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I think it’s a fair comparison to say that Robert Esche is the American version of Sean Burke. Burke was always available to wear the Team Canada Jersey, representing his country in nine different tournaments and actually playing full-time for the national team for parts of four seasons. Esche has appeared in eight tournaments for Team USA and is still quite active in professional hockey. The two even played for the same NHL teams, at different times.

Robert Esche played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1995-96 to 1997-98. His first two seasons were with the Detroit Junior Red Wings and he switched with the franchise in his final season as they became the Plymouth Whalers. In his final season, he was selected Second Team All-Star goaltender. Twice during his junior career, Robert tended goal for Team USA at the IIHF World Junior Championships.

Esche was selected in the sixth round of the 1996 NHL Entry draft by the Phoenix Coyotes, 139th overall. He played three games with the Coyotes the first season while spending most of his time with their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Falcons. In that first season, Esche was named to the AHL All-Rookie Team.

Robert played parts of eight seasons in the NHL with the Coyotes and Philadelphia Flyers. At his pinnacle, 2003-04 with the Flyers, he was named the winner of the Jennings Trophy with a 2.04 GAA and .915 save percentage over 40 regular season games. He led the Flyers deep into the Stanley Cup playoffs before losing in the Eastern Conference finals to eventual Champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning.

In 2007-08, Esche made a drastic change of scenery, jumping to Russia’s KHL (then called the RSL). He was an instant star between the pipes in Russia, posting a 1.86 GAA with AK Bars Kazan in his first season then a 1.87 with nine shutouts in 38 games for SKA St. Petersburg the following season. He also played in the All-Star game that season. Esche played last season with St. Petersburg and once again posted stellar numbers.

This season, Esche has signed on with Dynamo Minsk and is helping the team stay on top of the KHL’s Western Conference.

Check out Robert Esche’s profile at the KHL official website.

Joining Esche on Dynamo Minsk are these two former Ontario Hockey League players (click names to go to previous post at OHL Alumni Central):

Max Spiridonov

Geoff Platt

Jakub Koreis played just one season in the Ontario Hockey League, 2003-04. He played 48 regular season games with the Guelph Storm and 22 games in the playoffs as the Storm captured the Robertson Cup by upsetting Ontario Hockey League top seed, London Knights, in the Western Conference final and sweeping the Mississauga IceDogs in the final.

Koreis represented the Czech Republic three time during his junior career. In 2002, he was part of the bronze medal winning IIHF World Junior under-18 tournament team. He also appeared at the 2003 and 2004 under-20 World Juniors.

The Phoenix Coyotes had high hopes in Jakub as they drafted him in the first round of the 2002 NHL draft, 19th overall. After his season in the Ontario Hockey League, Koreis spent three seasons in the AHL, one with the Utah Grizzlies and two with the San Antonio Rampage.

In 2007-08, Koreis left North America and played in Finland’s SM-Liiga with Ilves. He returned home in 2008-09 and has been a member of HC Sparta Praha of the Czech Extraliga since. He is signed on with Prague for the 2010-11 season.

With HC Sparta Praha, he will join Ontario Hockey League alumnus Radek Smolenak, who was featured yesterday on OHL Alumni Central. Click here to check out the post. Former Barrie Colt, Lukas Bolf is also on the team.

Check out Jakub Koreis’ profile page on the HC Sparta Praha official website.

Jason Jaspers played in the Ontario Hockey League for three seasons from 1998-99 to 2000-01, all with the Sudbury Wolves. Over the three years, Jaspers put in 116 regular season goals and finished third in OHL scoring in 1999-00 with 46 goals and 107 points, behind Sheldon Keefe of the Barrie Colts and teammate Norm Milley.

Jaspers has been playing in Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) since 2006-07. His first three seasons were with Adler Mannheim (Mannheim Eagles). Last season he moved over to the Kolner Haie (Cologne Sharks) and has recently signed a contract through 2012 with the club.

Jason was drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes in the third round of the 1999 NHL draft, 71st overall. From 2001-02 to 2003-04, Jaspers played a total of nine games with the Coyotes, spending the rest of his time in the AHL with the Springfield Falcons. His best season with the Falcons was his last, 2005-06, when he scored 29 goals and added 37 assists in 77 games.

In the upcoming 2010-11 DEL season, Jason is joined by another Ontario Hockey League grad, Ryan Ramsay, who we featured just recently in this post.

Check out Jason Jaspers’ profile page on the official Kolner Haie website.

Former Ottawa 67′s standout defenseman, Brendan Bell, has has enough of North American hockey and has signed on with Avangard Omsk of Russia’s KHL for the 2010-11 season.

Brendan played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1999-00 to 2002-03, all with his hometown Ottawa 67′s. Twice, he was part of 67′s teams that went to the Robertson Cup final. In 2000-01, the 67′s won the Robertson by beating out the Plymouth Whalers and went on to an unsuccessful Memorial Cup Tournament in Regina. In 2002-03, Ottawa lost out to the Kitchener Rangers in the final.

In his final season in the OHL, Brendan was honoured with the Max Kaminsky Trophy for the league’s top defenseman.

Brendan was picked 65th overall in the 2001 NHL draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Bell played a total of 32 games over two seasons, 2005-06 and 2006-07, with the Leafs. He also put in 16 games with the Phoenix Coyotes over two seasons, 2006-07 and 2007-08. In 2008-09, he had his most successful, and last, NHL season, playing 53 games on the blueline with the Ottawa Senators.

This past season, 2009-10, Brendan played the entire season in the AHL with the Peoria Rivermen and the Syracuse Crunch. His combined points total between the two teams made him the top point-getter on the Crunch.

The move puts him on an Avangard Omsk team that finished 11th overall in the 24 team KHL despite a team centred around the great Jamomir Jagr. The story can be found on the team’s official website. The site is in Russian. The translation is roughly:

HC Avangard – News May 20, 2010 “Vanguard” is in talks with Brendan Bell

————————————————– ——————————

Omsk Avangard in talks with a Canadian defender attacker plan
Brendan Bell from the system “Ottawa. In 2001, Bell in the NHL Entry Draft was selected
in round 3 under the 65 rooms of the club “Toronto Maple Leafs.”
The past season of 27-year-old defender clearance (height 188 cm, weight 96 kg) held in
AHL club: Peoria Rivermen “and” Syracuse Crunch “, recorded in its assets in the 71-th
Game 52 (14 +38) points. In the National Hockey League played 101 games in which
scored 28 (7 +21) points. During his career overseas, speaking in different
leagues, Bell scored 85 washers and made 312 broadcasts.

Brendan Bell’s profile page on the Syracuse Crunch official website can be found here.

Patrick DesRochers played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1995-96 to

 1998-99. His first three seasons in the OHL were spent with the Sarnia Sting. In his final season, he was traded to the Kingston Frontenacs eight games into the season.

DesRochers spent the past season, 2009-10, in Norway, playing for Vålerenga Ishockey AS – a team that plays out of Oslo. The team finished first in the regular season, 12 points ahead of the next team, in Norway’s GET-Ligaen. The GET-Ligaen is a nine team league that plays a regular season schedule of 48 games. Patrick played 47 of those 48 games.

His 47 games tied him for first in the league among goaltenders. He led the league in minutes played, wins and goals against average (2.10). DesRochers was second in the league for save percentage with a .917.

Patrick was originally a first round pick of the Phoenix Coyotes in the 1998 NHL draft (14th overall). He did get a taste of the NHL with 11 total games, 9 with the Phoenix Coyotes and 2 with the Carolina Hurricanes. The rest of his North American career was spent in the AHL with the Springfield Falcons, Lowell Lock Monsters and San Antonio Rampage. He aslo put in two games in the ECHL with the Texas Wildcatters.

Check out Patrick DesRochers profile page on the Vålerenga Ishockey AS official website.

Some other related posts that might interest you:

Sarnia Sting alumni playing professional hockey. (Patrick was off the radar when this post was published so he’s not included in the lengthy list of Sting grads active in the hockey world)

Former Knight and Sting, Mathis Olimb, on the roster for Norway at the IIHF Worlds

Show-off your OHL trivia skills before May 31, 2010