OHL Alumni Central

Andris Dzerins played two years in the Ontario Hockey League, 2007-08 and 2008-09, both with the Kingston Frontenacs. In each season with Kingston, Dzerins reached 20 goals, 20 in his first and 21 in his second. Previous to the OHL, Andris played junior in Latvia, Sweden and Finland.

Since leaving the Ontario Hockey League, Dzerins has been with Dinamo Riga of Russia’s KHL. The team plays out of the 10,300 seat Arena Riga in Riga, Latvia. In its recent history, Dinamo has been mediocre, finishing around .500 each season. This season has started out as no exception with the team beginning with a 7-8 record and sitting in seventh in the eleven team KHL West Conference. Riga is captained by former NHLer Sandis Ozolins.

Like mostly every other player on Dinamo Riga, Dzerins is an annual fixture on Latvia’s national team. He played for Latvia two years in the IIHF under-18 D1 World Juniors, winning one gold and one silver. He followed that up with two years with the under-20 team, also winning a gold and silver. Over the past two seasons, he has been a member of Latvia’s squad at the World Championships. In 2011, he contributed five assists in six games.

Joining Andris on Dinamo Riga are two other Ontario Hockey League grads. Arvids Rekis played four seasons with the Erie Otters from 1996-97 to 1999-00. Juris Stals played the 2001-02 season with the Sarnia Sting and the following season with the Owen Sound Attack. Both were teammates of Dzerins on the 2011 Latvia team at the Worlds. Rekis was a member of the Team Latvia at the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver, British Columbia. Stals was the only one of the three drafted by a National Hockey League club. He was a ninth rounder of the New York Rangers in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft.

The Graz 99ers of Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga have bolstered their blue line for 2011-12 with two Ontario Hockey League alumni. Cole Jarrett comes from Japan and Dustin VanBallegooie played the past three seasons in Denmark.

Cole Jarrett played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1999-00 to 2002-03, all with the Plymouth Whalers. He proved his offensive abilities in his final season with 55 points in 58 regular season games for the Whalers. Undrafted, he was picked up by the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the American Hockey League and played seasons with the New York Islanders affiliate, appearing in one game with the NHL club in 2005-06.

2006-07 saw Cole jump the Atlantic to play in Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) with Eisbaren Berlin. Since, he was played in Finland, Sweden and Japan. He played for Graz two years ago before jumping to the Aisa League of Hockey last season, playing for Tohoku Free Blades. Tohoku was to play for the league championship when the devastating earthquake and tsunami hit. Tohoku was named co-champion with Jarrett leading the league in goals and points for defensemen.

Thought of highly in Graz, Jarrett starts the 2011-12 season as team captain. Graz finished sixth out of ten teams in 2010-11, one game over .500 and made a quick quarter-final exit. They’ll need the defensive help if they plan to take on Salzburg, champions 4 of the past 5 years, who have a tandem of London Knights in Danny Bois and Daniel Erlich.

Dustin VanBallegooie scored 23 goals from the point over four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League between 2000-01 and 2003-04. In his first season in Denmark, Dustin scored 17 to lead all defensemen. In fact, over his three years with Sonderjysk in Denmark, VanBallegooie led the league’s blueliners in goals each year.

Dustin started his Ontario Hockey League career with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and played for the Oshawa Generals and Owen Sound Attack before finishing with the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors. Undrafted, VanBallegooie played three seasons in the East Coast Hockey League with the Fresno Falcons (with an 11 game call-up to the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers in 2006-07) before heading to Europe. Dustin played one season in Germany’s DEL with Duisburg before heading to Denmark.

Portuguese and English we would assume would be the languages Ontario Hockey League grad Justin DaCosta would be most familiar with. I wonder how his French is? DaCosta has signed up with Chamonix of France’s Ligue Magnus for the 2011-12 season. Although a few OHL alumni find their way to the Ligue Magnus each year, it is mostly populated with players from the QMJHL, France and Eastern Europe.

Justin spent this past season in the Central Hockey League with the Allen Americans. The Americans were dominant during the regular season but couldn’t make it past the conference finals in the playoffs. DaCosta played in 44 games with Allen during the regular season and an additional 13 in the playoffs. He was a call-up for one game by the Lake Erie Monsters of the American Hockey League.

DaCosta played in the Ontario Hockey League for four years from 2002-03 to 2005-06. He began his OHL career with the Barrie Colts, playing 47 games in his rookie season. After just nine games the following season, Justin was shipped off to the Owen Sound Attack. In 2004-05, a mid-season trade sent him to his hometown, Mississauga. He finished out his OHL career with the IceDogs, putting in a career year with 42 points in 57 games in 2005-06.

Undrafted, DaCosta took advantage of the great OHL scholarship program and played two seasons with the University of New Brunswick.

In three years of pro, Justin has played for five teams in four leagues. Other than his game in the AHL this past season, his highest level of hockey was with the ECHL’s Stockton Thunder in 2009-10.

Chamonix will be looking for big things from DaCosta as they try to have their first .500 season since being promoted from tier 2 in 2005-06. The regular schedule of the Ligue Magnus consists of just 26 games. However, a soccer style country-wide playdown is intertwined. The Coupe de France begins with teams of all senior levels playing down (the equivelent of the Boston Bruins playing the Pensacola Ice Flyers of the Southern Professional Hockey League in some cases). In the end, two teams, most always from the Ligue Magnus, meet in Paris (Bercy) to determine the winner of the Coupe de France in a one game showdown.

Chamonix plays out of the 1700 seat Patinoire Richard Bozon set in the beautiful French Alps.

You can read the article announcing Justin DaCosta’s signing at the Chamonix official website (in French).

Ontario Hockey League European imports are typically limited to players from the Czech Republic and Russia. However, every once in a while, a Swede finds his way to the OHL. Anton Hedman played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 2005-06 and 2006-07. In his first year, he played 60 games with the Sudbury Wolves, scoring 18 goals and totaling 34 points. He was the 37th overall pick by the Wolves in the 2005 CHL Import Draft. The following season, he split his time between the Owen Sound Attack and Guelph Storm.

The Stockholm, Sweden native came to the Ontario Hockey League already a prospect of the NHL’s Boston Bruins. Hedman was taken by Boston in the eighth round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, 255th overall. Anton played a season in Sweden’s under 20 SuperElit league with Djurgarden before coming to Canada.

Things didn’t pan out in North America and Hedman returned to Sweden for the 2007-08 season. He played three years with various teams in the Allsvenskan (Sweden’s tier 2 professional league) before stepping up to the Elitserien with MODO this past season, 2010-11.

In his first season at the elite level, Hedman played 48 of MODO’s 55 regular season games, scoring five goals and contributed a total of twelve points. The team finished dead last in the twelve team Elitserien and narrowly escaped relegation. MODO is just a few years removed from winning the league championship, having won in 2007.

Many familiar names have played for MODO through the years before their big breaks in the NHL, including: Anders Hedberg, Tomas Gradin, Anders Kallur, Bo Berglund, Lars Lindgren, Tomas Jonsson, Lars Molin, Markus Näslund, Peter Forsberg, Niklas Sundström, Anders Eriksson, Mattias Timander, Per Svartvadet, Hans Jonsson, Henrik and Daniel Sedin, Samuel Påhlsson and Mattias Karlin.

Check out Anton Hedman’s profile page at the MODO official website.

With the Owen Sound Attack in uncharted waters as far as that franchise is concerned, it’s fitting that the head coach, two assistants and the general manager were all Canadian Hockey League players at one time and three are graduates of the Ontario Hockey League.

The Attack were the top team in the Western Conference during the 2010-11 regular season and are squaring off against the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors in the Robertson Cup final. Both teams are assured entry to the Memorial Cup tournament as Mississauga is the host.

Head Coach Mark Reeds played three years with the Peterborough Petes from 1977-78 to 1979-80. In just 54 games in his final season with the Petes, Reeds put up very respectable numbers with 34 goals and 45 assists for 79 points. Mark saw NHL action between 1981-82 and 1988-89 with the St. Louis Blues and Hartford Whalers. In 1989-90, Reeds went to Italy and contributed 131 points in just 44 games with HC Flemme Cavalese.

Reeds is in his fourth season as head coach of Owen Sound. He has been in the coaching biz since 1992-93 when he started out as the Assistant Coach of the IHL’s Peoria Rivermen. When the Rivermen made the switch to the ECHL for the 1996-97 season, Mark made the switch to head coach. He has been a head coach with the Rivermen, Missouri River Otters and Kalamazoo Wings before coming to Owen Sound.

Assistant Coach Brad Tiley played three seasons with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds from 1988-89 to 1990-91. Over his playing career, Brad saw 10 NHL games with the Phoenix Coyotes and a pair with the Philadelphia Flyers. He played actively until the 2008-09 season and appeared on teams in the IHL, AHL, DEL (Germany), EBEL (Austria) and the Asia League (Japan). This is Tiley’s second season with the Attack.

General Manager Dale DeGray played for the Oshawa Generals from 1979-80 (1 game) to 1982-83. DeGray saw NHL time in the 1980′s with the Calgary Flames, Toronto Maple Leafs, Los Angeles Kings and Buffalo Sabres. After several years in the IHL, DeGray’s playing days ended after the 1997-98 season. Dale is in his fourth year as GM in Owen Sound after spending five years as a scout for the NHL’s Florida Panthers.

Assistant Coach Terry Virtue played in the WHL from 1988-89 to 1990-91. Virtue skated in five NHL games over his career, four with the Boston Bruins and one with the New York Rangers. Terry’s lengthy hockey career, mostly spent in the AHL, came to and end after the 2006-07 season. He spent three years as assistant coach of the WHL’s Tri-City Americans before coming to Owen Sound for the 2010-11 season.