OHL Alumni Central

Mark Flood played in the Ontario Hockey League with the Peterborough Petes for four years, 2001-02 to 2004-05. The native of Prince Edward Island became captain of the Petes in his final season and helped the team to the Robertson Cup Eastern Conference Finals before being swept by the Ottawa 67′s.

Flood was drafted early in his Ontario Hockey League career by the Montreal Canadiens. Mark went in the sixth round, 188th overall, in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. Most of his professional hockey career to date has been in the American Hockey League but never in the Montreal Canadiens system. Over six seasons since last playing for Peterborough, Flood has played in the AHL for the Syracuse Crunch, Albany River Rats, Bridgeport Sound Tigers and, this past season, the Manitoba Moose. in 2009-10, Flood was a call-up of the NHL’s New York Islanders and played in six games.

This past season with Manitoba was Mark’s best offensively in pro hockey. He contributed 40 points from the blue line in 63 games for the Vancouver Canucks farm team.

The 2011-12 season has yet to finalized for Mark. Will he follow the Moose as the franchise moves to St. John’s, Newfoundland? The rumour mill has Flood going to Sweden to play for Leksand of the Allsvenskan (tier 2).

Jason Ward changed course for 2010-11 and played his first season outside of North America, fifteen years after starting in the Ontario Hockey League. Ward has spent the season with EHC Linz  in Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga, a team that sits right in the middle of the EBEL at fifth place out of ten teams.

Ward played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1995-96 to 1998-99. He began with the Niagara Falls Thunder and moved with the team in his second year when they became the Erie Otters. His third season began with the Otters and ended with the Windsor Spitfires. His final season started with Windsor and ended with the Plymouth Whalers.

Twice, Jason played in the IIHF Under-20 World Junior Championships for Team Canada. In 1998, Canada finished out of medal contention. In 1999, the team lost a squeeker to Russia in the final game and took home the silver medal.

Ward was a first round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, going eleventh overall. Jason played parts of four seasons with the Canadiens and has also played NHL hockey for the New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings and Tampa Bay Lightning.

In 2002-03, with the Hamilton Bulldogs of the AHL, Ward finished just out of the top ten point-getters with 72. The team went to the Calder Cup finals before being eliminated by the Houston Aeros in seven games. That season, Jason played on Team Canada at the AHL All-Star, contributing a goal and an assist. He was honoured with the Les Cunningham Award as the AHL’s Most Valuable Player.

It is not know where Jason will play in 2011-12. He was joined on EHC Linz this season by another Ontario Hockey League grad, Rob Shearer.

Check out Jason Ward’s profile page at the EHC Linz official website.

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

This week’s edition of SSSFS is dedicated to shameless self-promotion. I’m going to link you up with some of the hockey related articles I have at online zines. They’re not all based on the Ontario Hockey League but they are about hockey. Some may even be interesting!

1976-77 Montreal Canadiens: The Best NHL Team Of All-Time?

DiPietro as a member of the Swiss Olympic team at Turin in 2006.

The other day, we determined that Todd Elik was the oldest Ontario Hockey League alumnus still practicing his trade in the world of professional hockey. Closing in on 40 and still going strong is another OHL grad, Paul DiPietro.

DiPietro has spent 10 of the last 11 seasons with EV Zug of the Swiss National A League. He was bumped aside for the 2004-05 NHL strike season and played with EHC Chur of the Swiss B league that year. EV Zug is coached by OHL great, Doug Shedden. Shedden starred in the Ontario Hockey League from 1977-78 to 1980-81 with the Hamilton Fincups, Kitchener Rangers and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

Paul played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1986-87 to 1989-90. All his four seasons were spent with the Sudbury Wolves. In his final two seasons with the Wolves, DiPietro led the team in scoring. In his final season, his 56 goals and 119 points were second in the OHL, only to Keith Primeau.

DiPietro was originally drafted by the Montreal Canadiens, 102nd overall, in the 1990 NHL draft. He enjoyed a 192 game NHL career with the Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs and Los Angeles Kings. His last season in North America was 1996-97 which was split between the Kings and two IHL teams, the Phoenix Roadrunners and the Cincinnati Cyclones.

Paul spent one season in Germany’s DEL in 1997-98 before switching over to Switzerland.

Check out Paul DiPietro’s profile page at the EV Zug official website.

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