italy, Michael maintained nearly a 2-point per game pace.

Matt Dzieduszycki was in his first of two seasons in the OHL with Barrie during the 1999-00 season. Matt is now in his 4th season in Germany’s DEL and his third with the Hannover Scorpions.

Blaine Down played for the Colts from 1999-00 to 2001-02. Down has been in Europe for the past 4 seasons, 1 in Italy, 1 in Denmark and two in Switzerland. Currently, he is with ZSC Lions of the Swiss-A league. ZSC is out of Zurich and is done for the 2009-10 season after bowing out in the quarter-finals of the league’s playoffs. To view a previous post on Blaine Down, click here.

Tim Branham played in the OHL from 1999-00 to 2001-02. His first two seasons were with the Colts and his final season was with the Guelph Storm. Branham was a 3rd round pick of the Vancouver Canucks in 2000 but has never played a game in the NHL and has, for the most part, been a career ECHL player since graduating from the OHL. Currently he is on the Injured Reserve list for the Reading Royals of the ECHL.

Aaron Power enjoyed a 4 year career with the Barrie Colts from 1999-00 to 2002-03. After 5 seasons, mostly in the ECHL, Aaron left for Europe. He spent last season in Germany’s Bundesliga 2 and this season he played for HC Fassa in Italy.

Eric Reitz played three seasons in the OHL with the Colts from 1999-00 to 2001-02. Drafted very deep in the 2000 draft by the Minnesota Wild (6th round, 170th overall), Eric was able to put in 48 games in the NHL with the Wild and the New York Rangers. He is currently playing in Russia’s KHL with Sibir Novosibirsk. His profile page on the KHL official site can be found here.

The 1997-98 Guelph Storm won the J. Ross Robertson Cup as Ontario Hockey League play-off champions. The team would make an appearance at the 1998 Memorial Cup but would fall to defeat. Seven players from the 1997-98 Storm are still active in professional hockey today.

Click on the player’s names below to view their profile pages at their current team’s official website if available.

Brian Willsie played with the Storm from 1995-96 to 1997-98. Drafted by the Colorado Avalanche, Brian has enjoyed a 380 game NHL career and now is in the AHL as a member of the Lake Erie Monsters. Brian was Storm’s leading scorer in the 1997-98 season.

Kevin Mitchell played for the Storm from 1997-98 to 1999-00 and finished out his OHL career with the Oshawa Generals in 2000-01. Currently, Kevin is with HC Eaton Pardubice of the Czech Republic Extraliga.

Kent McDonell played four seasons with the Storm from 1996-97 to 1999-00. Kent has played 32 games in the NHL, all with the Columbus Blue Jackets. McDonell is currently playing in the Swedish Elite League with Farjestad.

Manny Malhotra played in the OHL for the Storm for only two full seasons, 1996-97 and 1997-98. In 1999-00, after a full season with the New York Rangers, he played 5 games with the Storm. Manny has quietly put in 696 NHL games with the Rangers, Dallas Stars, Columbus Blue Jackets and the San Jose Sharks who he is currently with.

Eric Beaudoin played three seasons with the Storm from 1997-98 to 1999-00. Currently, after a 53 game NHL career with the Florida Panthers, Eric is the captain for Rogle in the Swedish Elite League.

Joe Gerbe played for the Storm from 1996-97 to 1999-00. He is currently in the All-American Hockey League (AAHL) with Battle Creek Revolution, an affiliate of the IHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks.

Brian McGrattan played just 31 games with the Storm over the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons. Brian is a 6-team OHLer – you can read more about that in this previous post. Brian is currently in the NHL playing for the Calgary Flames.