OHL Alumni Central

Brothers, and Ontario Hockey League alumni, Adam Smyth and Matt Smyth both are in their fourth seasons in the Central Hockey League. Adam is a member of the Arizona Sundogs and Matt is with the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees.

Adam, the oldest, played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2000-01 to 2003-04. He was a member of the Ottawa 67′s until two games into his final season when he was shipped to the Owen Sound Attack. Smyth led the 67′s in penalty minutes during the 2001-02 season with 205. He helped Ottawa to the Robertson Cup final in 2002-03 when the 67′s lost out to the Kitchener Rangers in five games.

Undrafted, Adam spent his first two seasons of professional hockey mostly in the ECHL with the Gwinnett Gladiators. He was the team leader in penalty minutes both seasons with 217 and 286. Over the two seasons, he made his way up to the AHL for five games with the Chicago Wolves.

After a season in the UHL in 2006-07 when he led the Muskegon Lumberjacks in PIM with 236, he began his career in the CHL. The Sundogs are Adam’s third team since joining the league after coming over from the Mississippi Riverkings midway through last season. Over the past two seasons, he had led his team in PIM and placed third in the league in that category.

The younger Matt Smyth tends to spend less time in the penalty box and more time holding up the blue line. Matt played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2002-03 to 2005-06, although his first consisted of only one game. He played with the Owen Sound Attack before moving over to the Belleville Bulls for his final season in the OHL.

After a year in the ECHL with the Phoenix Roadrunners in 2006-07, it was off to the CHL for Matt. In his four seasons in the league, including the current campaign, Matt has played for five different teams: Wichita, Tulsa, Corpus Christi, Mississippi and, of course, Rio Grande Valley.

Check out Adam Smyth’s profile page on the Arizona Sundogs official website.

Check out Matt Smyth’s profile page on the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees official website.

Each year in the Central Hockey League, players, coaches and broadcasters fill out a ballot for the league’s best of the best awards. Kingston Frontenacs grad, Brett Clouthier, was the best this past season at something few OHL fans will find surprising. Brett was voted the best fighter in the heavyweight category as a member of the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees.

Clouthier played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1998-99 to 2000-01, all with the Kingston Frontenacs. In those three seasons, Brett sat out 658 minutes in the penalty box. Interestingly, playing that style of hockey, Clouthier only missed eight regular season games over the three seasons. In his final season with the Frontenacs, Brett played all of the team’s 68 games and added some offence with 28 goals and 57 points.

Brett was drafted by the New Jersey Devils in the second round of the 1999 NHL draft, 50th overall. He played in the American Hockey League for five seasons after his OHL career was over, four seasons with the Albany River Rats and one season with the Binghamton Senators. Short stints in the ECHL and UHL were sprinkled amongst those five years.

From 2006-07 to 2008-09, Clouthier skipped over the pond and played for the Manchester Phoenix in Great Britain’s Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), a league that truly appreciates toughness and fighting skills. He was also known for his reporting skills as he wrote a column for the Manchester Evening News. Click here for an example.

Brett returned to North America this season and after playing eight games for the AHL’s Providence Bruins, ended up with the Killer Bees. Over his professional career to date, Clouthier has piled up 1625 penalty minutes over 541 games. He sat out 143 in just 46 games with the Killer Bees this season.

It’s not sure where Brett will play for the 2010-11 season, but at 6’5″ and 230, he will not go unnoticed wherever he ends up.

Check out Brett Clouthier’s profile on the CHL’s official website (Pointstreak).