OHL Alumni Central

The Lahden Pelicans of Finland’s SM-Liiga are treading in rare territory. Three quarters of the way through the 2011-12 season, Pelicans find themselves in second place in the fourteen team Finnish elite league. The team has never never won a championship and has really never enjoyed any great playoff success. 2011-12 might just be the year of the Pelicans.

Pelicans are led by an Ontario Hockey League grad and the team has recently picked up two more OHL alumni for the playoff run. Justin Hodgman is tied for tenth in league scoring. Czech natives Jan Platil and Radek Smolenak are recent pickups from other SM-Liiga teams.

Justin Hodgman played four years in the Ontario Hockey League with the Erie Otters from 2005-06 to 2008-09. Undrafted, Hodgman spent the past two years bouncing around between the IHL, ECHL and AHL. In 2010-11, Justin played mostly with the Toronto Marlies of the AHL with a few games down in the ECHL with the Reading Royals. This is his first season in Finland.

Jan Platil played for the Barrie Colts for three seasons from 2000-01 to 2002-03. A seventh round pick of the Ottawa Senators at the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, Platil spent three years in Ottawa’s farm system with the AHL’s Binghamton Senators before heading to Europe for the 2006-07 season. Jan has since played in Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany and Austria. He began the season with Orli Znojmo in Austria’s EBEL before moving to Tappara in the SM-Liiga.

Radek Smolenak played two seasons with the Kingston Frontenacs, 2004-05 and 2005-06. Drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning after his first year in the OHL, Radek excelled in his second season with Kingston, scoring 42 and assisting on another 42 for 84 points in 65 games. Smolenak did get into seven NHL games after turning pro, six with Tampa Bay in 2008-09 and one with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2009-10.

Smolenak has been in Europe for the past two seasons. in 2010-11, he played for his hometown HC Sparta Prague. He began the current season in Finland with Assat.

Justin Hodgman of the Fort Wayne Komets accepts the trophy for IHL playoff MVP.

Ontario Hockey League grad Justin Hodgman’s streak of three playoff championships in a row may come to an end. Despite playing just twenty regular season games with the Fort Wayne Komets of the IHL over the past three seasons, Hodgman played a huge role in the team winning the past three Turner Cups. Not only did Justin play an important part of the Komets victories, he was named IHL playoff MVP in his first and second seasons with the team.

Justin Hodgman played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2005-06 to 2008-09, all with the Erie Otters. His best season in the OHL came in 2007-08 when he popped 37 goals and totalled 80 points in 64 games, leading the team in goals, assists and points. In 2008-09, Justin tied with Ryan O’Reilly for the team lead in points with 66. 

Undrafted, Justin spent the 2009-10 season, his first full season in professional hockey, in three different leagues. He split the year fairly even between the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL and the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. Of course, he ended the season with the Komets, just in time for the IHL playoffs.

This season, Hodgman has worn nothing but a Marlies jersey. He’s contributed 21 points in 41 games on a team that has a major uphill battle ahead if Justin is to have any chance of winning a championship. However, if he’s sent down to Toronto’s ECHL affiliate, the Reading Royals, the fourth championship in a row will surely be possible. Reading is currently sitting atop the ECHL standings.

You can find Justin Hodgman’s profile at the Toronto Marlies official website.

No matter the fate of the IHL, the Fort Wayne Komets will survive. Only the original six NHL teams and the AHL’s Hershey Bears have stayed in the same location with the same name longer.

The team has just won it’s 3rd straight Turner Cup as playoff champion of the International Hockey League. No doubt, having four Ontario Hockey League alumni, including team leading scorer, Colin Chaulk, helped propel the team to the three-peat. Currently, the team is unsure what league they will be a member of as the financially troubled IHL is in talks regarding a merger with the Central Hockey League.

The Komets have existed in the professional hockey world since the 1952-53 season. The team competed in the original IHL until the end of the 1998-99 season. Since, they have been in the United Hockey League, which changed their name to the International Hockey League for the 2007-08 season. The Komets were actually moved to Albany in 1990 but the IHL’s Flint, Michigan franchise was bought almost immediately and moved to Fort Wayne and, of course, renamed the Komets.

The four OHL grads on the Komets during the 2009-10 season are as follows (click on each name to view the player’s profile page on the IHL’s official website):

Colin Chaulk played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1994-95 to 1997-98. His full OHL career was spent in Kingston with the Frontenacs. In his last three seasons, Chaulk lead the team in scoring. In his final season, he finished fifth in the OHL in scoring with 96 points.

Colin lead the Komets in scoring this year and finished fourth in league scoring with 85 points. He lead the team for four straight seasons from 2002-03 to 2005-06. This past season was his seventh season with Fort Wayne. He took a year away from the Komets in 2006-07 when he played a season for Alleghe HC in Italy.

Justin Hodgman played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League. Hodgman was an Erie Otter from 2005-06 to 2008-09. In his first season of professional hockey, Justin played on three different teams, 33 games with the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL, 38 games with the Toronto Marlies of the AHL and just three games with the Komets.

Sean O’Connor played five seasons in the OHL. He began his career with the Erie Otters in 2003-04. Midway through the 2006-07 season, O’Connor became a Plymouth Whaler. Eight games into the 2007-08 season, Sean was traded to the London Knights, where he finished out his OHL career. This past season was Sean’s second with the Komets. In his first season, he saw one game in the ECHL with the Augusta Lynx and in his second, he saw three games in the ECHL with the Kalamazoo Wings.

Blair Stayzer played just 13 games with the Komets this past season. Blair spent four seasons in the OHL from 1996-97 to 1999-00, all with the Windsor Spitfires. As mentioned in a recent post, Blair has signed on for the 2010-11 season with the Newcastle Vipers of Great Britain’s EIHL. Originally a seventh round pick of the Calgary Flames in the 1999 NHL draft, Blair has spent the past ten seasons bouncing around the ECHL, CHL and IHL with a four game stint with the Saint John Flames of the AHL back in 2001-02.