OHL Alumni Central

It’s always a horrible tragedy when a commercial jetliner goes down. When Air France flight 447 crashed in 2009, enroute from Brazil to France, 228 lives were immediately lost. The impact would have been devastating to the family, friend and co-workers of each and every one of those souls.

Josef Vasicek as a member of the Czech Republic National Team.

When the charter carrying the members of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of Russia’s KHL crashed this past week, 43 lives were lost. Of course, most of the fatalities were not run-of-the-mill individuals. Many were not just known by family and friends but by the populations of whole countries and even continents. A good number of the 140,000,000 in Russia would have at least heard of the players from Yaroslavl and many were known throughout the hockey circles of Europe and North America. The impact is still incomprehensible.

The names of Pavol Demitra and Ruslan Salei would stand out most to the NHL hockey fan. The coaching staff, consisting of Brad McCrimmon, Igor Korolev and Alexander Karpovtsev, were all retired veterans of the National Hockey League.

One player that lost his life played junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey League. Josef Vasicek played two seasons with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, 1998-99 and 1999-00. In his final season with the Greyhounds, Vasicek put up great numbers with 26 goals, 46 assists for 72 points in just 54 games. He added another 2o points for Sault Ste. Marie in 17 playoff games.

Josef played for the Czech Republic at the 2000 IIHF World Junior Tournament, helping his team to a Gold Medal. A regular on the Czech national team, he won gold at the 2005 World Hockey Championships and played in the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.

Vasicek came to the Ontario Hockey League already a prospect of the Carolina Hurricanes. The Canes took him in the fourth round of the 1998 NHL Entry Drat, 91st overall. In total, he played 460 games in the NHL from 2000-01 to 2007-08, mostly with Carolina. He played a half season with the Nashville Predators in 2006-07 and last played in the NHL with the New York Islanders in 2007-08.

Josef went to the Stanley Cup finals twice in his NHL career, both times with the Hurricanes. In 2002, the team lost to the Detroit Red Wings and in 2006, they were Stanley Cup champions.

2011-12 was to be Vasicek’s fourth season with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. In his first season, the team made it to the finals before losing in seven games to Ak Bars Kazan. The past two seasons, Yaroslavl has been beaten in the Western Coference finals. This past playoffs saw Josef lead the league in assists (15) and points (22) despite not making the finals.

He has played in the KHL All-Star game for the past two seasons and wore the ‘A’ on his jersey with Lokomotiv.

Josef and the rest of the players from Lokomotiv Yaroslavl will be sadly missed throughout the hockey world.

Ontario Hockey League grad Oskar Osala has left North America behind and has signed on to play for Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk of Russia’s KHL for the 2011-12 season.

Osala played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with the Mississauga IceDogs in 2005-06 and 2006-07. In his final season with the IceDogs, Oskar played for Finland at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. His five goals were tops in the tournament.

Oskar was a fourth round pick of the Washington Capitals in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, 97th overall. After a year in Finland’s SM-Liiga in 2007-08, when he was named rookie of the year, Osala found his way onto the Hershey Bears roster. Oskar was a call-up to the Capitals for two games in the 2008-09 season and helped the Bears to a Calder Cup championship in the AHL.

This past season with the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL, Oskar contributed 42 points in 59 games for his most productive sesaon in the AHL to date. Osala helped the Checkers make it to the Eastern Conference finals before being swept by eventual Calder Cup winner, the Binghamton Senators. Ironically, in the first round of the playoffs, the Checkers took out Oskars old team, the Hershey Bears, in six games.

The KHL regular season has come to a close in Russia for 2010-11 and Traktor Chelyabinsk finds themselves in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, 11 points out of a playoff spot. Chelyabinsk is the current club of Ontario Hockey League grad, Vitaly Yachmenev.

Yachmenev played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 1993-94 and 1994-95 and took the league by storm. In his first season, he led the league with 61 goals and was named not only the OHL’s rookie of the year but the CHL’s rookie of the year as well. He helped the North Bay Centennials to a Hamilton Spectator Trophy as regular season champs and a Robertson Cup as the OHL’s playoff champions. Vitaly added 32 points in 18 playoff games for the Centennials. The team’s luck ran out at the Memorial Cup, going 0-3.

The following season, Yachmenev scored 53 for the Centennials while adding 52 assists for 105 points in 59 games. The 105 points was good enough for ninth in the OHL. He helped Russia to a Silver Medal at the IIHF Under-20 World Hockey Championships. Vitaly was also awarded the William Hanley Trophy as the Ontario Hockey League’s Most Sportsmanlike Player. The award is representative of the way Yachmenev has played the game throughout his career. His highest penalty minute total came in 2005-06 with just 30 in Russia’s Super League.

After his first season with North Bay, Yachmenev was drafted surprisingly low, going in the third round of the 1994 NHL Entry Draft, 59th overall to the Los Angeles Kings. Vitaly put in  almost 500 games in the NHL with Los Angeles and the Nashville Predators before skipping to Russia for the start of the 2003-04 season. Unfortunately, the goal scoring ability that he showed with the Centennials never really resurfaced and he topped out with a season of 19 goals with the Kings.

In his eighth season in Russia, Yachmenev scored just four goals and added 12 assists in 43 games for Chelyabinsk. His current contract expired at the end of this season.

Vitaly spent the year playing with another Ontario Hockey League grad, Alexander Buturlin, on Traktor Chelyabinsk.

Check out Vitaly Yachmenev’s profile page at the KHL official website.

Don’t forget to subscribe to OHL Alumni Central to get discounts on our listings at eBay.

Georgi Misharin played just one season in the Ontario Hockey League, 2003-04, with the Saginaw Spirit. Misharin was certainly one of the bright spots on a Saginaw team that shared the league’s basement with the Belleville Bulls, both with just 39 points.

Misharin came to the Ontario Hockey League already drafted by an National Hockey League club. Georgi was taken in the seventh round of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by the Minnesota Wild, 207th overall. With 2004-05 being the NHL lockout year, Misharin went home to Russia to play in the RSL and has been there since.

Georgi has worn the Russia jersey on the world stage on three occasions. He helped Team Russia to a Bronze Medal at the 2003 Under-18 championships and stepped it up to a Silver two years later in the Under-20 tournament. Just turning 21, Misharin played for Russia at the World Hockey Championships in 2006 with Russia finishing in fifth place.

2010-11 is Georgi’s fourth season with CSKA Moscow. After 46 games, he was traded to Metallurg Magnitogorsk who needed to bolster the blue line for a promising playoff run. CSKA Moscow currently sits in tenth place in the KHL’s Western Conference and twelve points out of a playoff spot. Magnitogorsk is comfortably in fourth place in the East, twelve points up on fifth position.

Check out Georgi Misharin’s profile page at the KHL official website. 

Yes – OHL Alumni Central is on Facebook!

…And Twitter as well!

Igor Radulov played just one season in the Ontario Hockey League. As a rookie with the Mississauga IceDogs in 2001-02, Radulov put in 33 goals and added 30 assists for 63 points in 62 games. Igor was second to Patrick O’Sullivan on the team in every offensive category.

Before he came to the Ontario Hockey League, Radulov was drafted into the National Hockey League. Igor went in the third round of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, 74th overall to the Chicago Blackhawks. Radulov got into seven games with Chicago in his first year of professional hockey and 36 in 2003-04 while splitting time with the Norfolk Admirals of the American Hockey League.

Then came the lockout season… Radulov left for Russia in 2004-05 when there was no NHL hockey to be played. He has been in the RSL/KHL since. After starting the season with Severstal Cherepovets, his sixth team in Russia since 2004-05, he has moved to Vityaz Chekhov, a team he played parts of three seasons with from 2006-07 to 2008-09.

Vityaz sits in last place in the KHL’s West Conference and third from the bottom overall. Just recently, we featured a former member of Vityaz Chekhov, Nathan Perrott.

Check out Igor Radulov’s profile page on the KHL official website.