OHL Alumni Central

Ontario Hockey League grad Rob Zepp started the 2010-11 season being named the top goaltender at the European Trophy tournament. His Eisbaren Berlin team of Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga won the pre-season invitational tournament held in Salzburg, Austria. Zepp led the team with a 1.94 GAA and .930 save percentage.

The Plymouth Whalers grad kept up the pace through the regular season and playoffs, leading Berlin to the DEL championship. The team has rewarded Zepp by signing him through the end of the 2011-12 season.

Rob played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1998-99 to 2000-01, all with the Plymouth Whalers. During all three seasons, Zepp shared the Dave Pinkney Trophy for the lowest team GAA in the OHL.

Zepp twice entered the NHL Entry Draft. he was taken by the Atlanta Thrashers in the fourth round of the 1999 draft, 99th overall. He re-entered for the 2001 draft and was picked by the Carolina Hurricanes, 100th overall in the fourth round.

Rob played four seasons in the North American pro leagues, mostly with the Florida Everblades of the East Coast Hockey League. Despite decent numbers, the NHL didn’t come calling and Rob left for Europe.

Zepp played two seasons in Finland before making his way to Berlin for the start of the 2007-08 season. Rob has been with Berlin since. In that time, the team has won the DEL Championship three times. Rob has competed for Germany at the international level over the past two seasons.

Nearly three years seperate them but the Sestito brothers got to play one season together with the Ontario Hockey League’s Plymouth Whalers in 2004-05.

Tim Sestito played four years with the Whalers from 2001-02 to 2004-05. Undrafted by an NHL club, Tim has worked his way through the ranks from ECHL, to AHL and finally to the NHL. His first NHL game came in 2008-09 with the Edmonton Oilers. He played just one game with Edmonton but was captain of their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Falcons.

The past two seasons, Sestito has been in the New Jersey Devils organization, splitting time between the Devils and their AHL affiliate, the Lowell Devils in 2009-10 and the Albany Devils in 2010-11. In 2009-10, Tim got up to New Jersey for nine games. This season, the number increased to 36.

Tom Sestito played three years for the Whalers from 2004-05 to 2006-07. His 42 goals led the team in his final Ontario Hockey League season. He added another 11 goals and 17 points in 19 playoff games that season as Plymouth captured the Robertson Cup as OHL playoff champions.

Tom was taken by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the third round of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, 85th overall. Sestito has played a total of 13 games in the NHL to date, all with the Blue Jackets. He got into nine this season with Columbus but was shipped to the Philadelphia Flyers organization in late February. Tom spent the rest of the 2010-11 season with Philadelphia’s AHL affiliate, the Adirondack Phantoms.

With one in New Jersey and another in Philadelphia, at least the Sestito boys are trying to make it easy on their upstate New York family to capture some games.

Tim Sestito was recently featured in an article at OHL Alumni Central focused on the graduates of the 2002-03 Plymouth Whalers that are still active in professional hockey.

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.

What should have been the pinnacle of the Asia League Hockey’s 2010-11 season, turned into an escape from disaster. The Tohoku Free Blades were to meet Anyang Halla in the league finals when the devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit Japan. Tohoku is right in the impact zone and the players experienced the phenomenon first hand, though all escaped safely.

The finals were to feature two Ontario Hockey League alumni going head to head. Dustin Wood plays for the South Korean Anyang Halla and Cole Jarrett plays for the Free Blades. The two teams have been declared co-champions as obvious more important matters are at hand in Japan.

Dustin Wood played four seasons in the OHL from 1998-99 to 2001-02, all with the Peterborough Petes. In his final season with Peterborough, Wood was the team captain.

After four years of jumping around in the North American pro leagues, Dustin made the jump to Europe for the 2007-08 season. Wood played two seasons in Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) before switching to the Asia League for the 2009-10 season. Anyang Halla was Asia League champion in his first year and were co-champions this year after the rest of the playoffs were called off.

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Cole Jarrett played four years in the Ontario Hockey League from 1999-00 to 2002-03, all with the Plymouth Whalers. Jarrett was a fifth round pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, 141st overall. His only NHL game came during the 2005-06 season with the New York Islanders.

From 2006-07 to 2009-10, Jarrett toured Europe playing for teams in Germany, Finland, Sweden and Austria. He joined the Free Blades this season and led the league’s defensemen in goals (18) and points (51).

Check out this article from Pro Hockey News for more information on how the Disaster affected the players in the ALH.

The 2002-03 Plymouth Whalers finished the season third overall in the Ontario Hockey League and three points behind the Kitchener Rangers for first in the Western Conference. It would be the same Kitchener Rangers that would dash Plymouth’s playoff hopes in a conference final that went seven games.

Chad Larose led the team in every offensive category with 61 goals, 56 assists and 117 points. Larose finished third in league scoring with 117 points and tied for second in goals with 61.

Paul Drew and Jeff Weber backstopped the team to the league’s best goals against average and thus won the Dave Pinkney Trophy. Chad Larose wsa named the Leo Lalonde Memorial Trophy Winner as the Ontario Hockey League’s top overage player.

17 players from that team are still actively playing hockey today. 2002-03 Whalers are scattered around the world in countries like Germany, United States, Canada, Italy, Czech Republic and Australia.

Chad Larose – Carolina Hurricanes – NHL

Ryan Ramsay – Kölner Haie – DEL (Germany) – Ryan is signed on with the Straubing Tigers for the 2011-12 season.

Karl Stewart – Straubing Tigers – DEL (Germany)

John Mitchell – Connecticut Whale – AHL

Cole Jarrett – Tohuku Free Blades – ALH (Japan)

James Wisniewski – Montreal Canadiens – NHL

John Vigilante – Asiago – LIHG (Italy)

Chris Thorburn – Atlanta Thrashers – NHL

Jonas Fiedler – HC Havlichov Brod – Czech Extraliga 2

Tim Sestito – Albany Devils -AHL (did play some games with the NHL Devils)

Dave Liffiton - Lake Erie Monsters – AHL

Nate Kiser – South Carolina Stingrays – ECHL

Sean Thompson – Shelburne Muskies – WOAA (ok - not pro but he gets really deep discounts on equipment)

Martin Cizek – MEC Halle 04 – Oberliga (Germany)

Taylor Raszka – University of Prince Edward Island (played three years pro between OHL and CIS. Finishing up 2nd season in PEI)

Matt Armstrong – Melbourne Ice – AIHL (Australia) – played just four games with Whalers in 2002-03.

Ryan Nie – Kalamazoo Wings – ECHL