OHL Alumni Central

Since the name ‘International Hockey League’ is no longer in use in North America, Austria’s elite Erste Bank Eishockey Liga might think about changing their name to just that. The eleven team EBEL is truly an international hockey league. Just six of the eleven teams are based in Austria for 2011-12. There are two teams in Slovenia and one each in Hungary, Croatia and the Czech Republic. Halfway through the 54 game regular season schedule, the team is currently tied for ninth in the EBEL.

The latest team to join from outside Austria is Orli Znojmo. The ‘Eagles’ previously played out of the Czech Republic’s Extraliga 2. With the recent aquisition of Mike Danton, Orli Znojmo now has four Ontario Hockey League grads on the roster. One other, Jan Platil is rumoured to return to the team after being released by Tappara in Finland’s SM-Liiga. Platil started the season playing ten games with Znojmo.

Lubomir Stach played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 2004-05 and 2005-06. He began with the Belleville Bulls but was moved to the Guelph Storm during his first season. In 2005-06, he was picked up mid-season by the Peterborough Petes and the compact defenseman played a major role in the Petes winning the Robertson Cup. Lubomir contributed 18 points from the point in 19 playoff games. Stach spent the past five years in his native Czech Republic, the last two years mostly with Znojmo.

Mike Danton played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, as Mike Jefferson, from 1997-98 to 1999-00. He began with the Sarnia Sting, made a stop with the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors before finishing his OHL career with the Barrie Colts. Like Stach, Danton was a member of a Robertson Cup winning team in his final OHL season. Danton was a fifth round pick of the New Jersey Devils at the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, 135th overall. He has appeared in NHL games with the Devils and St. Louis Blues.

After a five year hiatus from the game, Danton returned to play two years at the Canadian university level with Saint Mary’s. He started the 2011-12 season with IFK in Sweden’s Division 1. He was just picked up by Znojmo a few days ago.

Richard Jarusek played just one season in the Ontario Hockey League, 2008-09, with the Saginaw Spirit. Jarusek was a 49th overall pick of the Spirit at the 2008 CHL Import Draft. He returned to his homeland and played with the Under-20 version of Orli Znojmo in 2009-10 and 2010-11.

Yet another Robertson Cup winner, Petr Kanko, played three years with the Kitchener Rangers from 2001-02 to 2003-04. Kanko was taken by the Los Angeles Kings after his first OHL season in the third round of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, 66th overall. He played ten games with the Kings in 2005-06, playing the rest of his North American professional career with their AHL affiliate, the Manchester Monarchs. Kanko returned to his native Czech Republic in 2008-09. This is first season in the EBEL and with Orli Znojmo.

Jan Platil played three years in the Ontario Hockey League with the Barrie Colts from 2000-01 to 2002-03. A seventh round pick of the Ottawa Senators in 2001, Platil played three years with their AHL affiliate in Binghamton before returning to Europe for the 2006-07 season. Since, Jan has played in Finland, Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany and Austria. There is a pretty strong rumour that Platil will soon return to Znojmo.

On Monday, Ontario Hockey League Alumni Mark Fraser and Kurtis Foster were involved in a trade between the NHL’s New Jersey Devils and Anaheim Ducks. Fraser moves to the Ducks and Foster goes to New Jersey. Both are big, stay at home defensemen with Foster having the edge in National Hockey League experience.

Mark Fraser with the New Jersey Devils.

Mark Fraser played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 2004-05 and 2005-06, with the Kitchener Rangers. In his final season, he was the captain of the Rangers. After his first year in the OHL, Fraser was taken by the Devils in the third round of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, 84th overall.

Since 2006-07, Mark has played in 98 NHL games with New Jersey. His most complete season came in 2009-10 when he played 61 games. This season, he has appeared in four for the Devils. The rest of his professional hockey career has been spent in the American Hockey League with the Lowell / Albany Devils.

Kurtis Foster played 256 regular season Ontario Hockey League games over five season with the Peterborough Petes from 1997-98 to 2001-02. At the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, Foster was taken in the second round by the Calgary Flames, 40th overall. Kurtis never played for the Flames but has appeared in 340 regular season NHL games with the Atlanta Thrashers, Minnesota Wild, Tampa Bay Lightning, Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim.

A proponent of eliminating touch icing from the game, Foster broke a leg in an icing incident during the 2007-08 season which not only nearly cost him his career, but his life due to complications on the operating table. He returned to play a full season with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2009-10 and played 74 games for the Edmonton Oilers in 2010-11. This year, Kurtis has dressed for nine games with the Ducks.

Kurtis Foster with the Minnesota Wild.

I remember being at Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto a few years back and being a little confused during a game between the Marlies and the Rochester Americans. It was Oreskovic versus Oreskovich and I, quite frankly couldn’t remember which one was which.

Phil Oreskovic

Phil Oreskovic and Victor Oreskovich are both grads of the Ontario Hockey League, played in the league at the same time for two years and are listed at exactly the same height and weight.

Phil Oreskovic played four years in the Ontario Hockey League from 2003-04 to 2006-07. He played the bulk of his OHL career with the Brampton Battalion, moving over to the Owen Sound Attack at the trade deadline in his final season. The stay at home defenseman was the fifteenth overall pick of the Battalion in the 2003 OHL Priority Selection.

Oreskovic was taken by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the third round of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, 82nd overall. He appeared in ten games with the National Hockey League club in 2008-09, his only NHL experience to date. After three years as a regular with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, Phil was moved to the Hershey Bears for 2010-11. So far in 2011-12, he’s played a scattering of games for the South Carolina Stingrays of the East Coast Hockey League.

After starting his second season with University of Notre Dame in the NCAA in 2005-06, Victor Oreskovich returned to Canada and played the rest of the season and all of 2006-07 with the Kitchener Rangers. He put up decent numbers in his only full OHL season, scoring 28 and totalling 60 points in 62 games. 

Oreskovich came to the Ontario Hockey League already an NHL prospect. Victor was taken in the second round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft by the Colorado Avalance, 55th overall. He has appeared in the NHL with the Florida Panthers and Vancouver Canucks. Currently a member of the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, Oreskovich has appeared in one game with the Canucks, so far this season.

Victor Oreskovich

An Ontario Hockey League grad was the Southern Professional Hockey League’s most valuable player in 2010-11, the SPHL’s seventh season of existence. Matt Auffrey led the first year Augusta RiverHawks to a second overall finish and a trip to the President’s Cup finals. Augusta bowed out to the Mississippi Surge in three games (best of five series).

Matt Auffrey of the Augusta RiverHawks.

Matt Auffrey played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 2005-06 and 2006-07. His first season was spent in a Kitchener Rangers uniform after coming across the border from the University of Wisconsin. In his second year in the OHL, Auffrey played with Kitchener, the Brampton Battalion and Kingston Frontenacs. he scored a respectable 24 goals in his first season and 27 in his second.

Matt came to the OHL already an NHL prospect of the Anaheim Ducks. Auffrey was taken in the sixth round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, 172nd overall. Since leaving the Ontario Hockey League, Matt has played in the AHL, ECHL, IHL and SPHL.

With Augusta in 2010-11, Matt was the team captain and led in offense. His 49 assists was the second most in the league and his 70 points ranked third. In the playoffs, he was fifth in scoring. His efforts were good enough to be selected the SPHL’s MVP as well as being a member of the First All-Star Team.

In Augusta’s second season in the SPHL, they currently sit in first place overall in the nine team league. Chugging along at a point per game pace, Auffrey has a lot of help in the offensive department this year with four players ahead of him in team scoring.

The SPHL has grown in stature since 2004-05 and would seem to be a healthy hockey league. Some interesting rulebook differences to be found in the SPHL include 3 on 3 overtimes and no limitations on stick blade curves.

The Belfast Giants of Great Britain’s Elite Ice Hockey League have started the 2011-12 season with a bang, going 11-1 with an additional shootout loss. Despite this, the team sits just three points ahead of the Nottingham Panthers atop the league. The team is on track to challenge for the league championship, something they accomplished in 2009-10.

Adam Keefe has fit right in with the Giants. The Ontario Hockey League grad has brought his tough brand of hockey to Ireland and currently sits seventh in the EIHL in penalty minutes. Keefe wears the ‘A’ on his jersey. Another OHL Alumnus, Jeremy Rebek (Owen Sound Platers) is the team captain.

Adam played in the Ontario Hockey League for five years from 2000-01 to 2004-05. He began with the Sudbury Wolves and moved over the Kitchener Rangers during his second season. In his first full season with Kitchener, 2002-03, the team won the Robertson Cup and the Memorial Cup.

Undrafted, Keefe has toiled in the AHL and ECHL since 2005-06. This past season, 2010-11, started with the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL but saw Adam play 40 games with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins.

With six points already this season, Keefe is on pace to have his best offensive season since entering professional hockey in 2005-06. That season, with the Toledo Storm of the ECHL, Adam contributed 21 points in just 28 games while sitting out 174 minutes in the penalty box. He also spent 31 games with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose that season, with much lower offensive results.