OHL Alumni Central

Ontario Hockey League grad Nate Kiser began play with the Plymouth Whalers the season after yesterday’s featured player, Jason Ward, finished up his OHL career in Plymouth. Kiser played four seasons with the Whalers from 1999-00 to 2002-03.

In his first season with Plymouth, the Whalers pushed the Barrie Colts to the seventh game of the Robertson Cup finals.

Nate was selected by the Phoenix Coyotes in the fifth round of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, 160th overall. With exception of eleven games in the AHL, Kiser has spent all his professional hockey career in the East Coast Hockey League. Seven of those eight seasons have been in a South Carolina Stingrays jersey.

The Stingrays lost in the ECHL’s American Conference Finals in 2007-08 to Cincinnati. The following season, South Carolina won the Kelly Cup with a four games to three victory over the Alaska Aces.

Kiser currently sits in third place on the Stingrays all-time list for games played. On the team’s all-time penalty minutes list, Nate is in second.

Check out Nate Kiser’s profile page on the South Carolina Stingrays official website.

Jason Ward changed course for 2010-11 and played his first season outside of North America, fifteen years after starting in the Ontario Hockey League. Ward has spent the season with EHC Linz  in Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga, a team that sits right in the middle of the EBEL at fifth place out of ten teams.

Ward played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1995-96 to 1998-99. He began with the Niagara Falls Thunder and moved with the team in his second year when they became the Erie Otters. His third season began with the Otters and ended with the Windsor Spitfires. His final season started with Windsor and ended with the Plymouth Whalers.

Twice, Jason played in the IIHF Under-20 World Junior Championships for Team Canada. In 1998, Canada finished out of medal contention. In 1999, the team lost a squeeker to Russia in the final game and took home the silver medal.

Ward was a first round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, going eleventh overall. Jason played parts of four seasons with the Canadiens and has also played NHL hockey for the New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings and Tampa Bay Lightning.

In 2002-03, with the Hamilton Bulldogs of the AHL, Ward finished just out of the top ten point-getters with 72. The team went to the Calder Cup finals before being eliminated by the Houston Aeros in seven games. That season, Jason played on Team Canada at the AHL All-Star, contributing a goal and an assist. He was honoured with the Les Cunningham Award as the AHL’s Most Valuable Player.

It is not know where Jason will play in 2011-12. He was joined on EHC Linz this season by another Ontario Hockey League grad, Rob Shearer.

Check out Jason Ward’s profile page at the EHC Linz official website.

Pre-season? In Australia’s AIHL, they’re starting to ramp up for the late April start to the hockey season. Two players with experience with the 2010 playoff champion Melbourne Ice, and Ontario Hockey League grads, are committed to return for the 2011 season. One will remain with the Ice while the other moves across town to the expansion Mustangs.

Matt Armstrong finished 2010 with 44 points in 24 games and was ninth in the league. Armstrong played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1999-00 to 2002-03. He began with the Kitchener Rangers and was traded to the Peterborough Petes in 2000-01. He played the full 2001-02 season with Peterborough before splitting his final season between the Plymouth Whalers and Barrie Colts.

Matt’s professional career has consisted of play in the Netherlands and Germany as well as short stints in the IHL and SPHL. Armstrong did not play during the traditional 2010-11 season.

Scott Corbett played two seasons with the Sarnia Sting, 1995-96 and 1996-97. Corbett last played during the 2007-08 season. He played winter hockey in Germany’s Oberliga and finished up with ten games in a Melbourne Ice uniform.

Scott has played professionally in Great Britain and Germany as well as the ECHL and SPHL in North America. Corbett returned to hockey with the Docklands Mustangs for the 2011 season. Docklands is a section of Melbourne.

Check out this previous post on Matt Armstrong at OHL Alumni Central.

Visit the AIHL official website – more OHL grads will be signing up for the 2011 season and the site is the best place for updates.

Michal Jordan played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2007-08 to 2009-10. Jordan began his OHL career with the Windsor Spitfires before being traded midway through is first season to the Plymouth Whalers.

During his first season in the Ontario Hockey League, Michal represented the Czech Republic at both the Under-18 and Under-20 World Hockey Championships. Jordan would appear in the Under-20 Tournament in each of his three OHL seasons and was the captain of the Czech team in 2010.

Michal Jordan was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes in the fourth round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, 105th overall. The following year, Jordan was taken in the fourth round of Russia’s KHL draft, 80th overall by SKA St. Petersburg.

Jordan is currently playing with Carolina’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers. Michal is under contract in the Carolina organization until the end of the 2012-13 season.

Check out Michal Jordan’s profile page at the Charlotte Checkers official website.

Plymouth Whalers fans will undoubtedly remember Tomas Kurka. The Ontario Hockey League grad played two seasons in the OHL, 1999-00 and 2000-01, both with the Whalers.

Both season Kurka played in the OHL, Plymouth went to the Robertson Cup finals. In his first year, the Whalers lost to the Barrie Colts in seven games. In his second, they were on the losing end of a six game series with the Ottawa 67′s. In his rookie season, Tomas led the Ontario Hockey League’s first year players with 36 goals. He was named to the OHL’s and CHL’s All-Rookie Teams.

After his first season with Plymouth, Kurka was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, 32nd overall. Tomas spent his first three years of pro hockey in Carolina’s system, mostly with their AHL affiliate, the Lowell Lock Monsters. However, in 2002-03 he dressed for 14 games with the NHL squad and played an additional three with the Hurricanes the following season.

After starting the 2004-05 season in his native Czech Republic then returning the the AHL’s Providence Bruins to finish out the season, Kurka was back in Europe to stay for the 2005-06 season. Tomas has spent time in Finland’s SM-Liiga, Switzerland’s National League A and Sweden’s Allsvenskan. He has been in the Czech Extraliga since the 2007-08 season.

Kurka started the 2010-11 season with HC Sparta Praha (Prague) and was recently loaned to HC Pardubice.

Check out Tomas Kurka’s profile page at the HC Pardubice official website.

Tomas Kurka was featured in these two previous posts at OHL Alumni Central:

OHL Grads Competing Against Canada at the Spengler Cup

HC Slavia Praha Home to 5 Ontario Hockey League Grads in 2009-10