OHL Alumni Central

After a great start to the 2011-12 season with the Kalamazoo Wings of the ECHL, Ontario Hockey League grad Patrick Asselin is off to Germany to test the European hockey waters for the second time in his career.

Patrick Asselin with the ECHL's Kalamazoo Wings.

Asselin played five seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2003-04 to 2007-08. He dressed mostly with the Saginaw Spirit but a trade fifteen games into his final season sent him to the Oshawa Generals. In that final season, Patrick scored 41 goals and assisted on 37 others for 78 points, his best offensive season in the OHL. He played in fifteen Robertson Cup playoff games with the Generals as the team made it to the Eastern Conference finals before losing to the Belleville Bulls.

Undrafted, Asselin spent his first year of professional hockey in Germany. Playing in the Oberliga (tier 3), he put up impressive numbers with 39 goals and 40 assists for 79 points in just 50 games. An interesting quirk in his 2008-09 season was the spike in penalty minutes. With Herner EV, Asselin sat out 110 minutes in those 50 games. The next highest single season total for Patrick was 45 with Saginaw during the 2005-06 season.

Patrick returned to North America the following season and has been playing in the East Coast Hockey League since, mostly with Kalamazoo. In 2010-11, he contributed at nearly a point per game with 27 goals and 65 points in 69 regular season games. He played in 19 more in the playoffs as the Wings made it to the Kelly Cup finals before losing to the Alaska Aces in five games.

The 2011-12 season started with a bang for Asselin, producing 15 points in his first 10 games for Kalamazoo. On November 21, he signed on with Starbulls Rosenheim of Germany’s 2.Bundesliga (tier 2 to the elite DEL). Rosenheim currently sits fifth in the thirteen team league. The 2.Bundesliga at the moment has three Ontario Hockey League grads sitting amongst the top five scorers in Patrick Jarrett, Bob Wren and Chris Stanley.

Yesterday, we featured three first year players for the Kalamazoo Wings of the East Coast Hockey League that were recent grads of the Ontario Hockey League. Today, we look at a fifth year ECHLer who’s got their backs.

Darryl Lloyd played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2001-02 to 2003-04, all with the Windsor Spitfires. Not a giant at 5’10″ (some sources say 5’11″) and 195, but Darryl can certainly hold his own when the gloves are dropped. Lloyd is no stranger around the opposition’s net either, popping 21 goals in his final season in the OHL and 2o last season with Kalamazoo.

Darryl spent his first two seasons of professional hockey in the Central Hockey League with the Laredo Bucks and Youngstown Steelhounds. In his second season, he had a five game call-up to the AHL’s Cleveland Barons. After three years with the ECHL’s Victoria Salmon Kings, Lloyd found his way to Kalamazoo for the start of the 2009-10 season.

Lloyd scored Kalamazoo’s first ever goal in the ECHL. The team has been around since 1974 as a team in the IHL, UHL and new IHL. They were in their first year as an ECHL club in 2009-10. Darryl was voted by the fans of the Wings as the team’s Unsung Hero last season. It was his best offensive output of his pro career with 20 goals and 44 assists in 64 goals. Darryl also sat out 157 minutes in the sin bin.

 Check out Darryl Lloyd’s profile page on the Kalamazoo Wings official website.

Darryl drops the gloves….

Darryl scores a sweet shootout goal…

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Ryan Nie played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2002-03 to 2005-06. His first three seasons were played between the pipes with the Plymouth Whalers. His final season saw Nie rarely unpack his suitcase as he split the season between the Whalers, Toronto St. Michael’s Majors and the Sarnia Sting.

Ryan was a workhorse for the Whalers during the 2004-05 season, posting a 2.56 goals against average and .914 save percentage while playing 57 of the team’s 68 regular seasons games. Unfortunately, Plymouth was ousted in four games in the first round of the playoffs against the Owen Sound Attack.

Undrafted, Nie started his professional career in 2006-07 with the Kalamazoo Wings of the United Hockey League. Ryan was named UHL Rookie of the Year, posting league leading numbers (2.02 GAA, .929 save percentage, 7 shutouts). His 2.02 GAA stands as a league record for goalies with 30+ starts in a season. He helped the Wings reach the Colonial Cup final before being beat out by the Rockford IceHogs.

Last season, 2009-10, Nie returned to Kalamazoo. The Wings were now an ECHL team and Ryan was honoured as the team’s MVP, posting a 3.09 GAA, .904 save percentage and three shutouts over 44 games.

Ryan begins the 2010-11 season with Kalamazoo. For the second year in a row, Nie will be playing for head coach, and Ontario Hockey League alumnus, Nick Bootland.

Check out Ryan Nie’s profile page on the Kalamazoo Wings official website.

 Ryan appears in two previous posts at OHL Alumni Central:

St. Michael’s Majors alumni active in pro hockey during the 2009-10 season.

Sarnia Sting alumni active in pro hockey during the 2009-10 season.

Ryan Nie is on the OHL Alumni Big List.

The Kalamazoo Wings of the East Coast Hockey League have the good fortune to have retained the services of the two Ontario Hockey League grads for the upcoming 2010-11 season. Each of the grads comes from the two Ontario Hockey League teams located in the state of Michigan, the Plymouth Whalers and Saginaw Spirit.

Andrew Fournier played five seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2003-04 to 2007-08, all with the Plymouth Whalers, although his first season consisted of only three games. He was a part of the Robertson Cup winning Whalers in 2006-07. He came out offensively in his final season, scoring 35 goals and 40 assists for 75 points in 64 games which placed him second on the team in scoring. He captained the team in that final season.

Undrafted, Fournier played his first season of professional hockey in 2008-09. He split the campaign between the ECHL’s Florida Everblades and Dayton Bombers. This past season, his first with Kalamazoo, Andrew led the team in scoring with 27 goals and 44 assists for 71 points in 70 games.

Patrick Asselin played five seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2003-04 to 2007-08. His first four seasons were played with the Saginaw Spirit and during his final season, the Spirit traded him to the Oshawa Generals where he was to help a power-packed Generals team go deep into the playoffs. His 78 total points in his final season put him third on the Generals in scoring behind the dynamic duo of John Tavares and Brett MacLean.

In 2008-09, Asselin’s first year pro, he played in Germany’s Oberliga (third tier, behind DEL and Bundesliga) with Herne. He scored 39 goals and added 40 assists for 79 points in 50 games with Herne which placed him two points out of the top spot on the team in total points. He returned to North America and the East Coast Hockey League this past season, starting with the Idaho Steelheads and taking a turn with the Utah Grizzlies before ending up in Kalamazoo.

Check out Andrew Fournier’s and Patrick Asselin’s profile pages on the Kalamazoo Wings official website.