OHL Alumni Central

Making it to the finals in Italy’s Lega Italiana Hockey Ghiaccio (LIHG) is uncharted territory for HC Fassa. This past season, the team finished tied for seventh in the nine team league and exited early in the quarter-finals. The team has so far signed three Ontario Hockey League grads to help bring more success in 2011-12.

Jamie Vanderveeken played parts of four seasons on the blue line in the Ontario Hockey League from 2002-03 to 2005-06. He began his career playing just five games for the Guelph Storm in 2002-03. Vanderveeken played a full season with the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors in 2003-04 before splitting his 2004-05 season three ways between Toronto, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and Ottawa 67′s.

With the Ottawa 67′s, Jamie would get the chance to play in the Memorial Cup in 2004-05. The London Knights won the Robertson Cup and were also Memorial Cup hosts. Ottawa made the tournament as the Robertson Cup finalists. In an ironic twist of fate, Vanderveeken was traded to London for the 2005-06 season and was once again on the Robertson Cup finalists as London was beat out by the Peterborough Petes.

Undrafted, Jamie has spent most of his professional hockey career in the Central Hockey League, winning a championship with the Rapid City Rush in 2009-10. This past season, he was traded by Rapid City to the Arizona Sundogs mid-season.

An opponent of Jamie Vanderveeken at the 2005 Memorial Cup and a teammate of his with the London Knights in 2005-06, Trevor Kell is leaving the New Jersey Devils organization after four years to experience hockey in the Italian Alps. Kell played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2003-04 to 2006-07. His first three years were spent with the Knights and his final season saw him in a Sarnia Sting uniform.

Trevor was picked in the fifth round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks, 131st overall but has been in the Devils organization throughout his professional hockey career. Each season, he has split his time between the ECHL and AHL affiliates of the NHL Devils. Each season, he spent more and more time with the AHL club. This past season, he was captain of the ECHL’s Trenton Devils.

Matt Piva played in the Ontario Hockey League from 2004-05 to 2008-09. He began his OHL career with the Oshawa Generals and along the way wore the jerseys of the Toronto/Mississagua St. Michael’s Majors and Niagara IceDogs. He spent 2009-10 with the University of Western Ontario Mustangs of the OUA before taking the 2010-11 season off.

HC Fassa plays out of Canazei, Italy, a city nestled in the Italian Alps. The team plays out of the 3500 seat Stadio del Ghiaccio Gianmario Scola.

Every year the best of the Ontario Hockey League join the best junior hockey players in the world in hopes of being drafted high in the National Hockey League entry draft. It is often said that despite two days and round after round of picks, the players chosen in the first and second round are the ones with any glimmer of hope to make it to the NHL.

However, there are always exceptions to the rule and we have some examples of that today.

Eric Boulton played in the Ontario Hockey League for three seasons from 1993-94 to 1995-96. He played his first season with the Oshawa Generals and his last with the Sarnia Sting. The middle campaign was split between the two. Over the three seasons, Boulton sat out 651 minutes in penalties over 162 regular season games.

Eric was drafted way back in the ninth round of the 1994 NHL draft by the New York Rangers, 234th overall. Boulton is now entering his tenth season as a regular in the NHL. His NHL career started in 2000-01 in Buffalo where he played four seasons with the Sabres. He played for Columbia Inferno of the ECHL during the 2004-05 strike season. Since, he has been an Atlanta Thrasher, the team he will play for in 2010-11. To date, Boulton has played 480 NHL games.

Shane O’Brien played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2000-01 to 2002-03. He played his first two full seasons with the Kingston Frontenacs and split his final season between the Frontenacs and the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors.

O’Brien was drafted in the eighth round of the 2003 NHL draft by the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, 250th overall. Shane spent his first three seasons in professional hockey playing in the American Hockey League (Cincinnati Mighty Ducks, Portland Pirates). 2006-07 saw O’Brien break into the NHL as a regular, starting the season with the Anaheim Ducks then being traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning. He played the full 2007-08 season with the Lightning. He became a Vancouver Canuck at the start of the 2008-09 season and has been with the team since.

A real inspiration to those not drafted in the first two rounds is Dan Girardi. Girardi wasn’t drafted at all and was signed as a free agent in 2006 by the New York Rangers. This past season was his fourth with the Rangers and he has not missed a game over the past three.

Girardi played in the Ontario Hockey League for five seasons from 2000-01 to 2004-05. He began with the Barrie Colts and was traded to the Guelph Storm midway through the 2002-03 season. After helping the Storm to a Robertson Cup victory in 2003-04, he was traded to the London Knights during the 2004-05 season and helped the Knights to a Memorial Cup victory.

These three are just a few of the players that prove that anyone can make it to the big show.

If you haven’t yet checked it out, the OHL Alumni In Europe For 2010-11 early bird version is available for download free.

Andy Chiodo playing in Finland.

Former Toronto St. Michael’s Majors goalie, Andy Chiodo, has joined EC KAC (the KAC

EC KAC logo.

 stands for Klagenfurter Athletiksport-Club) of Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga for the 2010-11 season. Chiodo split the 2009-10 season between the AHL’s Binghamton Senators and the ECHL’s Elmira Jackals.

Andy Chiodo played in the Ontario Hockey League for three seasons from 2000-01 to 2002-03, all with the Majors. In 2002-03, Chiodo was honoured as the OHL’s Goaltender of the Year.

Andy had a taste of the NHL in 2003-04 when he played eight games with the Pittsburgh Penguins, the team that drafted him 199th overall in the 2003 NHL draft.

This will be Chiodo’s second go at the European game. He played in Finland’s SM-Liiga for two seasons, 2006-07 and 2007-08 and he had a season with Dynamo Minsk in 2008-09.

Klagenfurt is located in the south of Austria near the border with Slovenia and has a population of nearly 100,000. The team plays out of the Stadthalle Klagenfurt which seats 5,500 for hockey. EC KAC finished the 2009-10 regular season fifth in the ten team Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (EBEL).

Chiodo joins fellow Ontario Hockey League alumni Mike Craig and Sean Brown on EC KAC. 

Check out Andy Chiodo’s profile page on the official EC KAC website.

Team Slovakia has three Ontario Hockey League alumni on the roster for the 2010 IIHF World Hockey Championships. Two of the three were also on the National team at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Olympians Peter Budaj and Andrej Sekera

 are joined by Richard Panik for the Worlds.

Richard Panik is one of the newest OHL grads to be playing at the pro level. He played his only OHL season in 2009-10 and split the year between the Windsor Spitfires and the Belleville Bulls and could potentially be back with the Bulls next season. He completed the season with the Norfolk Admirals of the AHL. Richard was a second round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2009 NHL draft.

Peter Budaj played three seasons between the pipes for the St. Michael’s Majors from 1999-00 to 2001-02. A second round pick of the Colorado Avalanche in the 2001 NHL draft, Peter has just completed his fifth season with the NHL club.

Andrej Sekera played two seasons in the OHL with the Owen Sound Attack, 2004-05 and 2005-06. Drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2004 NHL draft, Andrej has remained in the Sabres organization.

Click on the country to see what OHL grads are on the roster for the 2010 IIHF World Hockey Championships: Latvia, Canada, Italy(1), Italy (2), Czech Republic, Norway, Finland.

In addition to the three Ontario Hockey League grads that played for Team Latvia at the 2010 Winter Olympics, there are two more OHL alumni added to the roster for the 2010 IIHF World Hockey Championships. Juris Stals and Andris Dzerins join Olympians Arvids Rekis, Herberts Vasiljevs and Kaspars Daugavins (click here for Olympics post on Team Latvia).

Juris Stals played in the OHL for two seasons, 2001-02 and 2002-03. His first season was played with the Sarnia Sting and his second with the Owen Sound Attack. Drafted deep in the 2001 NHL draft, 269th overall, by the New York Rangers, Stals played a season with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack and two seasons with the ECHL’s Charlotte Checkers before heading to Europe.

From 2006-07 to 2008-09, Juris alternated between the Czech Republic’s Extraliga and Russia’s KHL. This past season found him back in North America playing for the Quad City Mallards of the IHL.

Andris Dzerins played two seasons in the OHL, 2007-08 and 2008-09, both with the Kingston Frontenacs. This season he played his first of his professional career with Riga Dynamo of Russia’s KHL.

Arvid Rekis played four seasons in the OHL from 1996-97 to 1999-00, all with the Erie Otters. He spent his first three seasons of pro hockey in the ECHL with the Peoria Rivermen, with an 18 game call-up to the AHL’s Worcester IceCats during the 2001-02 season. Since the beginning of the 2003-04 season, Arvid has played in Germany’s DEL. His first five seasons were with the Augsburg Panthers and his past two have been with Wolfsburg Grizzly Adams.

Kaspars Daugavins played three seasons in the OHL from 2006-07 to 2008-09, all with the Toronto /Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors. Having been drafted by the Ottawa Senators in 2006, before he’d played a game of junior, Kaspars played a portion of each of junior seasons with the AHL’s Binghamton Senators. This past season, he played a full season with the Binghamton club with a single game with the NHL Senators.

Herberts Vasiljevs played just one season in the OHL, 1995-96 with the Guelph Storm. Vasiljevs put in 51 games in the NHL over four seasons with the Florida Panthers, Atlanta Thrashers and the Vancouver Canucks. After a year in Russia in 2003-04, Herberts has been in Germany’s DEL since, one year with Nuremburg and the past five with Krefeld. He is currently captain of the Pinguine.

Check out what other countries have OHL grads on their rosters for the 2010 IIHF World Hockey Championships:

Canada

Italy (1)

Italy (2)

Czech Republic

Norway

Finland