OHL Alumni Central

Going into this weekend’s action in Italy’s Lega Italiana Hockey su Ghiaccio, Ontario Hockey League alumni held the numbers one and two spots in the scoring race. At nearly the halfway point of the 40 game 2011-12 LIHG season, David Ling and Rob Hennigar are knotted at 34 points apiece. Ling holds a one goal edge in goals but has played one more game than Hennigar. Both are four points ahead of third place. OHL grads Dan Tudin and Adam Henrich also find themselves in the league’s top 20.

David Ling, who will turn 37 in January, is in his first season in Italy, playing with Val Pusteria. Ling played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1992-93 to 1994-95, all with the Kingston Frontenacs. In his final season with Kingston, he scored 61 and assisted on 74 for 135 points. He was the OHL’s top scoring right winger and was named league MVP. He was also named CHL Player of the Year.

David, a seventh round pick of the Quebec Nordiques in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, played a total of 93 games in the National Hockey League with the Montreal Canadiens and Columbus Blue Jackets. He was third overall in the AHL in 2004-05, contributing 88 points with the St. John’s Maple Leafs. He started the 2010-11 season with Amur Khabarovsk and ended up back in the AHL with the Providence Bruins.

Rob Hennigar is enjoying his first experience east of the Atlantic. He was a member of the Windsor Spitfires from 2000-01 to 2003-04. Hennigar followed that up with four years with the University of New Brunswick. After spending three years from 2008-09 to 2010-11 mostly in the ECHL, he finds himself with Cortina. Rob may just be the difference that has taken Cortina from last place in the nine team LIHG last season to a tie with two other teams, including Ling’s Val Pusteria, nineteen games into 2011-12.

SG Cortina finished dead last in the nine team Lega Italiana Hockey su Ghiaccio (LIHG) in 2010-11. Cortina also had the lowest goals for of all the teams. The team is looking to boost offense for  2011-12 by picking up an Ontario Hockey League grad that has led his team in points seven of the past eight season.

Rob Hennigar played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2000-01 to 2003-04, all with the Windsor Spitfires. In his final season, his 32 goals, 47 assists and 79 points were all team highs.

Hennigar went the university route and played four years for the University of New Brunswick. Rob led the team in points each of the four years. In his final year with UNB, he led all the CIS in assists (43) and points (58). In that final year, 2007-08, he was awarded the Senator Joseph A. Sullivan Trophy as the CIS player of the year. UNB was a finalist at the University Cup.

Signed into the New York Islanders system, Rob split 2008-09 evenly between the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers and the ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies. Despite playing just 38 games for the Grizzlies, Hennigar led the team in points with 59. This past season, he wore the ‘A’ for the ECHL’s Victoria Salmon Kings and led the team with 63 points in 61 games.

Adam Munro played five seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1998-99 to 2002-03. He played for the Erie Otters until eight games into his final season when he became a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

With Erie during the 2000-01 season, he led the Ontario Hockey League with the best save percentage at .926. His goals against average that season was 2.31 which stands today as the best single season performance in Erie Otters history. The team made it to the Western Conference finals that season before losing out in five games to the Plymouth Whalers.

The following season, Adam’s numbers would not be nearly as good but the team was much more successful with a Robertson Cup victory, beating out the Barrie Colts four games to one in the final. Adam’s role was reduced to backup goaltender for the playoffs. Erie appeared at the 2002 Memorial Cup that took place in Guelph, Ontario but was unsuccessful at taking home the hardware.

Adam was taken by the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the 2001 NHL draft, 29th overall. Despite being such a high pick, Munro has appeared in just 17 NHL games, all with Chicago, seven in 2003-04 and ten in 2005-06.

Munro first ventured into the European pro hockey market in 2006-07 when he played 41 games for Gottéron of Switzerland’s National League A. He returned to North America the following season and played in the American Hockey League with the Columbus Blue Jackets affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch.

After a season and a half with the Toronto Marlies of the AHL, Munro once again returned to Europe this past season and played four games for Sibir Novosibirsk of Russia’s KHL.

Adam begins the 2010-11 season a little late and with SG Cortina of Italy’s Lega Italiana Hockey Ghiaccio. Unfortunately, the opening that Munro fills in Italy was recently made vacant when fellow Ontario Hockey League grad, Ryan Munce, was injured. Munce has since returned to Canada to have an operation.

Here is the article from SG Cortina’s official website announcing the arrival of Adam Munro (in Italian).

Ryan Munce was featured in a past post at OHL Alumni Central.

Ryan Munce during a 3-game stint with the AHL's Syracuse Crunch in 2008-09.

Yet another Ontario Hockey League grad is heading to Italy to play this upcoming season. Ryan Munce has decided to leave North America and play net for S.G. Cortina of the Lega Italiana Hockey Ghiaccio (LIHG).

Ryan Munce played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2002-03 to 2004-05, all with the Sarnia Sting. Munce was a steady goaltender for the Sting all three seasons, but shone most brightly in his rookie campaign. His accolades as a Sarnia Sting that season include being a member of the OHL’s and CHL’s all-rookie teams and winning the Dinty Moore Trophy as the OHL rookie goaltender with the best Goals Against Average (2.64 over 27 games). He unfortunately couldn’t help a very strong Sting team make it out of the first round of the OHL playoffs.

That season, Ryan also was a major part of Team Canada’s gold medal winning effort at the Under-18 IIHF World Hockey Championships. He was the goalie with the best GAA in the tournament with 1.83.

Munce was taken after his first season by the Los Angeles Kings in the third round of the 2003 NHL draft, 82nd overall. Except for 13 games in the AHL, Munce has spent his professional career until now in the East Coast Hockey League. This past season, Ryan played 44 games for the Charlotte Checkers producing a 2.77 GAA and a .913 save percentage.

Ryan has put his name in the ECHL record books. His 1852 saves in 2008-09 with the Mississippi Sea Wolves are the second highest single season total in league history. His 63 saves in a game while playing for the Bakersfield Condors in 2005-06 is two saves shy of the single game league record. His 28 saves in a single period while playing for Mississippi during the 2007-08 season is also two shy of the league record for most saves in a period.

Check out Ryan Munce’s profile page on the SG Cortina official website.

Check out Ryan Munce’s profile page on the ECHL official website.

Ryan is featured in this previous post about Ontario Hockey League grads playing for the Charlotte Checkers during the 2009-10 season.