OHL Alumni Central

Medvescak Zagreb of Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga has said goodbye to two Ontario Hockey League grads, Jeff Heerema and Brad Smyth. Remaining captain Alan Letang and alternate captain John Hecimovic will be joined by three other OHL alumni for the 2011-12 season.

Zagreb, a city in Croatia, will enter it’s third season in the EBEL. The Austrian based elite league has truly become an international league with teams in Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia, as well as Austria. Zabreb finished each of it’s first two seasons in the EBEL in eighth place in the ten team league.

Michael Ouzas brings some great goaltending talent to ‘The Bears’. Ouzas played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2002-03 to 2005-06 with the Barrie Colts, Toronto St. Michael’s Majors, Mississauga IceDogs and Owen Sound Attack. In 2004-05, Ouzas was the OHL’s Goaltender of the Year with a 2.18 GAA and .926 save percentage in 44 games with the IceDogs.

Undrafted, Michael played two seasons with the University of New Brunswick before becoming a regular in the ECHL. This psat season, 2010-11, Ouzas started the ECHL All-Star game as a member of the Las Vegas Wranglers. He was a call-up for on game with the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League.

Andy Delmore brings 283 games of NHL experience to Zagreb, despite the fact that he joins the team on a ‘try-out’ basis. Delmore played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1993-94 to 1996-97 with the North Bay Centennials and Sarnia Sting. He played NHL hockey with the Philadelphia Flyers, Nashville Predators, Buffalo Sabres and Columbus Blue Jackets.

Delmore’s highlight season came in 2005-06 with the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL. In 66 games, he scored 17 goals and totalled 72 points. He won the Eddie Shore Award as the league’s top defenseman while leading all blue liners in goals, assists and points. He played an additional seven games with the NHL’s Blue Jackets that season.

This year will not be Andy Delmore’s first European experience. He has played in Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) and played this past season in Norway’s Get-Ligaen.

The team captain of Medvescak Zagreb, Alan Letang, begins his fourth season in the EBEL and third with Zagreb. Letang played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1991-92 to 1994-95. After playing his rookie season with the Cornwall Royals, he followed the franchise as they morphed into the Newmarket Royals and then the Sarnia Sting. In his final season, he was a teammate of Andy Delmore.

A late pick of the Montreal Canadiens in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, Letang appeared in 14 NHL games with the Dallas Stars, Calgary Flames and New York Islanders. Letang spent four years in Germany’s DEL before moving to the EBEL.

John Hecimovic enters his third season with Zagreb. He played five seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2000-01 to 2004-05. Hecimovic was a Sarnia Sting until midway through his final season when he was sent to the Mississauga IceDogs. John has been in Europe since 2007-08. He played two seasons with The Hague in the Netherlands before moving to the EBEL.

Tom Zanoski returns to his roots, having been born in Zagreb. Tom played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2001-02 to 2004-05, starting with the Owen Sound Attack and moving to the Mississauga IceDogs midway through his third season. Zanoski is surely looking for stability with Zagreb after playing for six different teams in 2009-10 and three teams in 2010-11.

Zagreb Medvescak has been in existence since 1961. Originally part of the Yugoslav Hockey League, the have played in the Croatian Ice Hockey League from 1991. They actually play in both the CIHL and EBEL at the same time. The team plays out of the 6400 seat Dom Sportova in Zagreb.

Alan Letang began his Ontario Hockey League career with the Cornwall Royals in 1991-92 and followed the franchise to Newmarket and ended up with them as they began new life as the Sarnia Sting in 1994-95. Letang played a total of four years in the OHL, one in Cornwall, two with the Royals in Newmarket and one in Sarnia.

Letang was chosen by the Montreal Canadiens in the eighth round of the 1993 NHL draft, 203rd overall. He spent his first two seasons of professional hockey with Montreal’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Fredericton Canadiens, but never played a game with the NHL squad.

However, over his sixteen year professional hockey career to date, Alan has played in fourteen NHL games. His time in the NHL was split between the Dallas Stars, Calgary Flames and the New York Islanders. Most of Letang’s North American hockey was played in the AHL and the old IHL.

After earlier dabbling in the European pro game during the 1997-98 and 1998-99 (split between the Canadian National Team and Zug of Switzerland’s National League A) seasons, Letang returned for good in 2004-05. After a four year run in Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) with the Hamburg Freezers and Nürnberg Ice Tigers, Alan moved to Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga where he currently plays.

After a season with HC Innsbruck in 2008-09, Alan switched to Medvescak Zagreb for the 2009-10 season. Letang is currently in a familiar role as the captain of Zagreb and the team sits right in the middle of the EBEL standings, fifth out of ten teams. Zagreb is located in nearby Croatia and is now one of four non-Austrian teams in the league. The others being Ljubljana and Jesenice of Slovenia and Székesfehérvár of Hungary.

Alan’s profile on the Zagreb official website can be found by clicking his name on the team’s roster page.

Alan has previously appeared in these two posts at OHL Alumni Central:

Sarnia Sting alumni active in pro hockey during the 2009-10 season

Newmarket Royals alumni active in pro hockey during the 2009-10 season

John Hecimovic played five seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2000-01 to 2004-05. His first four full seasons were spent with the Sarnia Sting and after 12 games of his fifth season, Hecimovic was shipped to the Mississauga IceDogs where he finished out his OHL career.

John was a fine example of consistency around the net scoring exactly 30 goals in his second, third and fourth seasons. In his final season, that number dropped to a combined total of 26 goals between Sarnia and Mississauga but that feat was accomplished in just 51 games.

Hecimovic was picked by the Florida Panthers in the ninth round of the 2003 NHL draft, 264th overall. The highest level John played at in North America was three partial seasons in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL). He played 24 games with the South Carolina Stingrays in 2005-06 before jetting off to Germany to play for Straubing Tigers of the German Bundesliga. He spent 2006-07 with the Pensacola Ice Pilots, averaging more than a point per game with 55 points in 44 games.

After playing just 5 games with Pensacola in 2007-08, it was off to Europe again for Hecimovic. This time the destination was the Netherlands. In just 25 games with HYS The Hague, John scored 23 goals and added 23 assists for 46 points. The following season, despite playing just 16 regular season games, Hecimovic produced 16 points in 10 playoff games and led The Hague to the Dutch championship.

This past season, John followed his ancestral roots and landed in Zagreb, Croatia. Hecimovic played for KHL Medvescak Zagreb (the “Bears”), a Croatian team that plays in Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga. John produced 39 regular season and 10 playoff points for a combined 49 which placed him 29th in the league.

Zagreb finished fourth in the regular season during the 2009-10 season and made it to the semi-finals in the playoffs, losing out to eventual EBEL champions, EC Salzburg Red Bulls.

Medvescak Zagreb’s roster page on their official website can be found here.

Check out John Hecimovic’s profile page on the EBEL official website.

The following video features John Hecimovic putting the final touches on a great turnover and break by Zagreb. John is number 8 in blue.