OHL Alumni Central

Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) is nearing the halfway point of its 52 game 2011-12 season and three Ontario Hockey League grads can be found among the league’s top four point-getters. All three players are members of Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg. Wolfsburg is currently placed fourth in the fourteen team league. Last season, Grizzly Adams was first overall during the regular season and lost in the playoff finals.

Matt Dzieduszycki is currently tied for first in the league, with another member of Wolfsburg, with 11 goals and 14 assists for 25 points in 23 games. Matt played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 1999-00 and 2000-01, with the Barrie Colts. He has been playing in the DEL since the 2006-07 season. He spent his first year with EV Duisburg then followed up with four years with the Hannover Scorpions. This is Dzieduszycki’s first season with Grizzly Adams.

Sitting alone in third place with 24 points is Tyler Haskins. Just one goal differentiates Haskins from Dzieduszycki. Haskins played five years in the Ontario Hockey League from 2002-03 to 2006-07. He began his OHL career with the Guelph Storm and was traded to the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors nine games into his second season. His final year in the OHL was spent with the Saginaw Spirit, where his 60 regular season assists placed him eighth in the league. Haskins was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in the fifth round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. 2011-12 is Tyler’s second year in the DEL and second with Wolfsburg.

With one point less than Tyler Haskins, Norm Milley sits tied for fourth with four other players. Milley played four years with the Sudbury Wolves from 1996-97 to 1999-00. In 98-99, he was second in points to just Peter Sarno. He surpassed the 50 goal and 100 point plateaus in both his final two seasons with Sudbury. Norm was a second round pick of the Buffalo Sabres at the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. In all, Milley played 29 NHL games, all with Buffalo. 2011-12 is his fourth in the DEL and fourth with Wolfsburg.

Today, the Washington Capitals are seeing green and gold. Bruce Boudreau is gone as head coach and Dale Hunter fills the role that perhaps he was destined for. Hunter, who played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League (OHJHL at the time) from 1977-78 to 1979-80 with the Kitchener Rangers and Sudbury Wolves, has been the head coach of the London Knights since the 2001-02 season. His blue line in Washington should be familiar with three London Knights grads, two who played for Dale.

Hunter is somewhat of a legend in Washington, where his number 32 has hung from the rafters since 2000. Dale’s is just one of four Washington Capitals retired numbers. He played twelve of his nineteen National Hockey League seasons in a Capitals uniform and was team captain for his final five. He was originally a second round pick of the Quebec Nordiques at the 1979 NHL Entry Draft. He played with the Nordiques from 1980-81 to 1986-87.

Dale is second to just Tiger Williams on the NHL’s all-time penalty minutes list. His 3,565 PIM in 1,409 regular season games certainly stand out. However, often overlooked is the 323 goals and 1,020 points he accumulated over that time.

John Erskine played for the Knights before the Hunter era began. For three seasons, from 1997-98 to 1999-00, he was the backbone of London’s defense. In his final season with the Knights, he was a CHL All-Star and won the Max Kaminsky Trophy as the Ontario Hockey League’s best defenseman.

Originally a second round pick of the Dallas Stars at the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, Erskine has been with the Capitals since 2006-07. Along the way, he has played for the Stars and the New York Islanders.

Like Dale Hunter, Dennis Wideman played for the Sudbury Wolves. Dennis began his five year Ontario Hockey League career with the Wolves in 1999-00. He was traded to London midway through the 2000-01 season. Like Erskine, Dennis was a CHL All-Star (2003-04). Wideman was an eighth round pick of the Buffalo Sabres in 2002. He never played for Buffalo but has put on the jersey’s of the St. Louis Blues, Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers before coming to Washington near the end of the 2010-11 season.

John Carlson played just one season in the Ontario Hockey League with London in 2008-09. In just 59 games, he totalled 76 points from the blue line and his 60 assists were the most by any OHL rookie. He came to London already a Washington prospect. The Capitals took Carlson in the first round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. After spending most of 2009-10 with the AHL’s Hershey Bears, 2010-11 was John’s first full season with the Capitals.

34 year old Steve Valiquette is attempting to prolong his pro hockey career with a professional try-out (PTO) with the American Hockey League’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Valiquette played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1994-95 to 1997-98 and last played with CSKA Moscow of Russia’s KHL in 2010-11.

Steve Valiquette with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in 2005-06.

Steve played his first three and a half seasons in the OHL with the Sudbury Wolves. He was traded to the Erie Otters during the 1997-98 season and finished out his OHL career there. In 1996-97, Valiquette played 61 of Sudbury’s 66 games with the team finishing last in the Central Division and out of the Robertson Cup playoffs. With Erie, he played all seven games of their opening round series against the London Knights in his final season. Steve posted an impressive 1.93 GAA with one shutout in a losing cause.

Valiquette was an eighth round pick of the Los Angeles Kings in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft, 190th overall. Steve never played for the Kings but has played a backup role with the New York Islanders, Edmonton Oilers and New York Rangers. With the Rangers affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, in 2004-05, he teamed up with Jason LaBarbera to win the Harry Holmes Trophy as the best goaltending duo on the AHL. Valiquette played 35 games and posted a 1.77 GAA and a .935 save percentage.

One of Steve’s best performances in pro hockey came in 2005-06 with the ill-fated Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the then Russian Super League (RSL). Valiquette played 45 of the team’s 51 regular season games with a 1.95 GAA and .923 save percentage. Yaroslavl finished third overall in the league and lost in the semi-finals. Despite the numbers, the top goaltender award went to another Ontario Hockey League grad. Fred Brathwaite had a higher GAA, lower save percentage and played less games, yet the goalie who played for the Oshawa Generals, London Knights and Detroit Junior Red Wings between 1989-90 and 1992-93, took the prize as a member of Ak Bars Kazan.

This past season, Valiquette played in the KHL for CSKA Moscow. CSKA was dismal, finishing 19th overall in the 23 team league and out of the post season. Steve still recorded decent numbers, playing in 35 games with a 2.94 GAA and .897 save percentage.

Bridgeport hopes to find a spot for their original goaltender. Steve played with the Sound Tigers in their first two years of existence, 2001-02 and 2002-03. Bridgeport is the AHL affiliate of the National Hockey League’s New York Islanders and currently sits tenth in the fifteen team Eastern Conference.

Okay… one of the three only played four games for the Kingston Frontenacs during the 1993-94 season, but the other two were fortified stars in the Ontario Hockey League.

Wesley Snell, age 35, played four games for the Frontenacs during the 1993-94 season with no goals, assists or PIM. Snell has played in Switzerland since the 1997-98 season, with a healthy mix between the National League A and National League B. This is his first season with HC Sierre in the NLB after two seasons with Zug of the NLA.

Paul Dipietro is the senior man on Sierre and the envy of all us 40-somethings. At 41, Dipietro has stepped down from the NLA this season after playing in the upper league since 1998-99 (with exception to 2004-05 when his former NHL friends flooded the European hockey market). Paul has spent the last six seasons with Zug and has competed for Switzerland on the world stage each season during that time.

Dipietro played four years in the Ontario Hockey League from 1986-87 to 1989-90, all with the Sudbury Wolves. He exploded offensively in his final season, scoring 56 goals and totalling 119 points, finishing second in OHL scoring to Keith Primeau of the Niagara Falls Thunder. The Montreal Canadiens liked what they saw and drafted Paul in the fifth round of the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, 102nd overall. With the Habs in 1992-93, Dipietro got his name inscribed on the Stanley Cup.

In total, Dipietro played 192 regular season and 31 playoff games in the National Hockey League between 1990-91 and 1996-97. Besides Montreal, Paul also played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Los Angeles Kings. After playing in Germany for the 1997-98 season, Paul made the switch to Switzerland with a bang. In 1998-99, DiPietro led the NLA in goals with 38 in 45 games with Ambi-Piotta.

Lee Jinman is 35 and will turn 36 in January. Jinman played three years in the Ontario Hockey League from 1993-94 to 1995-96. Most of his career was spent with the North Bay Centennials but he was shipped to the Detroit Whalers for the playoff run in his final season. In his first year with North Bay, the team won the Robertson Cup with a victory over Detroit. In that final season with the Whalers, Detroit fell to the Peterborough Petes in the semi-finals. In both his final two seasons, Jinman finished in the OHL’s top ten scorers.

Jinman was a second round pick of the Dallas Stars in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft, 46th overall, but never played in the National Hockey League. After playing five years in the North American minor leagues, Lee left for Europe, yet to return. He tried the waters in Great Britain, Sweden and Austria before settling in Switzerland for the start of the 2005-06 season. Jinman has been a fixture on HC Sierre since that season and has contributed offensively at an astounding 2.16 points per game during that time.

This past season, he led the league in assists with 52 and was second in points with 82 in 43 games.  He has twice led the league in points, 2005-06 and 2008-09. Lee shows no signs of slowing down in 2011-12. He has begun the season with 19 points in just 8 games for HC Sierre.

Sierre has an interesting historical link to NHL players. The team has set the stage for the swan songs of NHL veterans Jacques Lemaire, Mel Bridgeman and Marian Stastny. Lemaire played two seasons with Sierre after retiring from the Montreal Canadiens. Bridgeman split the final season of his playing career between Sierre and the Vancouver Canucks. After playing a season with the disastrous Toronto Maple Leafs in 1985-86, Stastny went to Sierre to cleanse his hockey soul for one season, 1986-87.

After two years in Italy, Ontario Hockey League grad Gerome Giudice returns to North America for the 2011-12 season.  Giudice will start the season with the Tulsa Oilers of the Central Hockey League. As per Tulsa Oilers coach Bruce Ramsay, Gerome is ‘the type of player you go to war with’.

Giudice (in blue) with OHL grad Marco Insam (in white).

Gerome played four years in the Ontario Hockey League with the Sudbury Wolves from 2005-06 to 2008-09. In his final two seasons with the Wolves, Giudice was team captain. More a provider of grit and leadership, he topped out offensively in 2007-08 with 15 goals and 44 points. After Sudbury failed to qualify for the Robertson Cup playoffs in 2008-09, Gerome finished out the year with the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the IHL.

For the past two seasons, Giudice has played for HC Fassa of the Lega Italiana Hockey su Ghiaccio. The Fassa region, located in the Alps of Northern Italy, has to be a hard place to leave. The team plays out of the nearly 2,000 seat HSC Fassa Levoni in the town of Canazei. The finished seventh overall in 2010-11 and made a quick exit from the playoffs. HC Fassa has reloaded with a new crop of Ontario Hockey League grads for the 2011-12 season – stay tuned to OHL Alumni Central in the coming days to find out more.

Gerome should provide leadership and skill to a Tulsa team that has qualified for the playoffs just twice in the past ten years. This past year, they finished third in the Berry Conference and lost in the Conference Semi-Finals. The team is an affiliate of the AHL’s Lake Erie Monsters and the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche.

Read more about what coach Bruce Ramsay has to say about Gerome in this article from the Tulsa Oilers official website.