OHL Alumni Central

A few days ago, we featured a graduate of the North Bay Centennials, Vitaly Yachmenev. Vitaly’s younger brother, Denis, is also a graduate of the Ontario Hockey League and the same team as his older brother.

Denis played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 2001-02 and 2002-03. He was the 26th pick in the 2001 CHL import draft. His first season was with the Centennials. He moved with the team for his second season and played with the Saginaw Spirit. Although Denis didn’t put up the amazing numbers his brother did in the OHL, he did score 17 goals in each season on weak Centennials/Spirit teams.

After his first season, Yachmenev was taken in the seventh round of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft by the Florida Panthers, 200th overall. Denis has never played professional hockey in North America. Instead, he chose to return immediately to Russia after his two year stint in the Ontario Hockey League.

Although he has played parts of three seasons in the RSL/KHL in Russia, for the most part, Yachmenev has played in the country’s tier 2 professional league, now called the VHL. For the 2010-11 season, Denis played for HK Rubin, averaging about a point ever second game.

It’s only available in Russian but check out Denis Yachmenev’s profile page on the HK Rubin official website.

Check out the recent post on Vitaly Yachmenev at OHL Alumni Central.

The KHL regular season has come to a close in Russia for 2010-11 and Traktor Chelyabinsk finds themselves in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, 11 points out of a playoff spot. Chelyabinsk is the current club of Ontario Hockey League grad, Vitaly Yachmenev.

Yachmenev played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 1993-94 and 1994-95 and took the league by storm. In his first season, he led the league with 61 goals and was named not only the OHL’s rookie of the year but the CHL’s rookie of the year as well. He helped the North Bay Centennials to a Hamilton Spectator Trophy as regular season champs and a Robertson Cup as the OHL’s playoff champions. Vitaly added 32 points in 18 playoff games for the Centennials. The team’s luck ran out at the Memorial Cup, going 0-3.

The following season, Yachmenev scored 53 for the Centennials while adding 52 assists for 105 points in 59 games. The 105 points was good enough for ninth in the OHL. He helped Russia to a Silver Medal at the IIHF Under-20 World Hockey Championships. Vitaly was also awarded the William Hanley Trophy as the Ontario Hockey League’s Most Sportsmanlike Player. The award is representative of the way Yachmenev has played the game throughout his career. His highest penalty minute total came in 2005-06 with just 30 in Russia’s Super League.

After his first season with North Bay, Yachmenev was drafted surprisingly low, going in the third round of the 1994 NHL Entry Draft, 59th overall to the Los Angeles Kings. Vitaly put in  almost 500 games in the NHL with Los Angeles and the Nashville Predators before skipping to Russia for the start of the 2003-04 season. Unfortunately, the goal scoring ability that he showed with the Centennials never really resurfaced and he topped out with a season of 19 goals with the Kings.

In his eighth season in Russia, Yachmenev scored just four goals and added 12 assists in 43 games for Chelyabinsk. His current contract expired at the end of this season.

Vitaly spent the year playing with another Ontario Hockey League grad, Alexander Buturlin, on Traktor Chelyabinsk.

Check out Vitaly Yachmenev’s profile page at the KHL official website.

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Georgi Misharin played just one season in the Ontario Hockey League, 2003-04, with the Saginaw Spirit. Misharin was certainly one of the bright spots on a Saginaw team that shared the league’s basement with the Belleville Bulls, both with just 39 points.

Misharin came to the Ontario Hockey League already drafted by an National Hockey League club. Georgi was taken in the seventh round of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by the Minnesota Wild, 207th overall. With 2004-05 being the NHL lockout year, Misharin went home to Russia to play in the RSL and has been there since.

Georgi has worn the Russia jersey on the world stage on three occasions. He helped Team Russia to a Bronze Medal at the 2003 Under-18 championships and stepped it up to a Silver two years later in the Under-20 tournament. Just turning 21, Misharin played for Russia at the World Hockey Championships in 2006 with Russia finishing in fifth place.

2010-11 is Georgi’s fourth season with CSKA Moscow. After 46 games, he was traded to Metallurg Magnitogorsk who needed to bolster the blue line for a promising playoff run. CSKA Moscow currently sits in tenth place in the KHL’s Western Conference and twelve points out of a playoff spot. Magnitogorsk is comfortably in fourth place in the East, twelve points up on fifth position.

Check out Georgi Misharin’s profile page at the KHL official website. 

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Igor Radulov played just one season in the Ontario Hockey League. As a rookie with the Mississauga IceDogs in 2001-02, Radulov put in 33 goals and added 30 assists for 63 points in 62 games. Igor was second to Patrick O’Sullivan on the team in every offensive category.

Before he came to the Ontario Hockey League, Radulov was drafted into the National Hockey League. Igor went in the third round of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, 74th overall to the Chicago Blackhawks. Radulov got into seven games with Chicago in his first year of professional hockey and 36 in 2003-04 while splitting time with the Norfolk Admirals of the American Hockey League.

Then came the lockout season… Radulov left for Russia in 2004-05 when there was no NHL hockey to be played. He has been in the RSL/KHL since. After starting the season with Severstal Cherepovets, his sixth team in Russia since 2004-05, he has moved to Vityaz Chekhov, a team he played parts of three seasons with from 2006-07 to 2008-09.

Vityaz sits in last place in the KHL’s West Conference and third from the bottom overall. Just recently, we featured a former member of Vityaz Chekhov, Nathan Perrott.

Check out Igor Radulov’s profile page on the KHL official website.

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I think it’s a fair comparison to say that Robert Esche is the American version of Sean Burke. Burke was always available to wear the Team Canada Jersey, representing his country in nine different tournaments and actually playing full-time for the national team for parts of four seasons. Esche has appeared in eight tournaments for Team USA and is still quite active in professional hockey. The two even played for the same NHL teams, at different times.

Robert Esche played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1995-96 to 1997-98. His first two seasons were with the Detroit Junior Red Wings and he switched with the franchise in his final season as they became the Plymouth Whalers. In his final season, he was selected Second Team All-Star goaltender. Twice during his junior career, Robert tended goal for Team USA at the IIHF World Junior Championships.

Esche was selected in the sixth round of the 1996 NHL Entry draft by the Phoenix Coyotes, 139th overall. He played three games with the Coyotes the first season while spending most of his time with their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Falcons. In that first season, Esche was named to the AHL All-Rookie Team.

Robert played parts of eight seasons in the NHL with the Coyotes and Philadelphia Flyers. At his pinnacle, 2003-04 with the Flyers, he was named the winner of the Jennings Trophy with a 2.04 GAA and .915 save percentage over 40 regular season games. He led the Flyers deep into the Stanley Cup playoffs before losing in the Eastern Conference finals to eventual Champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning.

In 2007-08, Esche made a drastic change of scenery, jumping to Russia’s KHL (then called the RSL). He was an instant star between the pipes in Russia, posting a 1.86 GAA with AK Bars Kazan in his first season then a 1.87 with nine shutouts in 38 games for SKA St. Petersburg the following season. He also played in the All-Star game that season. Esche played last season with St. Petersburg and once again posted stellar numbers.

This season, Esche has signed on with Dynamo Minsk and is helping the team stay on top of the KHL’s Western Conference.

Check out Robert Esche’s profile at the KHL official website.

Joining Esche on Dynamo Minsk are these two former Ontario Hockey League players (click names to go to previous post at OHL Alumni Central):

Max Spiridonov

Geoff Platt