OHL Alumni Central

The Lahden Pelicans of Finland’s SM-Liiga are treading in rare territory. Three quarters of the way through the 2011-12 season, Pelicans find themselves in second place in the fourteen team Finnish elite league. The team has never never won a championship and has really never enjoyed any great playoff success. 2011-12 might just be the year of the Pelicans.

Pelicans are led by an Ontario Hockey League grad and the team has recently picked up two more OHL alumni for the playoff run. Justin Hodgman is tied for tenth in league scoring. Czech natives Jan Platil and Radek Smolenak are recent pickups from other SM-Liiga teams.

Justin Hodgman played four years in the Ontario Hockey League with the Erie Otters from 2005-06 to 2008-09. Undrafted, Hodgman spent the past two years bouncing around between the IHL, ECHL and AHL. In 2010-11, Justin played mostly with the Toronto Marlies of the AHL with a few games down in the ECHL with the Reading Royals. This is his first season in Finland.

Jan Platil played for the Barrie Colts for three seasons from 2000-01 to 2002-03. A seventh round pick of the Ottawa Senators at the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, Platil spent three years in Ottawa’s farm system with the AHL’s Binghamton Senators before heading to Europe for the 2006-07 season. Jan has since played in Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany and Austria. He began the season with Orli Znojmo in Austria’s EBEL before moving to Tappara in the SM-Liiga.

Radek Smolenak played two seasons with the Kingston Frontenacs, 2004-05 and 2005-06. Drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning after his first year in the OHL, Radek excelled in his second season with Kingston, scoring 42 and assisting on another 42 for 84 points in 65 games. Smolenak did get into seven NHL games after turning pro, six with Tampa Bay in 2008-09 and one with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2009-10.

Smolenak has been in Europe for the past two seasons. in 2010-11, he played for his hometown HC Sparta Prague. He began the current season in Finland with Assat.

Yesterday, we featured the six Ontario Hockey League grads that are playing for Team Canada at the 2010 Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland. Today, we look at the eleven OHL grads that are spread out over the other five teams in the tournament. If the player’s name is highlighted in blue, clicking on the name will take you to a previous post at OHL Alumni Central featuring that alumnus.

HC Davos

Petr Taticek – Petr played two seasons for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, 2001-02 and 2002-03.

Genève-Servette

Dan Fritsche – Dan played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2001-02 to 2004-05. He played with the Sarnia Sting up until midway through his final season when he joined the London Knights.

Jeff Toms – Jeff played three seasons with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds from 1991-92 to 1993-94.

Spartak Moskva

Branko Radivojevic – Branko played three seasons with the Belleville Bulls from 1998-99 to 2000-01.

Stefan Ruzicka – Stefan played two seasons with the Owen Sound Attack, 2003-04 and 2004-05.

SKA St. Petersburg

Alexei Semenov – Alexei played three seasons with the Sudbury Wolves from 1998-99 to 2000-01.

Maxim Rybin – Maxim played two seasons with the Sarnia Sting, 1999-00 and 2000-01.

HC Sparta Praha

Marek Bartanus – Marek played two seasons with the Owen Sound Attack, 2005-06 and 2006-07.

Jakub Koreis – Jakub played just one season with the Guelph Storm, 2003-04.

Tomas Kurka – Tomas played two seasons with the Plymouth Whalers, 1999-00 and 2000-01.

Radek Smolenak – Radek played two seasons with the Kingston Frontenacs, 2004-05 and 2005-06.

Radek Smolenak played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 2004-05 and 2005-06. Smolenak played both seasons with the Kingston Frontenacs. From the start, Radek provided the Frontenacs with plenty of goal-scoring. In his first season, he put in 32 goals and in his second with Kingston, he increased the goal total by ten to 42.

Smolenak’s 42 goals in 2005-06 was best on the Frontenacs. His 84 total points placed him third on the team behind Cory Emmerton (90) and Chris Stewart (87). Kingston placed second in the Ontario Hockey League’s East Division that season and were the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. Unfortunately, Kingston fell in the first round of the playoffs to the Sudbury Wolves in six games.

Radek was drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the third round of the 2005 NHL draft, 73rd overall. In his four years of professional hockey since graduating from the Ontario Hockey League, Smolenak has appeared in seven NHL regular season games, six with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2008-09 and one with the Chicago Blackhawks this past season, 2009-10. The majority of the four seasons was spent with the Norfolk Admirals of the AHL.

The Prague, Czech Republic born winger has decided to return to his home country for 2010-11 and play for HC Sparta Praha (Prague) of the Czech Extraliga. Smolenak last represented his country at the 2004 IIHF World Junior Under-18 tournament and helped the Czech’s go home with a bronze medal. Last season, HC Sparta Praha finished fifth in the 14 team Extraliga with 87 points over the 52 game regular season schedule.

Radek joins two fellow Ontario Hockey League grads on HC Sparta Praha. Jakub Koreis played for the Guelph Storm and Lukas Bolf played for the Barrie Colts.

Check out Radek Smolenak’s profile page at the HC Sparta Praha official website.