OHL Alumni Central

Gratoony the Loony played with the Oshawa Generals for three Ontario Hockey League (OHA) seasons from 1969-70 to 1971-72. Between the pipes, the workload of Gilles Gratton increased each season from 26 games in his rookie season, to 47 in his second and 50 in his final year with the Generals.

Gilles Gratton sporting his famous mask with the New York Rangers.

In 1971-72 with Oshawa, Gratton had a goals against average of 3.55 and five shutouts, earning him a Second Team All-Star selection. The performance of Gilles also caught the eye of the Buffalo Sabres. Buffalo drafted Gratton in the fifth round of the 1972 NHL Amateur Draft, 69th overall. He would never play a game for the Sabres.

The World Hockey Association came calling in 1972-73 and Gratton answered. In the rebel league’s inaugural season, Gilles played 51 games for the Ottawa Nationals in their only season. He followed the franchise as they were relocated to Toronto and Gratton played the next two years with the Toronto Toros. It was with the Toros that Gratton’s legend grew when he supposedly refused to play a game because the Moon wasn’t in proper alignment with Jupiter.

The Buffalo Sabres sold the NHL rights to Gratton to the St. Louis Blues in 1975 and Gilles reported to the NHL team for the 1975-76 season. He played just six games with the Blues before wanting to return to the WHA. Perhaps, his desire to return to the Toros had something to do with his personality being much better suited for the zany ways of the World Hockey Association.

However, the Blues wouldn’t release him. Gilles did the only thing he could think of and retired from hockey. It was short-lived and Gratton was back in the NHL for the 1976-77 season with the New York Rangers. Gilles played 41 games with the Rangers, sharing the net with John Davidson, who played 39 games. Ironically, it was the spot left vacant by Davidson in St. Louis that Gratton was meant to fill the year before. According to Davidson, Gratton would often fake illness so that he wouldn’t have to play.

In 1977-78, the Rangers placed Gratton with their American Hockey League affiliate, the New Haven Nighthawks. Gilles played just one game in New Haven before calling it quits for good.

Among his famous quirks was the claim by opposing players that Gratton would growl at them. Gilles was a huge believer in reincarnation, was a talented classical pianist despite never taking a single lesson. He also had a thing for nudity at the rink.

For the second year in a row, Ontario Hockey League grads Jamie Langenbrunner and Jason Arnott will start the season on the same team. Last season, both were with the New Jersey Devils and both were traded away to different teams by the end of the season. In 2011-12, the two veterans will bring leadership and experience to a youth-packed St. Louis Blues team.

Before the 2010-11 season, Langenbrunner and Arnott had a series of near misses. Jamie began his Ontario Hockey League career with the Peterborough Petes in 1993-94 while Jason ended his OHL career with the Oshawa Generals in 1992-93. During the 2001-02 season, the two were traded for each other with Langenbrunner going from the Dallas Stars to New Jersey while Arnott went in the opposite direction.

Jason Arnott played two season in the Ontario Hockey League, 1991-92 and 1992-93, both with the Oshawa Generals. He was a seventh overall pick by the Edmonton Oilers in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft and was an instant stick with the Oilers in 1993-94. Along the way, he has played 1172 NHL games with the Oilers, Devils, Stars, Nashville Predators and Washington Capitals.

Jamie Langenbrunner played two seasons in Ontario Hockey League, as well. Jamie played for the Peterbough Petes in 1993-94 and 1994-95. Langenbrunner was drafted the same year as Arnott, 1993, going in the second round, 35th overall, to the Dallas Stars. He was drafted right out of high school in the United States and came to the Petes already an NHL prospect. Langenbrunner has totalled 1035 regular season NHL games from 1995-96 to the present with Dallas and New Jersey.

This duo brings to St. Louis the combined experience of three Stanley Cup victories (Langenbrunner -2, Arnott – 1). Their leadership qualities are immense. Langenbrunner served as the team captain of the New Jersey Devils from 2007-08 until his trade to Dallas last season. Arnott wsa team captain of the Nashville Predators from 2006-07 to 2009-10.

With the signing of these two veterans, St. Louis instantly became one of the team’s to watch in the upcoming NHL season.

Check out the story announcing the double signing from the St. Louis Blues official website.

Gord Brooks played just two seasons in the OHA, 1968-69 and 1969-70. His first season was spent with the Hamilton Red Wings and his second was split between the Red Wings and the London Knights.

Brooks was taken in the fourth round of the 1970 NHL draft by the St. Louis Blues, 51st overall. Over the four seasons following graduation from the OHA, Gord appeared in 32 games with the Blues. 30 of the 32 games were played during the 1973-74 season when Brooks contributed 14 points on six goals and eight assists.

In total, his NHL career consisted of 70 games. In addition to the 32 played with St. Louis, Brooks also played 38 games in 1974-75 with the expansion Washington Capitals.

Although Gord achieved some success early on playing for teams in the Central Hockey League and Western Hockey League, it wasn’t until 1975-76 that Brooks started to put up big numbers in the North American Hockey League, the American Hockey League and the International Hockey League. He was an all-star in each league.

During his two year stint in the NAHL with the Philadelphia Firebirds over the 1975-76 and 1976-77 seasons, Gord became a serious offensive threat. In his first season in Philly, Brooks scored 39 and added 54 helpers for 93 points in 66 regular season games. His 32 points in 16 playoff games were a huge part of the Firebirds Championship run.

The following season, Gord led the Firebirds in goals and points with 65 and 124. Unfortunately, these numbers were no where close to the league leaders. The Binghamton Dusters owned the league’s offense that season with Dave Staffen scoring 87 goals and Rod Bloomfield totalling 173 points.

After the NAHL came to an end, Brooks followed the Firebirds as they joined the AHL. Gord led the team in scoring for 1977-78 and 1978-79. He also led the team in 1979-80 when the team played out of Syracuse, New York. In 1977-78 he led the whole AHL in points with 98, winning the John B. Sollenberger Trophy.

In 1980-81, Gord jumped to the IHL and the Saginaw Gears. He played just 39 games with the Gears in his first season due to a short stint in Austria. His 17 points in 13 playoff games helped the Gears win the Turner Cup with a four games to three final series against the Kalamazoo Wings.

Brooks led the Gears in points the following year with 49 goals and 64 assists for 113 points. He contributed another 12 goals and 9 assists in 14 playoff games as Saginaw once again made it to the Turner Cup final only to lose in five games to the Toledo Goaldiggers. Ironically, Gord retired after the 1983-84 season after playing just five games with those Toledo Goaldiggers.

Michal Birner played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 2004-05 and 2005-06. His first season in the OHL was split between the Barrie Colts and the Saginaw Spirit. His final season in the Ontario Hockey League was played exclusively with Saginaw. While with Saginaw, he set the team’s mark for the fastest three goals scored.

Over the 2005-06 season, Birner was second on Saginaw Spirit scoring during the regular season, three points behind team leader Ryan McDonough. However, Michal played eight less games during the season. The missed games were in part due to Birner representing his native Czech Republic at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships (under-20) that were played in Canada. The Czechs left the tournament without a medal.

Birner also represented the Czech Republic on the international stage earlier on in his hockey career when he was on the roster for the 2004 IIHF World Under-18 Championships. Michal contributed five points in seven games as the Czech’s won bronze with a win over Canada in Belarus.

Birner was drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the fourth round of the 2004 NHL draft, 116th overall. He spent his first full season after graduating from the Ontario Hockey League with the Blues’ AHL farm team, the Peoria Rivermen. The following season, he started with Peoria and ended with the Portland Pirates. In 2008-09, he played two games with the AHL’s Iowa Chops before being demoted to the ECHL. Birner chose not to report and instead signed with Pelicans of Finland’s SM-Liiga.

Michal’s season with Pelicans lasted only six games and he was sidelined for the rest of the season with a broken hand. This past season, he remained in the SM-Liiga but with TPS, a storied team that has been around since 1929 (as a sports club, TPS has been around since 1922). His 45 regular season points with TPS was good enough for third on the team in scoring, only four points from the leader. More importantly, TPS won the league championship.

Birner is signed on with TPS for the upcoming 2010-11 season.

Check out Michal Birner’s profile page on the TPS official website.

Check out this recent post on Michal’s teammate with the Spirit, Patrick Asselin.

Dan Hinote had a respectable 503 game NHL career from 1999-00 to 2008-09. The Oshawa General alumnus moved on to play in Sweden for the 2009-10 season. MODO was the team that took him in during the 2004-05 NHL strike season and they were the ones that took him back this season.

Dan was an Oshawa General for the 1996-97 and 1997-98 seasons, although his final season was split between the Generals and the AHL’s Hershey Bears. In his first season, Oshawa was play-off champions but would not find success at the Memorial Cup.

Dan played with the Colorado Avalanche, the team he was drafted by, from 1999-00 to 2005-06. His time in Denver was highlighted by a Stanley Cup victory in 2001.

Hinote played his final three seasons in the NHL with the St. Louis Blues before heading over to Sweden. MODO, unfortunately, finished 9th in the 12 team league during regular season play and did not qualify for the playoffs.

You can view Dan Hinote’s profile page at MODO’s official website by clicking here.