OHL Alumni Central

He never won a major award in the National Hockey League. He was never inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame. His season highs in the NHL maxed out at 26 goals and 45 points. Yet, the name Eddie Shack is one of the most well-known in the game of hockey.

Shack played five seasons with the Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters in the Ontario Hockey Association from 1952-53 to 1956-57. In his final season, when the league consisted of just seven teams and only the Peterborough Petes were in their current location, the Biltmores were tops during the regular season and won the Robertson Cup as playoff champs. Shack’s 47 goals and 104 points was just two behind teammate and league leader Bill Sweeney (click on Bill’s name to see a previous post at OHL Alumni Central on him).

Eddie played over 1000 games in the NHL with the New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Los Angeles Kings, Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins. his 465 total points is respectable but it is often said that Shack was mismanaged as a hockey player from the get-go in the NHL and despite mostly being put in a checking role, could have been an outstanding offensive threat in the league.

Shack did play for four Stanley Cup winning teams in Toronto during the 1960′s and he did play in three All-Star games. He was the first NHL player to score 20+ goals in a season for five different teams and is still only the second to accomplish this. He scored 26 with Toronto in 1965-66, 23 with Boston in 1967-68, 22 with Los Angeles in 1969-70, 25 with Buffalo in 1970-71 and 25 with Pittsburgh in 1972-73.

For a great read on Eddie, check out Clear the Track: The Eddie Shack Story (Peter Goddard Books). This is a great book written by Ross Brewitt that goes into great detail about the life and times of “The Entertainer” with much input from the man, himself.

The National Hockey League and the American Hockey League both have a third of their head coaches as player graduates of the Ontario Hockey League. This week we look at the East Coast Hockey League, North America’s tier 3 league and main affiliate to the AHL.

The ECHL has nineteen teams for the 2010-11 season with an additional team slated to join for 2011-12. Of the nineteen ECHL teams, nine of those teams have head coaches that played junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey League. For a more in-depth article on this topic, check this out.

Jarrod Skalde, Cincinnati Cyclones. Skalde played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1987-88 to 1990-91. He played with the Oshawa Generals until midway through his final season when he was shipped to the Belleville Bulls.

Nick Bootland, Kalamazoo Wings. Nick played three seasons for the Guelph Storm from 1995-96 to 1997-98. Bootland is in his third season as head coach of the Wings.

Ryan Mougenel, Las Vegas Wranglers. Ryan played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1993-94 to 1996-97, split between the Owen Sound Platers and Kitchener Rangers.

Karl Taylor, Ontario Reign. Karl played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1988-89 to 1990-91, split between the Windsor Spitfires, London Knights and North Bay Centennials.

Larry Courville, Reading Royals. Larry played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1991-92 to 1994-95. Courville began with the Cornwall Royals, following the team to Newmarket then to Sarnia before ending up with the Oshawa Generals.

Cail MacLean, South Carolina Stingrays. Cail played four seasons with the Kingston Frontenacs from 1993-94 to 1996-97.

Nick Vitucci, Toledo Walleye. Nick played two seasons with the Toronto Marlboros, 1985-86 and 1986-87.

Kevin Colley, Utah Grizzlies. Kevin played three seasons with the Oshawa Generals from 1996-97 to 1998-99.

Stan Drulia, Wheeling Nailers. Stan played five seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1984-85 to 1988-89. Drulia began his career with the Belleville Bulls and moved on to the Hamilton Steelhawks. He followed the Steelhawks to Niagara Falls where they were renamed the Thunder.

Scott Arniel. Cornwall Royals grad and head coach of the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets.

It is already well known that the Ontario Hockey League is the top producer of professional hockey players. Just look at the OHL Alumni Central Big List for evidence of this. Yet another tribute to the OHL as a developer to the hockey world is the fact that 10 of the current 30 head coaches in the National Hockey League played their junior hockey in the league. It really says a lot for the Windsor Spitfires organization that 4 of those 10 played for the Spits.

Of course, this is not just limited to the NHL. All professional hockey leagues in North America are well stocked with former Ontario Hockey League grads now standing behind the bench. For the next few Sundays, we’ll cover the rest of these leagues. For today – here are the ten from the NHL.

(as usual, the acronym OHL is all encompassing and includes when the league was referred to as the OHA and OMJHL)

Randy Carlyle – Anaheim Ducks. Randy played three seasons in the OHL from 1973-74 to 1975-76, all with the Sudbury Wolves.

Craig Ramsay – Atlanta Thrashers. Craig played four seasons in the OHL from 1967-68 to 1970-71, all with the Peterborough Petes.

Claude Julien – Boston Bruins. Claude played four seasons in the OHL from 1977-78 to 1980-81. Julien’s OHL career was split between the Oshawa Generals and the Windsor Spitfires.

Paul Maurice – Carolina Hurricanes. Paul played four seasons in the OHL from 1984-85 to 1987-88, all with the Windsor Spitfires.

Joel Quenneville – Chicago Blackhawks. Joe played three seasons in the OHL from 1975-76 to 1977-78, all with the Windsor Spitfires.

Scott Arniel - Columbus Blue Jackets. Scott played one season in the OHL, 1981-82, with the Cornwall Royals. Scott played the two previous seasons with the Royals as well but they were in the Quebec league until the 81-82 season.

Peter DeBoer – Florida Panthers. Peter played four seasons in the OHL from 1985-86 to 1988-89, all with the Windsor Spitfires.

Terry Murray – Los Angeles Kings. Terry played three seasons in the OHL from 1967-68 to 1969-70, all with the Ottawa 67′s.

John MacLean – New Jersey Devils. John played three seasons in the OHL from 1981-82 to 1983-84, all with the Oshawa Generals.

Bruce Boudreau – Washington Capitals. Bruce played three seasons in the OHL from 1972-73 to 1974-75, all with the Toronto Marlboros.

These are ten teams that are having decent seasons so far, so these jobs should be fairly safe. My prediction for the eleventh OHL grad to become an NHL coach is a fella with the Frontenacs that played for the Cornwall Royals. Two of his former teams might be looking for a new coach soon…

Andre Lacroix with the San Diego Mariners of the WHA.

When hockey fans think of the Peterborough Petes, they think of Chris Pronger, Steve Yzerman and Jamie Langenbrunner. When fans think of the Philadelphia Flyers, they think of Bobby Clarke, Bernie Parent and maybe Eric Lindros. When fans that are old enough think of the World Hockey Association, they think of the Howes, Bobby Hull and Jacques Plante.

In all three situations, the player that comes to mind should be Andre Lacroix.

Andre played three seasons in the OHA from 1963-64 to 1965-66. He began with the Montreal Junior Canadiens and switched to the Peterborough Petes after his first season. In Peterborough, Lacroix exploded offensively. In 1964-65, he scored 45 and added 74 assists for 119 points in just 49 games. The following season, he scored 40 and assisted on 80 for 120 points in 48 games. Both seasons, he was awarded the Red Tilson Trophy as the league’s most outstanding player. In his final season, his 120 points gave him the Eddie Powers Trophy as the league’s top scorer. Always the playmaker with the soft hands, Andre led the league in assists for both his final two seasons.

Lacroix joined the expansion Philadelphia Flyers in their first season, 1967-68. Over the following two seasons, Andre lead the Flyers in points with 56 and 58. His NHL career consisted of 325 regular season games, mostly with the Flyers with partial seasons with each the Chicago Blackhawks and the Hartford Whalers.

It was in the WHA where the name Andre Lacroix will forever go down in history. He will forever be the league’s all-time leader in games played (551), assists (547) and points (798). He comes in slightly lower in the goals department, falling fourth in the league’s history with 251.

In six of his seven seasons in the WHA, Lacroix led his team in points. The only season he didn’t was his final season with the New England Whalers in 1978-79 when the team was led by Mark Howe. Andre twice won the Bill Hunter Trophy as the league’s top point-getter. The first time was with the Philadelphia Blazers in the first season of the WHA when he scored 50 and added 74 assists for 124 points. The second was two years later in 1974-75 with the San Diego Mariners. That season Andre scored 41 but added an astonishing 106 assists for 147 points.

At the time, his 106 assists were a professional hockey record and, along with Bobby Orr, was the only professional player to surpass the 100 assist mark. His six 100+ point seasons in a row is a feat to this day only shared by six other professional players.

Lacroix was selected to the Team Canada squad for the 1974 Summit Series that pitted the best Canadians of the WHA against the best of Russia. Andre did not disappoint as the second highest scorer on the team.

Check out some of the previous OHL Alumni Classics:

Gord Brooks

Art Stratton

Bill Sweeney

Joel Scherban became a member of the London Knights in 1996-97, the season following the Knights infamous 3-60-3 season. In his first three season with the Knights, he saw the club go from a 13 win season to the seventh game of the Robertson Cup finals before bowing out to the Belleville Bulls in 1998-99.

Scherban played five seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1996-97 to 2000-01, all with the London Knights. The captain provided leadership and steady offense with 191 points in 274 games.

Joel was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the seventh round of the 1998 NHL draft, 196th overall. Scherban chose instead to go the Canadian university route.

Scherban was a charter member of the Lakehead University Thunderwolves Men’s Hockey Program. In the first five years of the Thunderwolves existence, Joel Scherban was the team’s captain. Over the five seasons, Joel was honoured with awards at the OUA and CIS level.

What follows is a list of Joel Scherban’s accomplishments as a player with the Lakehead Thunderwolves. This is directly copied from Lakehead’s website. The original article (Scherban’s final player profile) is very worth the read and can be found here.

2001-2002 Honours:
1) OUA West Conference First Team All-Star
2) OUA West Conference All-Rookie Team

2003-2004 Honours:
1) Chosen to OUA Selects Team
2) OUA and CIS Athlete of the Week
3) Lakehead Hockey Athlete of the Month for October and January
4) Selected as OUA West First Team All-Star for third consecutive season
5) Selected OUA West Most Sportsmanlike Player for second consecutive season
6) Winner of CIS Most Sportsmanlike Player Award for second consecutive season
7) Lakehead Hockey Best Work Ethic Award

2004-05 Honours
1) Lakehead Athlete of the Week
2) Lakehead Athlete of the Month
3) Captain of Winter Universiade Team Canada (Tied for 1st in Tourney Scoring)
4) OUA First Team All-Star
5) OUA West MVP
6) CIS First Team All Canadian
7) Winner of Joseph E. Sullivan Trophy as Oustanding Player in CIS Hockey
Lakehead Hockey MVP
9) Lakehead University Male Athlete of the Year

2005-06 Honours:
1) OUA West First Team All Star
2) OUA West CIS Randy Gregg Nominee
3) OUA West Sportsman of the Year Award
4) Lakehead Hockey MVP
5) CIS Second Team All Canadian
6) OUA Queen’s Cup Championship Game Jack Kennedy MVP Award

After graduation, Lakehead found they couldn’t part with Joel. He was named the team’s head coach before the 2009-10 season and is in his second season in the position.

This article from the Lakehead Thunderwolves website announcing Joel Scherban as head coach is another must read.