OHL Alumni Central

The IIHF has what’s called the ‘Triple Gold Club’. To belong to this exclusive club you must win a Stanley Cup, World Championship and Olympic Gold Medal. Currently, and until at least 2014, there are 25 members. The 25 consist of 24 players and one coach. Seven of the players and the one coach are from Canada (read more about Canada’s Triple Gold Club members here). Of those seven, three are Ontario Hockey League grads.

Of the OHL’s three members, one has recently retired from the game and two are still active in the NHL. The first achieved all the requirements in 2002 and the third entered the club after the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Brendan Shanahan won gold at the 1994 World Championships, has three Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings (1997, 1998, 2002) and won Gold with Canada at the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Shanahan played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with the London Knights, 1985-86 and 1986-87. He was denied World Junior gold as a member of the team involved in the Punch-up in Piestary in 1987.

His NHL career spanned from 1987-88 to 2008-09 with the New Jersey Devils, St. Louis Blues, Hartford Whalers, Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers. Brendan played in eight NHL All-Star games over his career. He was named the 2003 recipient of the King Clancy Memorial Trophy for leadership and humanitarian contributions.

Chris Pronger won World Championship Gold in 1997. His one Stanley Cup victory to date came in 2007 with the Anaheim Ducks. Chris has two gold medals from 2002 in Salt Lake City and 2010 in Vancouver.

Pronger played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with the Peterborough Petes in 1991-92 and 1992-93. In 1993, he was the CHL’s top defenseman as well as being named the Max Kaminsky Trophy winner as the OHL’s top blueliner. In 2000, Pronger won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top D-man, making him one of only three players to win both the Kaminsky and Norris.

Pronger’s NHL career began in 1993-94 with the Hartford Whalers. He was traded to St. Louis in 1995 for, ironically, Brendan Shanahan. Currently a member of the Philadelphia Flyers, Chris also played for the Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks along the way. He has played in six NHL All-Star games and won the Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP in 2000.

Eric Staal was quick to join the club. Staal won the Stanley Cup with Carolina in 2006. The following year, he won gold at the World Championships. Eric was part of the 2010 gold medal winning team in Vancouver.

Staal played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2000-01 to 2002-03, all with the Peterborough Petes. The second overall pick of the Carolina Hurricanes at the 2003 NHL Entry Draft is currently still with the club, wearing the ‘C’ on his jersey. Eric has been to four NHL All-Star games in his six seasons. He was a 100 point man in his second season with the Canes.

In 2008, he was one of PETA’s 16 finalists for the Sexiest Vegetarian Next Door contest. At 6’3″ and 245 lbs., Kingston Frontenacs grad Chris Allen is not exactly the image people think of when the word vegetarian is brought up and he is proof that meat is not a necessary part of a professional athlete’s diet.

Chris played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1994-95 to 1997-98, all with the Kingston Frontenacs. In his second season, he competed in the first ever CHL Top Prospects Game and scored the first goal (assisted by Daniel Briere) in what has become an annual tradition. In his final season with the Frontenacs, Allen was both a CHL and OHL First Team All-Star. His 38 goals and 94 points led the league’s defensemen and he was awarded the Max Kaminsky Trophy as the OHL’s top defenseman.

Allen was drafted by the Florida Panthers in the third round of the 1996 NHL Entry Draft, 60th overall. He played one game for the Florida Panthers in 1997-98 and 1998-99. The rest of his time in North America was spent bouncing around teams in the AHL, ECHL and UHL.

Chris has put his passport to good use since 2004-05. He has played in Finland, Norway, Denmark, Hungary, Korea, England and now Italy. After starting the season with Telford of Great Britain’s EIHL, he switched to Peterborough in the same league. He has now signed on with Merano of Italy’s Lega Italiana Hockey Ghiaccio Serie 2.

Chris Allen’s profile with Merano can be viewed by clicking his name on their roster page.

Check out this article on Chris Allen at the Animal Liberation Front website.

Danny Syvret played in the Ontario Hockey League from 2001-02 to 2004-05, although his first season had him see only one game. His entire Ontario Hockey League career was played with the London Knights, culminating in a season 99.999% of us could only imagine in our wildest dreams.

In his final season in the OHL, Syvret scored 23 goals and added 46 assists for 69 points in 62 games on the blueline for the Knights. The Knights, of course, won the Robertson Cup as playoff champion in the Ontario Hockey League and won the Memorial Cup on home ice at the Labatt Centre in London.

He was a part of Canada’s gold medal winning team at the 2005 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships when Canada downed Russia easily, 6-1, in the final played at Grand Forks, North Dakota. That was just the beginning.

Syvret was awarded the Max Kaminsky Trophy as the OHL’s most outstanding defenseman. A fine stepping stone to being selected the Canadian Hockey League’s Defenseman of the Year. Danny’s +70 was the league’s best plus/minus. He was also a Canadian Hockey League and Memorial Cup tournament all-star.

Despite this amazing success, Syvret was not picked until the third round of the 2005 NHL draft by the Edmonton Oilers, 81st overall. Danny saw 26 games with the Oilers over his first two seasons. The rest of his time was spent in the American Hockey League with the Hamilton Bulldogs and Grand Rapids Griffins.

2007-08 was a step back as Syvret didn’t appear in any NHL games and split his season with the AHL’s Springfield Falcons and Hershey Bears.

The past two seasons, Danny has been in the Philadelphia Flyers organization. He appeared in 23 NHL games with the Flyers over the two seasons and spent the rest of his time with their AHL affiliate, the Philadelphia / Adirondack Phantoms.

Syvret has been picked up by the Anaheim Ducks organization for the 2010-11 season. It would be nice to see Danny become a regular with the NHL team but there’s a good chance he’ll play a portion of his games in Syracuse with the AHL Crunch.

Danny Syvret is not up on the Anaheim Ducks or Syracuse official websites yet, but his AHL profile can be found here.

John Slaney as an OHLer and as a Frankfurt Lion.

Frankfurt Lions logo.

In the past week or so, we’ve posted about Ontario Hockey League alumni that have weathered the storm in the world of hockey and put in many, many years at the pro level. We’ve also recently posted on players that hold minor league records. Just the other day, we featured Sean Blanchard, a Max Kaminsky Trophy winner.

In John Slaney, you have all that. John began his Ontario Hockey League career in 1988-89 with the Cornwall Royals. He played four seasons with the Royals and in his second season with the club won the Max Kaminsky Trophy as the OHL’s top defenseman. That season, he had 38 goals and 97 points in 64 games.

Slaney was drafted by the Washington Capitals in the first round of the 1990 NHL draft, 9th overall. Just finishing his 18th season in professional hockey, John played a total of 268 NHL games with the Capitals, Colorado Avalanche, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes, Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers.

However, a good part of John Slaney’s career in North America was spent in the AHL. He played for five different teams in the league: Baltimore Skipjacks, Portland Pirates, Cornwall Aces, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Philadelphia Phantoms. From 2000-01 to 2006-07, his time was mostly spent with the Phantoms. In his first two seasons with the Phantoms, he was awarded the Eddie Shore Award as the AHL’s best defenseman.

John currently has his name in the American Hockey League’s record book in three different spots. He holds the record for most goals by a defenseman in a single season with 30. Also his is the record for most goals by a defenseman in a career with 166. Naturally, Slaney also holds the record for most points by a defenseman in a career with 519.

John has spent the past three seasons in Germany in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). His first season was played with the Cologne Sharks and the past two were spent in Frankfurt with the Lions. This past season, the Lions finished in second place in the 15 team league over the 56 game schedule. John contributed 24 points in 44 games.

Check out John Slaney’s profile page on the DEL’s official website.

John is a teammate of another Max Kaminsky Trophy winner, Sean Blanchard. We featured Sean in a recent post.

Hockey card of Sean Blanchard with the Frankfurt Lions.

Sean Blanchard played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1994-95 to 1997

Frankfurt Lions logo.

-98, all with the Ottawa 67′s. Blanchard is slated to played for the Frankfurt Lions of Germany’s DEL in the upcoming season.

Sean Blanchard’s Ontario Hockey League career was great throughout, but his third season topped them all. His 68 points in 66 regular season games helped him earn the Max Kaminsky Trophy as the OHL’s best defenseman. He also contributed 18 points in 24 playoff games for the 67′s but the heavily favoured team lost out in the Robertson Cup finals and were denied a visit to the Memorial Cup.

Sean was a 4th round pick of the Los Angeles Kings in the 1997 NHL draft, 99th overall. After three seasons toiling in the North American minors (AHL, ECHL, IHL) he began his European career in 2001-02. The season before, Blanchard bounced around, playing for three different teams: Florida Everblades – ECHL, Grand Rapids Griffins – IHL, Manitoba Moose – IHL.

Blanchard made a return to North America in 2006-07 and split his season between the Augusta Lynx of the ECHL and the Portland Pirates of the AHL. Since the start of the 2007-08 season, Sean has played in Germany in the DEL. The 2010-11 season will be his second with the Frankfurt Lions.

Sean has also played in Great Britain (BISL), Switzerland (National A and National B) and Italy’s Lega Hockey Italiano Ghiaccio.

Check out the Franfurt Lions official website.

Check out Sean Blanchard’s profile page on the DEL’s official website.

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