OHL Alumni Central

The man know in Germany as “The White Tiger” played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 2003-04 and 2004-05, both with the Sudbury Wolves. Patrick Ehelechner played between the pipes for 107 of Sudbury’s 136 games over those two seasons. His goals against average was well below 3.00 and his save percentage was consistent at .915 over those two seasons.

During his junior career, Ehelechner represented Germany on the world stage three times, once as an under-18 and twice as an under-20. In his first under-20 tournament, his 1.57 GAA and .954 save percentage over the three games he played were not enough to stop Germany from going winless in the round-robin and being relegated to Division 1 for the following season.

The following season, Germany took the gold at the division 1 championships and Patrick’s .924 save percentage was the best at the tournament.

The San Jose Sharks selected Ehelechner in the fifth round of the 2003 NHL draft, 139th overall. Patrick chose instead to return to Germany and play in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). His first two seasons were played with Duisburg and the team was simply a disaster and was relegated after the 2006-07 season.

Ehelechner has since found great success with the Nürnberg Ice Tigers where he is now in his fourth season. He is under contract with the Ice Tigers until the end of the 2011-12 season.

Check out Patrick Ehelechner’s personal website.

Check out Patrick Ehelechner’s profile page on the Nürnberg Ice Tigers official website.

Patrick can be found on the OHL Alumni Central Big List.

Michael Vernace played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2003-04 to 2005-06, although his first season consisted of only two games. Vernace’s entire Ontario Hockey League career was spent with the Brampton Battalion. It should be noted that although Mike played just two games in his first  season, he had a goal and assist in those two games and then played eleven playoff games with the Battalion, contributing five points.

In his final season in the Ontario Hockey League, Vernace led the league as the defenseman with the most assists with 62. His 72 points that season tied him for second on the team with Luciano Aquino but left him a great distance behind team leader Wojtek Wolski who had 128 points on the season.

Vernace was drafted by the San Jose Sharks in the seventh round of the 2004 NHL draft, 201st overall. Over the past four seasons, Mike has spent his time in the American Hockey League with the exception of 24 games with the Arizona Sundogs of the Central Hockey League in 2006-07 and 12 games with the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL in 2008-09.

This upcoming season, 2010-11, Vernace will be playing for the Norfolk Admirals of the AHL. Norfolk will be Mike’s fifth AHL team in five years (Albany River Rats, Lake Erie Monsters, Chicago Wolves, Hamilton Bulldogs).

Michael Vernace has not yet appeared on the Norfolk Admirals official website.

Michael Vernace is featured in a previous post at OHL Alumni Central listing the graduates of the Brampton Battalion that played professionally during the 2009-10 season.

Mark Bell with the Kloten Flyers.

Mark Bell played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1996-97 to 1999-00, all with the

Kloten Flyers logo.

 Ottawa 67′s. In his first season, he played on a 67′s team that had high expectations of a Memorial Cup appearance but was shot down in the Ontario Hockey League’s Robertson Cup finals. In his third season, the 67′s won the Memorial Cup that they hosted despite not even appearing in the Robertson Cup final. Bell was second in scoring during that tournament.

In his final three seasons of OHL hockey, Mark was well above a point per game player. In his final season, he scored 34 goals and added 38 assists for 72 points in only 48 games.

Bell was drafted in the first round of the 1998 NHL draft by the Chicago Blackhawks, eighth overall. He played only 13 games in his first season out of junior, spending most of that season with the Norfolk Admirals of the AHL. In 2001-02, Mark became a regular with Chicago and missed only two regular season games over four seasons with the Blackhawks (not including 2004-05 – the dreaded strike year).

Mark shifted to the San Jose Sharks for the 2006-07 season then was cursed when he was sent to the Toronto Maple Leafs for 2007-08. Bell played only 35 games with the Leafs. he split 2008-09 with the Toronto Marlies and Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL before heading to Europe.

The Kloten Flyers finished fifth in the twelve team Swiss National League A. Bell played 39 of the team’s 50 regular season games and added 27 points. Kloten is to Zurich what Mississauga is to Toronto. Like Mississauga, the Zurich airport is actually located in Kloten.

Check out Mark Bell’s profile page on the Kloten Flyers official website.

Mark Bell is mentioned in this previous post about the Ottawa 67′s appearance at the 1999 Memorial Cup.

The San Jose Sharks will meet the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the 2010 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. 14 Ontario Hockey League grads will be on the rosters for this match-up including 9 for Colorado and 5 for San Jose. The 9 OHL alumni on Colorado is the most on any team in this year’s playoffs, tied with Buffalo.

The Avalanche have picked from a good selection of OHL teams, whereas the Sharks have 3 of the 5 players having played at least a portion of their OHL careers with the Ottawa 67′s.

The 14 OHL grads are listed below. As always, you can click on each player’s name to view their profile page on the team’s official website.

San Jose Sharks

Manny Malhotra played two full seasons in the OHL for the Guelph Storm in 1996-97 and 1997-98. He then played a full season with the New York Rangers in 1998-99 before returning to the Storm for 5 regular season games and 6 playoff games in 1999-00. He had huge expectations on his shoulders back in 1998 when he was picked seventh overall by the New York Rangers. He played sparingly with the Rangers until 2001-02 when he was traded mid-season to the Dallas Stars. Dallas didn’t really pan out and Manny was traded to Columbus during the 2003-04 season where he finally became a regular. This is first season with the Sharks.

Jamie McGinn played four seasons in the OHL with the Ottawa 67′s from 2004-05 to 2007-08. Drafted by the Sharks 36th overall in the 2006 draft, Jamie is in his first full season with San Jose after splitting last season between the Sharks and their AHL affiliate in Worcester.

Logan Couture, like Jamie McGinn, played four seasons in the OHL with the Ottawa 67′s but from 2005-06 to 2008-09. A ninth overall pick by the Sharks in the 2007 draft, Logan started the season with Worcester of the AHL but looks to have overcome that hurdle to be part of the best team in the west.

Joe Thornton played two seasons in the OHL with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, 1995-96 and 1996-97. His final season, he had a stellar 41 goals and 81 assists for 122 points in just 59 games to finish second to Marc Savard in league scoring. Joe was the first overall pick in 1997 by the Boston Bruins and has lived up to ever expectation in his incredible career that has seen him produce over a point a game in over 900 regular season games. Joe is in his fifth season as a Shark.

Brad Staubitz played four seasons in the OHL from 2001-02 to 2004-05. His career was entirely with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds up until midway through his final season when he was traded to an Ottawa 67′s team that would go to the OHL finals before losing out to the mighty London Knights. With London hosting the Memorial Cup, Ottawa competed as well as the finalist from the host league. Brad is in his second season with the Sharks.

Colorado Avalanche

Matt Duchene played two seasons in the OHL with the Brampton Battalion, 2007-08 and 2008-09. As the third overall pick in the 2009 NHL draft, Matt jumped right into life in the NHL, playing 81 of 82 games this season.

Ryan O’Reilly played two seasons in the OHL with the Erie Otters, 2007-08 and 2008-09. He made the jump smoothly right into the NHL this season, playing 81 games with the youthful Avalanche.

Craig Anderson stopped pucks for the Guelph Storm for three season from 1998-99 to 2000-01. Craig has been mostly a backup goalie in the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks and the Florida Panthers until this season. Craig played in 71 games with the Avalanche in his first season with the team.

Chris Stewart was a Kingston Frontenac for three seasons from 2004-05 to 2006-07. Stewart is in his second season with the Avalanche, the team that picked him in the first round of the 2006 NHL draft.

Kyle Quincey played three seasons in the OHL from 2002-03 to 2004-05. His first season was with the London Knights. He was traded to Mississauga 5 games into his second season and finished off his OHL career with the IceDogs. Used sparinginly by the Detroit Red Wings in his first three seasons of professional hockey, Kyle became a regular with Los Angeles last season in a break-out season and has been a leader on the blueline for the Avalanche this season.

Stephane Yelle played three seasons in the OHL with the Oshawa Generals from 1991-92 to 1993-94. He began his NHL career with the Avalanche and spent his first seven seasons in the league with the team. He’s had stints in Calgary, Boston and Carolina before being returned to Denver at the trade deadline this season.

Adam Foote was as Sault Ste. Marie Greyhound for three seasons from 1988-89 to 1990-91. He began play with the Avalanche franchise back in 1991-92 when they were still known as the Quebec Nordiques. With the exception of two and a half seasons spent with the Columbus Blue Jackets before being returned to the Avalanche, Adam has spent his entire career with Colorado.

Ryan Wilson played a fairly rare five seasons in the OHL. He played for the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors for three seasons from 2003-04 to 2005-06. He then played for the Sarnia Sting for the 2006-07 and 2007-08 season. This is Ryan’s first season with Colorado and his first in the NHL.

Peter Budaj played three seasons in the OHL with the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors from 1999-00 to 2001-02. Peter is in his fifth season between the pipes for the Avalanche but has lost his starting role to fellow former OHLer Craig Anderson. Peter played for Slovakia at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.