OHL Alumni Central

Vaclav Meidl played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2003-04 to 2006-07. He began his OHL career with the Plymouth Whalers after being drafted 3rd overall in the 2003 CHL import draft and was traded to the Saginaw Spirit midway through the 2005-06 season. Meidl played eight games with the Oshawa Generals during the 2006-07 season before returning to his native Czech Republic.

Vaclav’s most productive season in the Ontario Hockey League was his first with 14 goals and 42 points in 67 games. His numbers dropped each successive season after that. Meidl was a member of Team Czech Republic at the 2006 IIHF World Under-20 Championships. The team lost to the United States in the quarter finals.

After his first season with Plymouth, Meidl was drafted in the third round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft by the Nashville Predators, 81st overall. Vaclav’s professional career since leaving Oshawa in 2006-07 has been a split between the Czech Republic’s Extraliga and Extraliga 2.

This past season, 2010-11, Vaclav played six games with the Extraliga’s HC Kometa Brno and 39 with the Extraliga 2′s HC Havlickuv Brod. With Brod, Meidl contributed 33 points on 15 goals, his best professional output to date. He is set to return to Brod for the 2011-12 season.

Jamie Johnson played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1999-00 to 2002-03. He began his career with the Sarnia Sting and was shipped to the Oshawa Generals just nine games into his second OHL season.

Johnson was Oshawa’s team leader in points, the bulk of which were assists, in both his final two seasons. In 2002-03, he finished up the season tied with Kyle Wellwood for sixth in the Ontario Hockey League with 100 points.

Jamie Johnson in white.

Despite his obvious talent as a set-up man, Johnson went undrafted by an NHL club and started his professional hockey career in the East Coast Hockey League with the Louisiana IceGators. In his second season in the ECHL, Jamie led the Augusta Lynx in points and tied for second in the league with 80.

His numbers in the ECHL were good enough to attract attention in the AHL and has played the bulk of his career since 2005-06 in that league. In 2007-08, he was the Albany River Rats team leader in points. Ironically, second on the team was Brandon Nolan. Nolan also finished second to Johnson on the 2002-03 Generals. In 2009-10, Jamie led the Rochester Americans in points with 71 and was one point out of the league’s top 10.

Three years ago, Johnson found his way over to Scandinavia for a season and played for TPS in Finland’s elite SM-Liiga. Despite playing

Currently, Jamie is playing for the Grand Rapids Griffins in the AHL. Check out Jamie Johnson’s profile page at the Grand Rapids Griffins official website.

Jamie appears in a previous article at OHL Alumni Central listing the Sarnia Sting Alumni that were still actively playing professional hockey during the 2009-10 season.

He was Ahren Nittel with the Windsor Spitfires. He’s usually now listest as Ahren Spylo-Nittel. His current team, Biel of Switzerland’s National League A simply lists him as Ahren Spylo. No matter the name, this Ontario Hockey League grad is going strong in Europe.

Ahren played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2000-01 to 2002-03. He started his OHL career with the Windsor Spitfires and moved over to the Oshawa Generals midway through his final season.

Spylo-Nittel was taken by the New Jersey Devils in the third round of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, 85th overall. Ahren played three seasons with New Jerseys AHL affiliate, the Albany Rivers Rats, from 2003-04 to 2005-06. In his second season, while only playing 50 games, he led the team in goals with 25.

He made the jump to European hockey in 2006-07 and with exception to a couple of games played in the ECHL in 2009-10, he has been there since. Ahren has made stops in Germany and Russia as well as his current league in Switzerland. With the Nürnburg Ice Tigers of Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga in 2007-08, he led the team in goals (41) and points (61) in 56 games. He was selected to Team Nord Amerika for the 2008 DEL All-Star game. As a member of the DEL’s Adler Mannheim, he competed in the 2009 Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland.

This is his first season with Biel and he currently leads the team in goals and points, running neck and neck with teammate and Ontario Hockey League grad, Rico Fata. The team has just extended Spylo-Nittel’s contract through next season.

You can check out Ahren Spylo-Nittel’s profile at the Biel official website.

Ontario Hockey League grad Nathan Perrott disappeared from hockey after last season. Or did he? It turns out the well travelled former NHLer is playing close to home for the Walkerton Capitals in Ontario Senior A hockey.

Perrott played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1994-95 to 1996-97. Nathan played his first two full seasons with the Oshawa Generals. After five games with Oshawa in his third season, he was traded to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. His fists were always at the forefront as Perrott sat out 528 minutes in just 164 OHL games.

Drafted by the New Jersey Devils in the second round of the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, 44th overall, Perrott made his first appearance in the NHL during the 2001-02 season with the Nashville Predators. He would also play with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Dallas Stars during his 89 game NHL career.

After just four games with the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies in 2007-08, Perrott headed to Russia where he played for Vityaz Chekhov of the KHL. Vityaz has a reputation for fighting. They’re much like the Broad Street Bullies of the 1970′s but with no ability to win. Two featured players on the KHL team, and former Ontario Hockey League players, are Chris Simon and Brandon Sugden.

In 2008-09, Nathan played just nine games with the KHL team and racked up 137 minutes in penalties. This past season, 2009-10, he returned to North America and played for the Texas Brahmas of the Central Hockey League.

Nathan Perrott can be found on the Walkerton Capitals roster page.

In a similar situation to yesterday’s post, today’s features a team losing one Ontario Hockey League grad and gaining another. Yesterday, it was the Nottingham Panthers of the Great Britain’s EIHL (click on the team name to view article). Today, it’s Kärpät of Finland’s SM-Liiga. 

Snopek was drafted in the fifth round of the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, 109th overall by the Edmonton Oilers. Jan’s pro career in North America consisted of just two games in the American Hockey League during the 1997-98 season. He has been in the Czech Extraliga since the 1998-99 season. During his five year stint with HC Pardubice from 2004-05 to 2008-09, the team won the league championship in his first year and he was team captain in the final two seasons. This year was Snopek’s second season with HC Ceske Budejovice. 

Martin St. Pierre started this season with Neftekhimik of Russia’s KHL but after just eight games found himself with Kärpät. He played 25 games with the club, contributing 14 points before parting ways with the club this week. 

Martin St. Pierre as a member of the AHL's Rockford IceHogs

St. Pierre played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2000-01 to 2003-04, all with the Guelph Storm. In his first season, he was the OHL’s rookie leader in assists and points. In his final season, the Storm won the Robertson Cup and Martin led the league in playoff assists and points. He was awarded the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award as the playoff MVP. He was also awarded the Leo Lalonde Trophy as the OHL’s Overage Player of the Year. 

Undrafted, St. Pierre has made his way into 38 games in the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins and Ottawa Senators. He has averaged well over a point per game in 367 AHL games with 405 points. Twice he was an AHL All-Star. 

Rumours abound that St. Pierre will be heading to EC Salzburg Red Bulls in Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga. Salzburg has always been very OHL alumni friendly. 

Jan Snopek was featured in this previous post at OHL Alumni Central. 

Martin St. Pierre was featured in this previous post at OHL Alumni Central.