OHL Alumni Central

The 2001-02 Erie Otters weren’t the best team during the Ontario Hockey League’s regular season, although close. However, in the Robertson Cup playoffs, the Otters won 16 games while losing just five in capturing the championship. Erie took out the Sarnia Sting, London Knights and Windsor Spitfires before facing the Barrie Colts in the Robertson Cup finals. Erie took out Barrie in five games and earned a berth at the Memorial Cup tournament. The Otters lost in the semi-final to Victoriaville in overtime. The Kootenay Ice of the WHL were crowned Memorial Cup champions in the tournament held in Guelph, Ontario.

Ten members of the 2001-02 Erie Otters are still actively playing in professional hockey today. Three were originally first round picks at the NHL Entry Draft and three are currently still playing in the National Hockey League.

Tommy Lee played goal for the Otters in 2001-02 and with the Barrie Colts in 2002-03 and 2003-04. He is currently playing for the Brooklyn Aviators of the Federal Hockey League (FHL).

Adam Munro played goal for Erie from 1998-99 to midway through 2002-03 when he was traded to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds to complete his final OHL season. Munro was a first round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks at the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, 29th overall. Adam is currently playing for Székesfehérvár in Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (EBEL).

Chris Campoli played defense for the Otters from 2000-01 to 2003-04. Campoli was a seventh round pick of the New York Islanders at the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, 227th overall. Chris is currently playing for the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens.

Carlo Colaiacovo was a member of the Erie Otters from 1999-00 to 2002-03. Colaiacovo was a first round pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs at the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, 17th overall. Carlo is currently playing for the St. Louis Blues.

Brian Lee played defense for Erie from 2000-01 to 2004-05. Lee was a third round pick of the Anaheim Ducks at the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, 71st overall. Brian is playing in Italy’s Lega Italiana Hockey su Ghiaccio (LIHG) for Vipiteno.

Brad Boyes played with the Otters for four seasons, his final being the 2001-02 season. Brad was a first round pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs at the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, 24th overall. Boyes is now a member of the Buffalo Sabres.

Scott Dobben started his Ontario Hockey League career with the Otters in 2000-01. He was traded to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds during the 2002-03 season and finished off his OHL career with the Hounds in 2003-04. Scott was a fourth round pick of the Ottawa Senators at the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, 113th overall. Dobben is currently playing for the Cardiff Devils in Great Britain’s EIHL.

Olexander Karaulshuk played for the Otters from 2001-02 to 2003-04. Karaulshuk is playing in the Ukraine for Berkut Kiev.

Michal Kokavec played just one season in the Ontario Hockey League, 2001-02. Kokavec is currently playing for HC Banska Bystrica in Slovakia.

Corey Pecker began his Ontario Hockey League career with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in 1997-98 and came over to the Erie Otters during the 2000-01 season. 2001-02 was his final season in the OHL. Pecker was a sixth round pick of the Calgary Flames at the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, 166th overall. Cory is in Switzerland, playing for Olten of the Swiss National League ‘B’.

Over the past four decades, from 1970 to 2009, 13 teams from the Ontario Hockey League have gone on to become Memorial Cup champions. In the first decade, the league was represented by four champs and each of the following three, three OHL teams won the top prize.

The following four articles describe in a bit of detail, the OHL’s winning teams in each decade.

1970′s

In the 1970’s, the Memorial Cup became strict property of major junior hockey in Canada. Previously, the format had potentially included any ‘Junior A’ team in the country. Four times during the decade, a team from Ontario was victorious at the Memorial Cup tournament. Each year, one team from each of the three major junior leagues in Canada competed for the ultimate prize. Interestingly, in each of the Ontario victories, the Ontario representative played possum in the round robin, winning one and losing one. In fact, three of the four years, all three teams ended the round robin with 1 and 1 records. Read more

1980′s

With the champions of three league’s competing each year for the Memorial Cup (plus one additional team from the host league), over a decade the odds are that each league will win three times. For the Ontario Hockey League during the 1980’s, it was just that. Interestingly, the Cornwall Royals won the Memorial Cup in 1980 and 1981 but didn’t move from the QMJHL to the OHL until the following season. Read more

1990′s

Each year, the champions from each of the three leagues that make up the Canadian Hockey League meet to determine Canada’s top major junior hockey team. The host league of the Memorial Cup enters two teams to make it a four team tournament. In the 1990’s, three teams from the Ontario Hockey League were crowned Memorial Cup champions. Each year during the decade that an OHL team won, it was on home turf. Interestingly, the representative from the QMJHL in each of the three seasons was the Laval / Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Read more

2000′s

The Barrie Flyers took it all in 1952-53, they were first place in league play, won the Robertson Cup over the St. Michael’s Majors and took the Memorial Cup with a victory over the St. Boniface Canadiens. The franchise would also achieve Mem Cup success as the Niagara Falls Flyers but, so far, not as the Sudbury Wolves. One of the major factors in Barrie’s success was the play of centre Don McKenney.

Find Don McKenney rookie cards on eBay, right now!

1954-55 Topps #35 - Don McKenney rookie card.

A little bit of an unsung hero in the hockey world, McKenney is not enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame but does have a pretty impressive list of achievements. He played two seasons with the Flyers, 1951-52 and 1952-53, scoring over 30 goals each season. In the days before the draft, Barrie was sponsored by the NHL’s Boston Bruins. After a year with the American Hockey League’s Hershey Bears, McKenney found his way to Boston.

In his first season with the Bruins, McKenney was the runner-up for the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year after leading Boston in points with 42 in 69 games. Each season he played with Boston, Don was typically first or second in team scoring. He led the team in 1956-57 and 1958-59.

Overall, he was in the top ten NHL point-getters four times, all between 1956-57 and 1959-60. His only major individual award was the Lady Byng Trophy in 1959-60.

He was an integral part of the 1963-64 Toronto Maple Leafs Stanley Cup victory. A late season pickup from the New York Rangers, McKenney contributed 12 points in 12 games on the way to the Cup. Previously, with Boston, he reached the finals after the Bruins finished fourth in the six team league and upset the Rangers in the first round before losing to the Montreal Canadiens in the finals. That playoff season, McKenney scored nine and added eight assists for 17 points in just 12 games.

McKenney played in the NHL from 1954-55 to 1965-66 with the Bruins, Rangers, Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings. He made it back in 1967-68 with 39 games in a St. Louis Blues uniform. He continued to play in the American Hockey League until the end of the 1969-70 season. With the Pittsburgh Hornets in 1966-67, he won another championship in yet another league as the Hornets took the Calder Cup in their final year of existence. His swan song, of sorts, came in 1968-69 with the Providence Reds, putting up 74 points and finishing eighth in AHL scoring.

Don McKenney’s rookie hockey card appears in the 1954-55 Topps series, the first hockey set produced by Topps. Although Gordie Howe’s card is valued at $1800, McKenney’s is the highest valued rookie card at $80, according to Beckett Hockey Monthly.

Don went on to coach several years at Northeastern University in the U.S., last coaching in 1990-91.

The Niagara Falls Flyers were the kings of the castle in the mid 1960′s and Derek Sanderson was their centrepiece. Sanderson played with the Flyers for four years from 1963-64 to 1966-67. The team was sponsored by the Boston Bruins at the time and Derek was a Bruins prospect right from the word go.

Derek Sanderson with the Boston Bruins.

In 1964-65, the Flyers won the Robertson Cup as OHA playoff champions. The team moved on to win the Memorial Cup as Canada’s top major junior team.

In 1965-66, Sanderson showed how multi-faceted he could be. In 48 games with Niagara Falls, Derek scored 33 goals and totalled 76 points. He also found the time to sit out 238 minutes in the penalty box. In his final season in the OHA, Sanderson won the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy as the league’s top scorer. Derek totalled 101 points in just 47 games and still was able to spend 193 minutes in the sin bin.

In his first year with the Bruins, 1967-68, Derek was the National Hockey League’s top rookie, winning the Calder Memorial Trophy. He played in the NHL from 1967-68 to 1977-78 with the Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins. Sanderson was to be the star of the newly formed World Hockey Association in their 1972-73 inaugural season. He played a total of eight games with the Philadelphia Blazers, tallying six points and 69 PIM. He was back with the Bruins before the season was over.

Sanderson was a member of two Stanley Cup winning teams with the 1970 and 1972 Boston Bruins. In 1970-71, he achieved his highest goal total in the NHL with 29. His best season for total points came with the St. Louis Blues in 1975-76 with 67.

For Ontario Hockey League grad Rob Schremp, 2010-11 seemed looked like the year he’d finally crossed the mountain and became a full-fledged National Hockey League regular. However, Schremp has left the NHL and North America behind to play for MODO of Sweden’s Elitserien for the 2011-12 season.

Rob Schremp as a member of the AHL's Springfield Falcons.

Schremp played four season in the Ontario Hockey League from 2002-03 to 2005-06. He began his career with the Mississauga IceDogs and won the Emms Family Award as OHL rookie of the year in his first season, playing along side fellow American born player, Patrick O’Sullivan.

In 2003-04, after just three games with the IceDogs in which he average two points per game, Rob was traded to the London Knights. He scored 28 goals and totalled 90 points with London that season. The following year, he increased his point total to 90 on 41 goals and added another 29 points in the playoffs as the Knights won the Robertson Cup and Memorial Cup.

2005-06 was by far Schremp’s most productive in the Ontario Hockey League. His 57 goals, 88 assists and 145 points in just 57 games were all league highs. He won the Eddie Powers Trophy as the league’s top point-getter but was denied the Red Tilson Trophy as MVP which went to Wojtek Wolski of the Brampton Battalion.

In both his final two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, Schremp played for Team USA at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. In both years, USA was denied the podium, taking fourth place in both tournaments.

Rob was taken by the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, 25th overall. In his first pro season, he played just one regular season with the Oilers while spending the rest of his time in the AHL with the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. The following season, he doubled his total of NHL games with two. He was the ninth leading point-getter during the 2007-08 season, contributing 67 for the Springfield Falcons.

2008-09 saw him double his NHL games from the previous season again. He played four games for the Edmonton Oilers, registering his first NHL points with three assists. A trade to the New York Islanders organization in saw him finally play a significant amount of games with 44. He produced 25 points for the Islanders, including seven goals in those 44 games.

This past season, Schremp started out with the Islanders, playing 45 games. He finished the season with the Atlanta Thrashers, playing 18 more games.