OHL Alumni Central

After two consecutive years helping the Salzburg Red Bulls win the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga championships in Austria, Ontario Hockey League grad Andre Lakos is moving on. Lakos will start the 2011-12 season with Kolner Haie of Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga. Lakos will join OHL grads John Tripp, Charlie Stephens, Jason Jaspers and Jonathan D’Aversa on the Cologne Sharks team that finished ninth in the fourteen team DEL in 2010-11 and were an early first round exit from the playoffs.

Andre Lakos as a member of Salzburg Red Bulls of Germany's DEL.

Lakos played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 1997-98 and 1998-99. His first year was spent on the point with the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors and his last season was in a Barrie Colts jersey.

Andre was a third round draft pick of the New Jersey Devils in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, 95th overall. He spent three years with New Jersey’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Albany River Rats, from 1999-00 until midway through the 2001-02 season when he was shifted to the Utah Grizzlies of the AHL.

2002-03 marked the Austrian’s return to his home country. He played two seasons with the Vienna Capitals of the EBEL. With all the NHL players coming to Europe during the 2004-05 lockout season, Andre made a return to North America, playing one season with the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL. The following season, it was back to Austria.

Along the way, Lakos has played stints in Sweden’s Eliteserien and Russia’s KHL. Through the years, Andre has been a regular on Austrian national teams, playing in the World Juniors, World Championships on several occasions and even playing in the Olympic Games in 2002.

Andre provides a great amount of offense from the blue line, something uncharacteristic in European hockey. Not surprising when you picture a 6’8″ 238 lb. behemoth barrelling down on opposing teams defense. Coincidentally, Lakos becomes the league’s tallest and heaviest player. Kolner should be the team to watch in the DEL this year, at least for OHL fans.

Ontario Hockey League grad Björn Krupp will begin his professional hockey career in 2011-12 in Germany. Krupp will in the Kölner Haie (Cologne Sharks) organization in Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga. However, Björn will start the season with EV Duisburg of Germany’s Oberliga (the equivelent of the ECHL to the DEL).

Krupp played three seasons with the Belleville Bulls from 2008-09 to 2010-11. The stay at home defenseman will return to the homeland of his father Uwe Krupp. The elder Krupp played 729 regular season NHL games between 1986-87 and 2002-03 with the Buffalo Sabres, New York Islanders, Quebec Nordiques, Colorado Avalanche, Detroit Red Wings and Atlanta Thrashers.

The younger Krupp was a member of the U.S. National under-17 team during the 2007-08 season. He played in 63 games for the U.S. with an additional six at the Under-17 World Championships.

Undrafted by an NHL team, Krupp was signed as a free agent by the Minnesota Wild in the fall of 2009 but it didn’t pan out.

Yesterday, we featured another Ontario Hockey League grad who will also play Kölner. Charlie Stephens played five years in the OHL and is a veteran of the DEL.

Ontario Hockey League grad Charlie Stephens is done with Krefeld Pinguine and will start the 2011-12 Deutsche Eishockey Liga season with Kölner Haie.

Like to own this card autographed by Charlie Stephens? Send us an e-mail (see About page) for more details.

Stephens played five seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1997-98 to 2001-02. He was the first overall pick at the 1997 OHL Entry Draft by the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors. He played his rookies season with Toronto before being shipped to the Guelph Storm seven games into his second season.

With Guelph, Charlie was the team’s top goal scorer in 2000-01 with 38. After four games in his final season, Stephens was traded to his hometown London Knights in order to be close to home for family reasons.

Stephens twice entered the NHL Entry Draft. In 1999, he was taken in the second round, 31st overall, by the Washington Capitals. After not signing with Washington, Charlie re-entered the draft and was taken in the sixth round of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft by the Colorado Avalanche, 196th overall.

Charlie spent his first year of professional hockey in the Avalanche system, mostly with the American Hockey League’s Hershey Bears. He contributed 50 points in 74 regular season games with the Bears and played in the AHL All-Star game. Stephens made it into two games with the NHL club that season.

In total, Charlie has played eight NHL games, all with Colorado. After switching to the Ottawa Senators organization and playing with their AHL affiliate, the Binghamton Senators, for the better part of three seasons, it was off to Europe.

Stephens has been playing in Germany’s DEL since the start of the 2006-07 season. He began his Euro career with the DEG Metro Stars, where he played two season. His past three years have been spent with the Krefeld Pinguine. In his first season with Krefeld, Charlie led the team in points with 58 in 51 games. His numbers have dropped each year since and this past season he tallied just 32 points in 51 regular season games.

In the end, he played more games in Europe than he did in the National Hockey League. Dave McLlwain continued on for twelve more seasons after his NHL career was over and was a leader right until the end.

McLlwain played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1984-85 to 1986-87. His first season was with the Kitchener Rangers. Early in his second season, he became a member of the North Bay Centennials, where his hockey career blossomed.

In Dave’s final season, he scored 46 goals and added 73 assists for 119 points in just 60 games with the Centennials. Not only was this good enough to lead the team but was second in the Ontario Hockey League with only Scott McCrory’s 150 points being better. It was McCrory’s Oshawa Generals that would knock out McLlwain’s Centennials in the Robertson Cup final, four games to three. Dave would contribute 25 points in 24 games during that playoff run.

McLlwain was a member of Team Canada at the 1987 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. The team was on their way to a potential gold medal when the infamous ’Punch-up in Piestany’ occurred with Canada brawling with the Soviet Union and both teams being banned from the tournament. In the six games that Canada did play, Dave contributed eight points.

Despite being drafted quite low in the 1986 NHL draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins, 172 overall in the ninth round, Dave went on to a 501 game NHL career with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Winnipeg Jets, New York Islanders, Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators.

Other than the player with five consecutive consonants in his name, McLlwain is probably best known as one of only two players in NHL history to play for four different teams in one season. In 1991-92, Dave played for the Winnipeg Jets, New York Islanders, Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs. The most significant trade he was involved in that season saw him and Pierre Turgeon go to Buffalo from Long Island for Pat Lafontaine (others were involved in the trade as well).

The only other NHLer to play for four different teams in one season is also an OHL (OHA) alumnus. Dennis O’Brien played a season for the St. Catherines Black Hawks in the late 1960′s. During the 1977-78 season, O’Brien played for the Boston Bruins, Minnesota North Stars, Colorado Rockies and Cleveland Barons. Surely it wasn’t O’Brien’s fault, but three of the four teams would soon after leave for greener pastures.

McLlwain’s European career began during the 1997-98 season with EV Landshut of Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). After one season in Landshut, he moved to Switzerland’s National League-A and played with Bern for two seasons, leading the team in total points in 1999-00.

Starting in 2000-01, he began a string of nine seasons with Kölner Haie of the DEL. Five times he led the team in scoring. Five times he was a DEL all-star. In his second season with the team, they won the DEL championship. In 2006-07, he led the DEL in assists and points. He left the league with 500 games played and 462 total points.

It’s unfortunate this site is only in German but Dave-McLlwain.com is a tribute site with some great info on this unsung NHLer who became a German hero.

Adam Dennis backstopped not one but two Ontario Hockey League teams to the Memorial Cup. In his four year OHL career, Dennis made three trips to the Robertson Cup finals, once with the Guelph Storm and twice with the London Knights. Adam was a member of the Guelph Storm Robertson Cup winning team in 2003-04 and was traded to the London Knights the following season. With the Knights, he was a major part of the team’s Robertson Cup and Memorial Cup winning season in 2004-05 and helped the Knights to another Robertson Cup appearance the following season.

Dennis spent the 2009-10 season with HC Fassa of Italy’s Lega Italiana Hockey Ghiaccio (LIHG) Serie A1. Despite the team finishing sixth in the nine team league, Adam shone with a 2.23 GAA (best in the LIHG) and a .935 save percentage while playing 37 of the team’s 40 regular season games.

This upcoming season, 2010-11, Adam is definitely receiving a promotion for his efforts. He has signed on with Kölner Haie of Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). The DEL is ranked considerably higher in IIHF rankings than the LIHG and may well help Adam finally make the big step to the NHL.

Adam Dennis played his four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2002-03 to 2005-06. He started with the Guelph Storm and was traded to the London Knights during the 2004-05 to, of course, help with the Knights Memorial Cup run. In his final season, he was OHL goaltender of the year and a CHL second team all-star.

Despite his junior hockey success, Adam went fairly low in the 2005 NHL draft. The Buffalo Sabres chose Dennis in the sixth round, 182nd overall. Adam spent three seasons in the American Hockey League (AHL) from 2006-07 to 2008-09, two with the Rochester Americans and one with the Portland Pirates.

Check out the profile page for Adam Dennis on the Kölner Haie official website.

Adam has appeared in these previous posts at OHL Alumni Central:

2004-05 London Knights Alumni

2003-04 Guelph Storm Alumni

London Knights Alumni

If you haven’t yet checked it out, the OHL Alumni In Europe For 2010-11 early bird version is available for download free.