OHL Alumni Central

Michal Dvorak played in the Ontario Hockey League for the Kitchener Rangers for three seasons from 1996-97 to 1998-99. The Czech born player arrived part way through his rookie season after starting the year in the Czech Extraliga. That year, the Rangers won the Central Division title and fell to the eventual Robertson Cup champions, the Oshawa Generals, in the semi-finals.

Dvorak went undrafted and returned to Europe for the 1999-00 season. After one year in Germany’s DEL with Moskitos Essen, Michal returned to his homeland. Since 2000-01, he has played in the Czech Extraliga, mostly with HC Plzen. Dvorak had a three year stint with HC Karlovy Vary from 2004-05 to 2006-07 but has been with Plzen since. In a league with a 52 game regular season schedule, topping the 650 game mark and still ticking is quite an accomplishment.

With Plzen, Michal has reached the league semi-finals twice, in 2003-04 and 2008-09. The team is poised to go far in 2011-12. Currently, at nearly the 3/4 mark of the season, Plzen is neck and neck with HC Sparta Praha for the overall lead in the 14 team Extraliga. Both are head and shoulders over the next competitor.

Dvorak is currently the only Ontario Hockey League grad on the Plzen roster. However, North American hockey fans would be interested to know that not only is Martin Straka the team’s star player, he is also 70% owner and general manager! Straka was the nineteenth overall pick at the 1992 NHL Entry Draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Between 1992-93 and 2007-08, Straka played for the Penguins, Ottawa Senators, New York Islanders, Florida Panthers, Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers. He played in 954 regular season NHL games and contributed 717 points. He topped out offensively in 2000-01, finished tied for fourth in the race for the Art Ross Trophy with 95 points.

Another familiar name on HC Plzen is Frantisek Kaberle, brother of current Montreal Canadiens defenseman, Tomas Kaberle. Frantisek played 523 NHL regular season games between 1999-00 and 2008-09 with the Los Angeles Kings, Atlanta Thrashers and Carolina Hurricanes.