OHL Alumni Central
Find Out Where Your Favourite OHL Grads Are Playing
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Jul 26
Marek Kvapil played just one season in the Ontario Hockey League, 2004-05, with the Saginaw Spirit. Kvapil started that season with HC Slavia Praha in the Czech Republic under-20 league. After eight games, he made the move to the Ontario Hockey League and was an offensive powerhouse on a Spirit team that had the least goals for in the OHL. He added seven games for the Czech Republic at the 2005 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships where he produced two goals and three assists as the Czech’s lost out to Canada in the semi-finals but beat the USA for the bronze.Kvapil finished up his season in Saginaw with 25 goals and 37 assists for 62 points in just 53 games. With the Spirit scoring just 150 goals on the season, Marek factored in on 43.4% of the team’s total goals, despite missing 15 games.
Kvapil found his way into the Ontario Hockey League record books during his short career. He is tied for the OHL record for the fastest goal to begin a period. He scored four seconds into the third period of a game against the Mississauga IceDogs.
The Tampa Bay Lightning drafted Marek in the sixth round of the 2005 NHL draft, 163rd overall. He spent three years following his one year stint in the Ontario Hockey League playing for teams in the AHL and ECHL (AHL – Springfield Falcons, Norfolk Admirals; ECHL – Johnstown Chiefs, Mississippi Sea Wolves).
Kvapil will start his third season in the Czech Republic’s Extraliga this upcoming season. His first two seasons were played with HC Vitkovice but he has made a change this year and signed on with HC Kometa Brno. Marek hopes to help lift Brno from 12th in the 14 team league in 2009-10 to at least a playoff berth this season. In the Extraliga, the top ten teams make the post season.
Marek had the fortune of representing the Czech Republic this past spring at the IIHF World Hockey Championships in Germany as the Czechs won the gold medal. He was mentioned in this previous post regarding OHL alumni on the Czech team for the tournament.
Check out Marek Kvapil’s profile page on the HC Kometa Brno official website.
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May 11
Team Czech Republic at the 2010 IIHF World Hockey Championships features two Ontario Hockey League alumni.Lukas Kaspar played one season in the OHL, 2004-05, with the Ottawa 67′s. Kaspar helped the team reach the Robertson Cup finals before losing out to the London Knights. The 67′s appeared in the Memorial Cup despite the loss as the OHL was the host league that season.
Drafted in the first round, 22nd overall, by the San Jose Sharks in 2004, Lukas has played 16 games over two seasons with the NHL team. This past season, Kaspar played in Finland’s SM-Liiga with Oulun Karpat, finishing third on the team in scoring. You can view Lukas Kaspar’s profile at the SM-Liiga’s official website by clicking here.
Like Lukas Kaspar, Marek Kvapil played just one season in the OHL in 2004-05. Kvapil played for the Saginaw Spirit and led the team in scoring with 62 points in 53 games. Marek was drafted 163rd overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2005.
Kvapil spent the following three seasons in the North American minors, playing on four different teams between the AHL and ECHL (Springfield Falcons, Johnstown Chiefs, Norfolk Admirals, Mississippi Sea Wolves). The Slovakian born forward has just completed his second season with HC Vitkovice Steel in the Czech Republic’s Extraliga. The team finished 4th in the 14 team league this season. Marek finished second on the team in scoring with 41 points in 50 regular season games.
Check out Marek Kvapil’s profile page on HC Vitkovice Steel’s official website. The site is in Czech. Use our Czech Hockey Language Guide to help navigate the site.
Check out these other OHL grads playing in the IIHF World Hockey Championships:
John Parco on the Italian National Team
Oskar Osala on the Finnish National Team
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