OHL Alumni Central

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.

Ontario Hockey League grad Manny Legace is not quite ready to hang up the goalie pads just yet. After being released from a try-out with the New York Islanders prior to the start of the 2010-11 NHL season, Legace has taken a job between the pipes with the Iserlohn Roosters of Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL).

Manny  played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1990-91 to 1992-93, all with the Niagara Falls Thunder. In his final season in the OHL, Legace was named Goaltender of the Year as well as making the Canadian Hockey League All-Star Team. He also backstopped Team Canada to a gold medal at the 1993 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. He was named the Best Goaltender at the tournament and was a memeber of the All-Star Team.

Legace was taken late in the 1993 NHL draft by the Hartford Whalers in the eighth round, 188th overall. In his first season after graduating from the Ontario Hockey League, Manny opted to play for Team Canada. During that 1993-94 season, Legace was named to the Spengler Cup All-Star Team and played between the pipes as Canada won a silver medal at the 1994 Olympic Games in Lillehammer.

In 1995-96, with the Springfield Falcons of the American Hockey League, Manny won the Baz Bastien Trophy as the league’s top goaltender. His 2.27 GAA and .917 save percentage in 37 games for the Falcons was indeed worthy of the honour. Partnering with Scott Langkow, Legace was also awarded the Harry ‘Hap’ Holmes Memorial Award as the AHL’s top goaltending duo.

It took until the 1998-99 season before Manny made an appearance in the NHL, playing 17 games for the Los Angeles Kings that season. After four games with the Detroit Red Wings the following season, Legace became a regular in the NHL. He leaves the NHL having played a total of 365 regular season games with the Kings, Red Wings, St. Louis Blues and Carolina Hurricanes. He was a member of the 2001-02 Stanley Cup winning Detroit Red Wings and went to the 2007-08 NHL All-Star Game as a member of the St. Louis Blues.

Iserlohn is in need of someone to stop the bleeding in the goals against department. Early in the season, the Roosters are sitting 13th in the 14 team league and have the most goals against.

Check out Manny Legace’s profile page on the Iserlohn Roosters official website.

Manny can be found on the OHL Alumni Big List

Not active as a player, Ontario Hockey League alumnus Stan Drulia is still much a part of the professional hockey world. Stan is entering his ninth year of coaching since retiring as a player and his first as head coach of the Wheeling Nailers of the East Coast Hockey League.

Stan Drulia played five seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1984-85 to 1988-89. Be began his OHL career with the Belleville Bulls. He played his first two seasons in Belleville, highlighted by a 43 goal performance in his sophomore year. In 1986-87, Stan moved to the Hamilton Steelhawks. After two seasons in Hamilton, Drulia followed the team as they picked up and moved down the QEW to Niagara and became the Thunder.

In 1987-88 with the Steelhawks, Stan was sixth on the Ontario Hockey League scoring list with 121 points on 52 goals and 69 assists. In his final season, he was second only to teammate Bryan Fogarty in league scoring with his 145 points on 52 goals and 93 assists. Drulia added 37 points in 17 playoff games that season as the Thunder reached the Robertson Cup finals before losing out the Peterborough Petes in six games.

In that final season, Stan was awarded the Leo Lalonde Memorial Trophy as the Ontario Hockey League’s best overage player and also the Jim Mahon Memorial Trophy as the league’s top scoring right winger.

Drulia was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the eleventh round of the 1986 NHL draft, 214th overall. He would end up his career with 126 NHL games played, all with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He played 24 games with Tampa Bay in 1992-93 then didn’t play again in the NHL for six seasons before ending out his NHL career with the Lightning in 1999-00 and 2000-01.

In 1990-91, his one and only season in the ECHL, Stan tallied 140 points in just 64 games for the Knoxville Cherokees en route to becoming the ECHL MVP. That point total stands today as the fourth best single season mark in ECHL history. The following season, Drulia notched 49 goals and 53 assists for 102 points for the New Haven Nighthawks in the higher calibre AHL which placed him third in league scoring.

Drulia’s greatest pro success came in the old IHL. He played eight seasons in the league, including the six between stints with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Twice he was on Turner Cup winning teams, the 1993-94 Atlanta Knights and the 1996-97 Detroit Vipers. Twice he was awarded the N.R. “Bud” Poile Trophy as the league’s playoff MVP, first with those 1993-94 Atlanta Knights and again in 1998-99 with the Vipers despite the team losing in the Turner Cup finals to the Chicago Wolves.

Stan played three seasons with the Atlanta Knights of the IHL from 1993-94 to 1995-96. He will forever be etched in that team’s record books as the player with most career goals, assists and points. Drulia also is second on Atlanta’s all-time games played list and appears in the top ten for all-time penalty minutes. The Knights moved to Quebec City for the 1996-97 season and became the Rafales. The Rafales lasted just two seasons.

Check out Stan Drulia’s Wheeling Nailers at their official website.

This video was a promo that was sent out to Vipers season ticket holders after winning the 1997 Turner Cup. Stan Drulia appears at around the 1:50 mark of the video, scoring a big goal for Detroit.

Erie Otter Alumnus, Jason Robinson, was recently named ‘Entertainer of the Year’  (click link for article on Coventy Blaze official website) in Great Britain’s EIHL for 2009-10.

Robinson was a member of a Coventry Blaze team that was tops in the regular season standings but fell to the Cardiff Devils in the playoff semi-finals.

Jason is in his fifth season in the EIHL, returning this season after a two year absense. He played in the Ontario Hockey League from 1995-96 to 1997-98. His first season was with the Niagara Falls Thunder in their last season in Niagara. He moved with the team to Erie where he played out his career with the Otters.

You can find Jason Robinson in these two other OHL Alumni Central posts:

Otters Alumni on Coventry Blaze

Erie Otters Alumni Playing Pro Hockey

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This is last post in our focus over the past four days on the Erie Otters. The team moved from Niagara Falls, where they were known as the Thunder. The Otters first season in the Ontario Hockey League was 1996-97 and at the time were the 2nd team in the league located outside of Ontario.

To date, the team’s best season by far was 2001-02. The Otters won the OHL championship and went on to make a respectable appearance at the Memorial Cup. There are currently 35 Erie alumni playing professional hockey throughout the world, including 11 in the NHL.

The 35 current pros are:

 

Player	Team	League
Alexeev, Nikita	Kazan Ak-Bars	KHL
Beech, Kevin	Corpus Christi Icerays	CHL
Berti, Adam	Gwinnett Gladiators	ECHL
Blunden, Mike	Syracuse Crunch	AHL
Bonello, Brad	Fassa HC	Italy
Boyes, Brad	St. Louis Blues	NHL
Campoli, Chris	Ottawa Senators	NHL
Colaiacovo, Carlo	St. Louis Blues	NHL
Connolly, Tim	Buffalo Sabres	NHL
Coultice, Noel	Bloomington PrairieThunder	IHL
Gazdic, Luke	Texas Stars	AHL
Greene, Chris	Mississippi Surge	SPHL
Guenther, Joe	Amarillo Gorillas	CHL
Hisey, Rob	Springfield Falcons	AHL
Hodgman, Justin	Toronto Marlies	AHL
Janus, Jaroslav	Norfolk Admirals	AHL
Kidd, Josh	Manchester Monarchs	AHL
Lee, Brian	Coventry Blaze	EIHL
Liambas, Michael	Bloomington PrairieThunder	IHL
MacLean, Brett	San Antonio Rampage	AHL
McMillan, Darren	Klostersee EHC	GerObl
Merlini, Derek	Tulsa Oilers	CHL
Montador, Steve	Buffalo Sabres	NHL
Munro, Adam	Novosibirsk Siber	KHL
O’Connor, Sean	Fort Wayne Komets	IHL
O’Marra, Ryan	Springfield Falcons	AHL
O’Reilly, Ryan	Colorado Avalanche	NHL
Palmieri, Nick	Lowell Devils	AHL
Peluso, Anthony	Peoria Rivermen	AHL
Perras, J.F.	Arizona Sundogs	CHL
Regan, Eric	Bakersfield Condors	ECHL
Rekis, Arvid	Wolfsburg Grizzly Adams	DEL
Robinson, Jason	Coventry Blaze	EIHL
Rupp, Michael	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL
Valiquette, Steve	New York Rangers	NHL

To check out the other recent posts on Erie Otters alumni, click on the following links:

Michael Liambas now with the IHL’s Bloomington Prairie Thunder.

Otter alumni with Coventry Blaze of Great Britain’s EIHL.

Otter alumni with the St. Louis Blues of the NHL.