OHL Alumni Central

Kip Brennan takes on giant Derek Boogaard as a member of the Anaheim Ducks during the 2005-06 NHL season.

6’4″ and 231 lb. Kip Brennan is not brought onto a team’s roster to score goals. During the six seasons when Brennan played a limited number of games in the NHL, he did not qualify for the Lady Byng. Kip Brennan is purely an old school enforcer.

Kip played five seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1996-97 to 2000-01. His first season was played with the Windsor Spitfires then, midway through his second season, he was shipped to the Sudbury Wolves. He finished out his OHL career in Sudbury.

Over his five OHL seasons, Brennan averaged just under 42 regular season games played per year. Despite the low game total (209), Kip sat in the sin bin for 826 minutes. He added another 175 minutes in 29 career OHL playoff games.

The Los Angeles Kings saw something in Kip and drafted him in the fourth round of the 1998 NHL draft, 103rd overall. His 61 career NHL games were mostly played with the Kings but he also saw action with the Atlanta Thrashers, Anaheim Ducks and New York Islanders.

Six times to date, Brennan has led his team in penalty minutes. He led the Sudbury Wolves in his second last season in the OHL with 228 minutes in 55 games while also scoring 16 goals. In 2001-02, as an AHL rookie with the Manchester Monarchs, he led the team with 269 minutes despite playing just 44 games. The following season, he led the Monarchs again with 195 minutes in just 35 games.

In 2004-05, Kip would lead the Chicago Wolves of the AHL in PIM with 267 in just 48 games. That season, Brennan would shine offensively as well. Kip put in a career pro high seven goals with Chicago. He led the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in 2007-08 with 247 in 49. This past season, 2009-10, he sat 263 in 53 with the AHL’s Springfield Falcons.

Twice during his professional hockey career, Kip has been slapped with lengthy suspensions. During the 2003-04 season, he was suspended for ten games for returning to the ice to join an altercation after already being sent off. During the 2007 AHL playoffs, Brennan was suspended for the remainder of the post season for an altercation with a fan who attacked him in the penalty box.

This good ol’ Kingston boy fills a void on the Allen Americans left by the retirement of Britt Dougherty. Brennan has just signed on with the Central Hockey League club and only fortifies Allen’s position atop the league standings.

A profile page has been set up for Kip Brennan at the Central Hockey League official website, although it is currently unpopulated. Click here to check it out.

Brennan joins fellow Ontario Hockey League grad Tobias Whelan on the Americans. Whelan was featured in this previous post at OHL Alumni Central.

Jason Morgan as Washington Capitals hopeful for the 2007-08 season (he played the season with the Hershey Bears).

Keeping with the recent Norwegian theme, yet another Ontario Hockey League grad has chosen to play in Norway’s Get Ligaen for the 2010-11 season. Jason Morgan brings his many years of pro experience to Stjernen. Although still considered on a ‘tryout’, his close to a point per game production after 10 games with the team is an indication that he may stay.

Jason played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1993-94 to 1995-96. He began his career with the Kitchener Rangers and became a Kingston Frontenac midway through his second season. His best offensive totals in the OHL came in his final season with Kingston when he scored 16 and assisted on 38 for 54 points in 66 games.

Morgan was picked by the Los Angeles Kings in the fifth round of the 1995 NHL draft, 118th overall. He played in three games with the Kings in his first season after graduating from the OHL. In total, he’s played 44 games in the NHL between the Kings, Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild.

The bulk of Jason’s pro career in North America was in the American Hockey League. he has played 584 games in the AHL, producing 325 points. His highest producing season was in 2002-03 with the Saint John Flames when he contributed 53 points in 80 games for the Calgary affiliate. He last played in the AHL at the start of this past 2009-10 season when he dressed for four games with the Springfield Falcons.

This season marks his third in Europe, each in a different country. 2008-09 saw him play in Sweden’s Elitserien with Södertälje. This past season after leaving Springfield he played in Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga for Klagenfurter AC.

Check out Jason Morgan’s profile page on Stjernen’s official website.

Check out these recent posts on Ontario Hockey League alumni playing in Norway:

Paul Ballantyne

Andy Delmore

Danny Taylor played three seasons between the pipes in the Ontario Hockey League from 2003-04 to 2005-06. His first two seasons were with the Guelph Storm and his final season was played with the Kingston Frontenacs.

In his first season with the Storm, he backed up Adam Dennis as Guelph took the Robertson Cup as the Ontario Hockey League’s playoff champion. The team was shutout at the Memorial Cup. As a backup, Taylor played 26 regular season games and posted a very respectable 2.71 GAA.

In his final season with the Frontenacs, Danny played 57 of the team’s 68 regular season games leading Kingston to a second place finish in the East Division and the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. The team made a quick exit from the playoffs with a four games to two series loss against the Sudbury Wolves in the first round.

Taylor was taken by the Los Angeles Kings in the seventh round of the 2004 NHL draft, 221st overall. To date, he has played one period of hockey in the NHL, during the 2007-08 season with the Kings. This past season, he became the property of the Columbus Blue Jackets and played nine games with their AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. The rest of his season was spent in the ECHL with the Gwinnett Gladiators.

Danny starts this season with the Springfield Falcons of the AHL. He has had a great start, putting up excellent numbers. Springfield is the Edmonton Oilers AHL affiliate.

Check out Danny Taylor’s profile page at the official Springfield Falcons website.

Danny Taylor can be found in a previous post at OHL Alumni Central featuring grads of the 2003-04 Memorial Cup winning Guelph Storm still active in pro hockey during the 2009-10 season.

Dave Morrison played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1979-80 to 1981-82, all with the Peterborough Petes. In his second season with Peterborough, Morrison was the team leader in goals (44) and points (97). In his final season, despite only playing 53 games, he was the team’s goal scoring leader with 33.

Dave was taken by the Los Angeles Kings in the second round of the 1980 NHL draft, 34th overall. Morrison appeared in 39 NHL games during his career, split between the Kings and the Vancouver Canucks.

Morrison’s claim to hockey fame came in Germany’s Oberliga (Tier 3) and 2.Bundesliga (Tier 2) where he played from 1985-86 to 1992-93 (With exception to 1988-89 when Dave played for Herisau in Switzerland’s National League B). In that time, Dave contributed 926 points in 271 total games with Stuttgart, Ratingen and Kassel.

In 1986-87, Morrison put up incredible numbers with Stuttgart in the Oberliga. In just 26 games, Dave scored 95 goals and added 85 assists for 180 points and then added an additional 59 points in 14 playoff games. The following season, he notched 83 goals and 156 points with Stuttgart in the 2.Bundesliga.

The outragous point totals would drop, understandably, as Dave moved up to the 1.Bundesliga (which became the Deutsche Eishockey Liga or DEL in 1994-95). Still, the numbers were respectable as Dave played two seasons with Eisbaren Berlin and Kassel Huskies.

Morrison finished out his professional hockey playing career in Great Britain. Dave played two seasons with the Manchester Storm of the BISL (British Icehockey Super League), 1997-98 and 1998-99.

Currently, Dave Morrison is the Director of Amateur Scouting for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Ontario Hockey League grad Petr Kanko has taken a demotion of sorts for the upcoming season. After two years with HC Ocelari Trinec of the Czech Republic’s Extraliga, he will start this season with HC Slovan Usti of the 1. Liga, the affiliate league to the Extraliga.

Petr Kanko played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2001-02 to 2003-04, all with the Kitchener Rangers. Each season with the Rangers, his point production increased while his games played decreased. In his second season, he was part of a Ranger team that won the Robertson Cup as Ontario Hockey League playoff champion as well as the Memorial Cup as CHL champion. Petr played a huge part in the playoff success with 27 points in 20 games for the Rangers.

As a junior, Kanko represented his homeland, the Czech Republic, twice in international play. He was member of the 2001 under-18 team that was left out of the medal standings despite Petr scoring six goals in seven games. In 2004, he was part of the under-20 team that lost out in the bronze medal game.

Kanko was drafted in the third round of the 2002 NHL draft by the Los Angeles Kings. He played four seasons with the Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Manchester Monarchs, from 2004-05 to 2007-08. He was called up to the Los Angeles Kings for a short stint during the 2005-06 season when he played ten games. He scored just one goal with the Kings and that was in his first ever NHL game.

As mentioned, Petr played two seasons with HC Ocelari Trinec of the Czech Republic Extraliga. Hopefully, with a good early performance for HC Slovan Usti, he’ll make his way back to the elite league before this upcoming season is over.

Check out Petr Kanko’s profile page on the HC Slovan Usti official website.

Petr is featured in two previous posts at OHL Alumni Central:

HC Ocelari Trinec of the Czech Republic

Kitchener Rangers 2002-03 Memorial Cup Champions