OHL Alumni Central

Jaroslav Janus during Slovakia's upset of the USA at the 2009 Under-20 World Juniors.

Recently, we featured the Ontario Hockey League grads currently playing for the ECHL’s Florida Everblades (click link to go to that article). At the time, there were five OHL alumni on the team. A sixth player, Jaroslav Janus, had been sent up to the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals at the time and has since been returned to Florida.

Janus played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2007-08 to 2009-10, all with the Erie Otters. The Slovak goaltender played the bulk of the games for the team in his first two seasons and just a handful in 2009-10 as he spent half the season with Norfolk.

The season before coming to the Ontario Hockey League, Jaroslav played goal for Team Slovakia at the IIHF World Under-18 Tournament in which Slovakia finished fifth. In the 2009 Under-20 Championships, Janus led Slovakia to the Bronze medal game where they bowed out to Russia. Jaroslav was selected to the tournament’s All-Star Team.

Janus was selected in the sixth round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning, 162nd overall. He was also taken the same year in the second round of Russia’s KHL Draft by Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, 42nd overall. He has obviously chosen to remain in the Tampa Lightning organization, splitting his time between the AHL’s Admirals and the ECHL’s Everblades.

Check out profile page of Jaroslav Janus at the Florida Everblades official website.

Mike Angelidis played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2002-03 to 2005-06, all with the Owen Sound Attack. Mike scored 25 goals over his first three seasons then exploded for 53 in his final campaign with the Attack.

His 53 goals were good for third in the OHL. He was chosen as a First Team All-Star and was selected as the Most Improved Player in the Western Conference in the annual coaches poll. More importantly, Angelidis was awarded with the Dan Snyder Trophy as the Ontario Hockey League’s Humanitarian of the Year. Mike was also selected as the CHL’s Humanitarian of the Year.

Undrafted, Angelidis was quickly brought into the Carolina Hurricanes system upon graduation. He played four season with Carolina’s affiliate in the American Hockey League, the Albany River Rats and wore the ‘A’ on his jersey. Over the summer of 2010, Mike signed a one-year two way contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning and has spent the season so far with their AHL affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals.

To check out Mike Angelidis’ profile on the Norfolk Admirals official website, go to the roster page and click on his name.

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Michael Vernace played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2003-04 to 2005-06, although his first season consisted of only two games. Vernace’s entire Ontario Hockey League career was spent with the Brampton Battalion. It should be noted that although Mike played just two games in his first  season, he had a goal and assist in those two games and then played eleven playoff games with the Battalion, contributing five points.

In his final season in the Ontario Hockey League, Vernace led the league as the defenseman with the most assists with 62. His 72 points that season tied him for second on the team with Luciano Aquino but left him a great distance behind team leader Wojtek Wolski who had 128 points on the season.

Vernace was drafted by the San Jose Sharks in the seventh round of the 2004 NHL draft, 201st overall. Over the past four seasons, Mike has spent his time in the American Hockey League with the exception of 24 games with the Arizona Sundogs of the Central Hockey League in 2006-07 and 12 games with the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL in 2008-09.

This upcoming season, 2010-11, Vernace will be playing for the Norfolk Admirals of the AHL. Norfolk will be Mike’s fifth AHL team in five years (Albany River Rats, Lake Erie Monsters, Chicago Wolves, Hamilton Bulldogs).

Michael Vernace has not yet appeared on the Norfolk Admirals official website.

Michael Vernace is featured in a previous post at OHL Alumni Central listing the graduates of the Brampton Battalion that played professionally during the 2009-10 season.

Team Slovakia has three Ontario Hockey League alumni on the roster for the 2010 IIHF World Hockey Championships. Two of the three were also on the National team at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Olympians Peter Budaj and Andrej Sekera

 are joined by Richard Panik for the Worlds.

Richard Panik is one of the newest OHL grads to be playing at the pro level. He played his only OHL season in 2009-10 and split the year between the Windsor Spitfires and the Belleville Bulls and could potentially be back with the Bulls next season. He completed the season with the Norfolk Admirals of the AHL. Richard was a second round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2009 NHL draft.

Peter Budaj played three seasons between the pipes for the St. Michael’s Majors from 1999-00 to 2001-02. A second round pick of the Colorado Avalanche in the 2001 NHL draft, Peter has just completed his fifth season with the NHL club.

Andrej Sekera played two seasons in the OHL with the Owen Sound Attack, 2004-05 and 2005-06. Drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2004 NHL draft, Andrej has remained in the Sabres organization.

Click on the country to see what OHL grads are on the roster for the 2010 IIHF World Hockey Championships: Latvia, Canada, Italy(1), Italy (2), Czech Republic, Norway, Finland.