OHL Alumni Central

Ontario Hockey League grad Joe Grimaldi is currently at camp with the Springfield Falcons of the American Hockey League. If the Falcons don’t take the tough defenseman, he has a roster spot locked up with the Rapid City Rush of the Central Hockey League.

Grimaldi played two seasons with the Ottawa 67′s of the Ontario Hockey League, 2005-06 and 1006-07. The American born player started the 2005-06 season with the University of Nebraska – Omaha before heading Northeast to Ottawa to finish off the season.

Professional hockey has come with a well-used suitcase for Joe. In four years, Grimaldi has dressed for nine different teams in three leagues. Springfield and Rapid City are two teams he has yet to play for. Joe’s portfolio of teams is as follows:

• Elmira Jackals – ECHL
• Rochester Americans – AHL
• Peoria Rivermen – AHL
• Albany River Rats – AHL
• Fresno Falcons – ECHL
• Gwinnett Gladiators – ECHL
• Cincinnati Cyclones – ECHL
• Evansville Icemen – CHL
• Colorado Eagles – CHL

This past season, 2010-11, Grimaldi played 45 regular seasons games for the Eagles after coming over from Evansville. He sat 171 minutes in penalties and formed a pretty deadly duo with Alex ‘Weapon X’ Penner. Through 21 playoff games, Joe sat another 83 minutes.

Colorado finished the regular season tied for first with Rapid City in the Turner Conference. The Eagles made it to the finals before losing to Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs.

Chris Eade as a member of EC Bad Nauheim in Germany.

Former Ontario Hockey League defenseman Chris Eade was a last minute pickup by the Rapid City Rush at the Central Hockey League’s transaction deadline. Rapid City is in a dogfight with the Colorado Eagles for first place in the Turner Conference of the CHL. Eade should help to bolster the blue line.

Chris Eade played five seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1998-99 to 2002-03. He began his OHL career with the North Bay Centennials and played with the club until five games into the 2001-02 season when he was shipped to the Erie Otters. His destiny was to end up in the United States as staying with North Bay would have meant his final season in the OHL would have been played in Saginaw.

In the 2001-02 season, Eade contributed 40 points in 59 games from the blue line for the Otters. He contributed another 12 in 21 playoff games as Erie knocked off the Barrie Colts in the Robertson Cup finals to become playoff champions of the Ontario Hockey League.

Chris Eade was taken in the fourth round of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft by the Florida Panthers, 115th overall. Instead of turning pro right away, Eade took the Canadian university route and played four seasons with the Western Mustangs from 2003-04 to 2006-07.

Eade played one full season with the Dayton Bombers of the ECHL in 2007-08 before heading to Europe and Germany’s Oberliga. Chris played two seasons, 2008-09 and 2009-10 with EC Bad Nauheim, sharing time with Ontario Hockey League and Western Mustang grads, Ryan Hare and Kyle Piwowarczyk. In his first season with Bad Nauheim, Eade was fifth on the team in points (52) and second in assists (47) in 54 games. He led the team’s defensemen in scoring.

Chris started out the 2010-11 season in Hungary with Ferencváros and had 21 points in 25 games with the team before heading back to North America and the Rapid City Rush.

Check out Chris Eade’s profile page at the Rapid City Rush official website.

Chris Eade also appears in a previous post at OHL Alumni Central featuring OHL grads playing for EC Bad Nauheim.

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Danny Battochio played between the pipes in 42 of the Rapid City Rush’s 64 regular season Central Hockey League games in 2009-10. Battochio had a 2.60 GAA, 2 shutouts and a .917 save percentage, leading the team to first place in the league’s Northern Conference. He also appeared in 16 games in the playoffs as the team took the Ray Miron Presidents’ Cup as playoff champions.

Danny was named CHL ‘Rookie of the Year’ in his first season of professional hockey after three years in the Canadian university system with St. Francis Xavier.

Battochio played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2003-04 to 2005-06, all with the Ottawa 67′s. His save percentage remained above the .900 mark during his OHL career and he was the team’s starter in his final two seasons, appearing in 55 of Ottawa’s 68 games in 2005-06.

Check out Danny Battochio’s profile page on the Rapid City Rush’s official website.

Check out these previous posts on OHL grads playing for the Rapid City Rush:

Colt King

Derek Campbell

A few weeks ago, we put up two posts about two different Ontario Hockey League alumni that had played on six different teams during their OHL careers. We thought we’d found another, but it wasn’t so – sort of.

Colt King indeed played on 6 different teams during his OHL career but two of them were technically the same franchise. Colt was a North Bay Centennial that moved along with the team to Saginaw for the 2002-03 season when they became the Spirit.

Colt is currently playing for the Rapid City Rush of the Central Hockey League. Originally drafted by the Colorado Avalanche, his 2 games with the Rochester Americans of the AHL this season constitutes the highest level of hockey he has achieved.

King’s OHL career spanned from 1999-00 to 2003-04. His first two full seasons were played with the Guelph Storm but then the travelling began. He split 2001-02 between Guelph and North Bay. 2002-03 was split between Saginaw and the Oshawa Generals. 2003-04 was split between the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and the Sarnia Sting.

Colt’s best season in professional hockey came in 2008-09 with the Rocky Mountain Rage of the CHL when he put in 68 points on 28 goals and 40 assists in 61 games. He also brought toughness to the Rage that season with 168 minutes in the penalty box.

Visit Colt King’s profile page on the Rapid City Rush’s official website.

Check out Colt’s career stats, provided by HockeyDB.com:

To see the previous posts on 6-team OHL grads, click on Brian McGratton or Sean McMorrow.