OHL Alumni Central

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 the second year in a row, Ontario Hockey League grads Jamie Langenbrunner and Jason Arnott will start the season on the same team. Last season, both were with the New Jersey Devils and both were traded away to different teams by the end of the season. In 2011-12, the two veterans will bring leadership and experience to a youth-packed St. Louis Blues team.

Before the 2010-11 season, Langenbrunner and Arnott had a series of near misses. Jamie began his Ontario Hockey League career with the Peterborough Petes in 1993-94 while Jason ended his OHL career with the Oshawa Generals in 1992-93. During the 2001-02 season, the two were traded for each other with Langenbrunner going from the Dallas Stars to New Jersey while Arnott went in the opposite direction.

Jason Arnott played two season in the Ontario Hockey League, 1991-92 and 1992-93, both with the Oshawa Generals. He was a seventh overall pick by the Edmonton Oilers in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft and was an instant stick with the Oilers in 1993-94. Along the way, he has played 1172 NHL games with the Oilers, Devils, Stars, Nashville Predators and Washington Capitals.

Jamie Langenbrunner played two seasons in Ontario Hockey League, as well. Jamie played for the Peterbough Petes in 1993-94 and 1994-95. Langenbrunner was drafted the same year as Arnott, 1993, going in the second round, 35th overall, to the Dallas Stars. He was drafted right out of high school in the United States and came to the Petes already an NHL prospect. Langenbrunner has totalled 1035 regular season NHL games from 1995-96 to the present with Dallas and New Jersey.

This duo brings to St. Louis the combined experience of three Stanley Cup victories (Langenbrunner -2, Arnott – 1). Their leadership qualities are immense. Langenbrunner served as the team captain of the New Jersey Devils from 2007-08 until his trade to Dallas last season. Arnott wsa team captain of the Nashville Predators from 2006-07 to 2009-10.

With the signing of these two veterans, St. Louis instantly became one of the team’s to watch in the upcoming NHL season.

Check out the story announcing the double signing from the St. Louis Blues official website.

Ontario Hockey League grad Danny Richmond is switching to the Washington Capitals system for the 2011-12 season. The London Knights alumnus spent 2010-11 with the Toronto Marlies, the AHL affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Richmond has signed with the Hershey Bears of the AHL for one season.

Danny played just one season in the Ontario Hockey League, 2003-04, as yet another American born player snagged by the Hunter Brothers in London. With the Knights, Richmond scored 13 and totalled 35 points in 59 games from the blue line.

Richmond played for Team USA at the 2004 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. He contributed four assists in six games as the United States won their first gold medal ever in the tournament. The U.S., undefeated up to the final, met Canada, also undefeated, in Helsinki, Finland. The States edged out Canada 4-3 for the gold.

Before Richmond came to the Knights, he was already a prospect of the Carolina Hurricanes. Danny was taken by the Canes in the second round of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, 31st overall. In his second year of pro hockey, Richmond got into 10 games with Carolina and 10 more with the Chicago Black Hawks. He would see 22 games with Chicago in 2006-07 and seven the following year.

Richmond has spent most of his pro career in the AHL, playing 433 games with six different teams as of the end of the 2010-11 season.

Ontario Hockey League grad Dino Ciccarelli was recently inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and for good reason. Despite never hoisting the Stanley Cup or any other major NHL award, Dino’s name is littered throughout many all-time NHL scoring categories.

Ciccarelli played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League (OMJHL at the time) from 1976-77 to 1979-80, all with the London Knights. The highlight of Dino’s junior career was his second season when he led the league in goals with 72, two more than Wayne Gretzky and three more than Bobby Smith. In the points category, Ciccarelli finished third with 142 points, 40 behind Gretzky and 50 behind Smith in a record setting season. Neither Smith nor Gretzky played right wing so Dino was awarded the Jim Mahon Trophy as the highest scoring right winger.

A broken leg during the 1978-79 season and a stature than was thought to be too small for the era kept Dino out of the draft. Despite that, he went on to a 21 year NHL career with the Minnesota North Stars, Washington Capitals, Detroit Red Wings, Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers.

Ciccarelli topped out at 55 goals and 106 points in 1981-82 with the North Stars. The point total was good for third in the league. Ironically, he finished behind the same pair from the 1977-78 season. Bobby Smith finished eight points ahead of Dino and Gretzky finished with twice as many points with 212.

Where Dino Ciccarelli sits on the NHL’s all-time lists:

Regular season power play goals – 232 – 8th

Regular season shots on goal – 3706 – 25th

Playoff goals per game – .528 – 13th

Playoff powerplay goals – 34 – tied with Wayne Gretzky for 3rd

Playoff game winning goals – 13 – tied for 15th

Regular season goals – 608 – 16th

Regular season points – 1200 – 45th

Playoff goals – 73 – 13th

Check out these OHL grads featured previously as OHL Alumni Classics:

Eddie Shack

Jamie Storr

The Gardner Brothers

Doug Shedden

Darren Pang

With Canada still in mourning over their stunning third period breakdown and subsequent loss to Russia at the 2011 IIHF Under-20 World Junior Hockey Championships, we thought we’d take a look back at an Ontario Hockey League grad who won two golds at the tournament.

Jamie Storr played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1991-92 to 1994-95. He was an Owen Sound Plater until midway through his final season when he was shipped to the Windsor Spitfires. He was named to the OHL’s All-Rookie Team in 1991-92 and was a First Team All-Star in 1993-94 as well as OHL Goaltender of the Year.

He played in both the 1994 and 1995 World Juniors with Canada taking the gold in both. He was also on the roster for Canada’s squad at the World Championships in 1994 with Canada winning gold in that tournament as well. He was named best goaltender of the tournament in the 1994 World Juniors. Previous to that, Jamie won gold in the under-17 and under-18 tournaments as well.

Storr was a goaltending rarity going in the high position of seventh overall in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft to the Los Angeles Kings. Jamie played parts of ten seasons in the NHL with the Kings and the Carolina Hurricanes. Another extreme rarity, Storr was selected to the NHL’s All-Rookie Team two years in a row, 1997-98 and 1998-99. He didn’t play the minimum amount of games in 1997-98 which allowed him to be still considered a rookie the next season. Currently, Jamie sits 2nd on the list for most career shutouts in a Kings uniform. He sits fourth in both wins and games played.

In 2006-07, after two seasons toiling in the American Hockey League, Storr jumped to Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga. He played three seasons for the DEG Metro Stars. In his first season in Germany, his 2.33 goals against average was best in the league. Jamie retired as a player after the 2008-09 season and currently runs a goaltending school.

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