OHL Alumni Central

Ontario Hockey League grad Matt Armstong has recently finished his second successful season in the Australian Ice Hockey League. For the second consecutive year, Armstrong’s team, the Melbourne Ice, has won the Goodall Cup as the league’s playoff champion.

The Ice dominated the AIHL, which plays a 28 game schedule over the North American summer / Australian winter, with a record of 18 wins, 2 losses, 3 overtime wins and 5 overtime losses for 56 points. Matt finished third on the team in scoring and eleventh in the league with 53 points on 16 goals and 37 assists over 27 games.

Armstrong played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1999-00 to 2002-03, dressing for the Kitchener Rangers, Peterborough Petes, Plymouth Whalers and Barrie Colts over that time span. His most productive season in the OHL came with the Petes in 2001-02 when he scored 17 and added 21 assists in 65 games.

Undrafted by and NHL club, Armstrong spent two years at Concordia in the Canadian university system. His first year of professional hockey came in 2006-07 with The Hague in Netherlands. He led the last place team in goals (35), assists (37) and points (72) over 40 games. He finished fifth in the league in points and fourth in goals.

Before landing in Australia, Matt spent time in Germany, as well as, a handful of games in North America in the IHL and SPHL. Over 51 career games in the AIHL, Armstrong has registered 97 points.

The Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League have had a string of five sub .500 seasons since winning the Robertson Cup in 2005-06. Since 2005-06, the team has won just one playoff game, a lone victory in a their first round loss to the Belleville Bulls in 2007-08. This past season, the Petes won just 20 games and totalled 43 points while missing the post season. With the cyclical nature of the OHL, there are fairly good odds that Peterborough will climb the standings in 2011-12.

In 2010-11, there were 73 players that had played at least one game with the Peterborough Petes still actively playing hockey, either professionally or in the Canadian university system. The Peterborough Alumni appeared in 20 different leagues around the world in 12 different countries. An outstanding 16 players were in the National Hockey League. 14 players were in the CIS, taking advantage of the Ontario Hockey League’s amazing scholarship program.

The following list captures what we believe to be all the Peterborough Petes grads playing at a competitive level in 2010-11. The team and league give are for the last team the player played with during the 2010-11 season. Below the list is a glossary of league acronyms. If you know of someone that is missing, please let us know in the comments below!

AHL – American Hockey League (USA, Canada)

AIHL – Australian Ice Hockey League

SM-Liiga – Finland Elite League

CIS – Canadian University

NHL – National Hockey League (USA, Canada)

EIHL – Elite Ice Hockey League (England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland)

LIHG – Lega Italiana Hockey su Ghiaccio (Italy)

SPHL – Southern Professional Hockey League (USA)

CHL – Central Hockey League (USA)

2. Bundesliga – German Tier 2 (Germany)

Swiss-A – National League A (Switzerland)

ECHL – East Coast Hockey League (USA, Canada)

DEL – Deutsche Eishockey Liga (Germany)

KHL – Kontinental Hockey League (Russia)

VHL – Russian Tier 2

Czech Extraliga – Czech Republic Tier 1

SWE Div 1 – Sweden Division 1 (Tier 2 to Elitserien)

WOAA – Western Ontario Athletic Association

EBEL – Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary)

ALH – Asia League Hockey (Japan, China, Korea)

The Iserlohn Roosters of Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) finished out of the playoffs in 2010-11 for the third consecutive season. The Roosters finished 12th in the fourteen team league, five points out of the basement. Their possible solution for improving in 2011-12? Bring in some North American veterans with plenty of NHL experience.

The Roosters have just signed three players with plenty of NHL experience, two of which are Ontario Hockey League grads. All three probably won’t dazzle like Sidney Crosby, but all three have grit, size and leadership qualities that Iserlohn is definitely looking for.

Jeff Cowan

Jeff Cowan has 434 NHL regular season games under his belt, but has spent the last three years in the American Hockey League, most recently with the Toronto Marlies. Originally undrafted, Cowan has played for the Calgary Flames, Atlanta Thrashers, Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks.

Jeff played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1993-94 to 1995-96. He began his OHL career with the Guelph Storm and finished off by playing for the Barrie Colts in his final year. With the Colts, he showed his scoring abilities with 38 goals in 66 games. He was team captain with Barrie.

Jassen Cullimore

Jassen Cullimore is one of very few left playing in pro hockey that started in the Ontario Hockey League in the 1980′s. Cullimore played four seasons with the Peterborough Petes from 1988-89 to 1991-92. He played for Team Canada at the 1992 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships where Canada tanked with a sixth place finish.

Cullimore was selected in the second round of the 1991 NHL Entry Draft by the Vancouver Canucks, 29th overall. He has put in 812 regular season NHL games to date with the Canucks, Montreal Canadiens, Tampa Bay Lightning, Chicago Blackhawks and Florida Panthers. He spent this past season split between the Chicago Blackhawks and the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs.

Jassen was used sparingly in his first season with Peterborough as the won the Robertson Cup as Ontario Hockey League playoff champs. The same was true when he played for the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2003-04 when they won the Stanley Cup. Iserlohn is hoping he’ll bring some of that winning experience to Germany.

Mike York

The other former NHLer, but not OHL grad, signed by Iserlohn is Mike York. York played NCAA hockey before embarking on a 579 game NHL career with the New York Rangers, Edmonton Oilers, New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers, Phoenix Coyotes and Columbus Blue Jackets. York spent this past season in Finland with Pelicans of the SM-Liiga. He played for Iserlohn in the NHL lock-out season of 2004-05.

Ontario Hockey League grad Pat Kavanagh is going from a team that didn’t make the playoffs last season and has only proceeded to the post season once since 2000-01 to a team that finished third and is a perennial contender.

Pat Kavanagh with the AHL's Manitoba Moose.

Kavanagh will spend 2011-12 with the Vienna Capitals of Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (EBEL). The Peterborough Petes alumnus has spent the past four years in Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) with this past season in an Iserlohn Roosters jersey.

Pat played three years in the Ontario Hockey League from 1996-97 to 1998-99, all with the Peterborough Petes. Kavanagh was a second round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, 50th overall. He has 14 games of regular season NHL experience as well as three games in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He split his NHL time between the Vancouver Canucks and Philadelphia.

Kavanagh began his European odyssey in 2006-07, playing in both Finland and Sweden. From 2007-08 to 2010-11, Pat played in the DEL. His first and last seasons were with the Iserlohn Roosters and in between he played for the Frankfurt Lions and ERC Ingolstadt. In 2007-08, he played a major role in Iserlohn’s only venture into the post season.

This past season, Vienna finished third in the ten team EBEL during the regular season and lost in the semi-finals.

For the second year in a row, Ontario Hockey League grads Jamie Langenbrunner and Jason Arnott will start the season on the same team. Last season, both were with the New Jersey Devils and both were traded away to different teams by the end of the season. In 2011-12, the two veterans will bring leadership and experience to a youth-packed St. Louis Blues team.

Before the 2010-11 season, Langenbrunner and Arnott had a series of near misses. Jamie began his Ontario Hockey League career with the Peterborough Petes in 1993-94 while Jason ended his OHL career with the Oshawa Generals in 1992-93. During the 2001-02 season, the two were traded for each other with Langenbrunner going from the Dallas Stars to New Jersey while Arnott went in the opposite direction.

Jason Arnott played two season in the Ontario Hockey League, 1991-92 and 1992-93, both with the Oshawa Generals. He was a seventh overall pick by the Edmonton Oilers in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft and was an instant stick with the Oilers in 1993-94. Along the way, he has played 1172 NHL games with the Oilers, Devils, Stars, Nashville Predators and Washington Capitals.

Jamie Langenbrunner played two seasons in Ontario Hockey League, as well. Jamie played for the Peterbough Petes in 1993-94 and 1994-95. Langenbrunner was drafted the same year as Arnott, 1993, going in the second round, 35th overall, to the Dallas Stars. He was drafted right out of high school in the United States and came to the Petes already an NHL prospect. Langenbrunner has totalled 1035 regular season NHL games from 1995-96 to the present with Dallas and New Jersey.

This duo brings to St. Louis the combined experience of three Stanley Cup victories (Langenbrunner -2, Arnott – 1). Their leadership qualities are immense. Langenbrunner served as the team captain of the New Jersey Devils from 2007-08 until his trade to Dallas last season. Arnott wsa team captain of the Nashville Predators from 2006-07 to 2009-10.

With the signing of these two veterans, St. Louis instantly became one of the team’s to watch in the upcoming NHL season.

Check out the story announcing the double signing from the St. Louis Blues official website.