OHL Alumni Central

The Belfast Giants of Great Britain’s Elite Ice Hockey League have started the 2011-12 season with a bang, going 11-1 with an additional shootout loss. Despite this, the team sits just three points ahead of the Nottingham Panthers atop the league. The team is on track to challenge for the league championship, something they accomplished in 2009-10.

Adam Keefe has fit right in with the Giants. The Ontario Hockey League grad has brought his tough brand of hockey to Ireland and currently sits seventh in the EIHL in penalty minutes. Keefe wears the ‘A’ on his jersey. Another OHL Alumnus, Jeremy Rebek (Owen Sound Platers) is the team captain.

Adam played in the Ontario Hockey League for five years from 2000-01 to 2004-05. He began with the Sudbury Wolves and moved over the Kitchener Rangers during his second season. In his first full season with Kitchener, 2002-03, the team won the Robertson Cup and the Memorial Cup.

Undrafted, Keefe has toiled in the AHL and ECHL since 2005-06. This past season, 2010-11, started with the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL but saw Adam play 40 games with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins.

With six points already this season, Keefe is on pace to have his best offensive season since entering professional hockey in 2005-06. That season, with the Toledo Storm of the ECHL, Adam contributed 21 points in just 28 games while sitting out 174 minutes in the penalty box. He also spent 31 games with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose that season, with much lower offensive results.

Ontario Hockey League grad Daniel Erlich joins three returning OHL Alumni hoping to send Red Bull Salzburg to a three-peat in Austria’s Erste Bank Eishockey Liga. Salzburg should be of particular interest to London Knights fans with Erlich playing with Danny Bois – two very popular Knights with the fans.

In seven years since being promoted from tier 2, Salzburg has been to the EBEL finals six times. The Red Bulls have won the championship four of the past five years and the past two in a row.

Erlich spent four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2007-08 to 2010-11. He played with the Knights until halfway through last season when he was traded to the Guelph Storm to finish out his OHL career. His size, 5’6″ and 150 lbs. might not be suitable for the North American game but his amazing speed and quick hands should be ideal for Europe.

Danny Bois enters his second sesaon with Salzburg, having contributed decent offense in his first season as well as trademark toughness. Bois spent four years in the Ontario Hockey League from 2000-01  to 2003-04 where he was team captain. Despite being drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in the third round of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, 97th overall, it was with the Ottawa Senators organization that Bois spent is first five years of pro hockey.

After five years with the Binghamton Senators, and one game with the Ottawa Senators, Bois spent 2009-10 with Chicago’s AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs. With Salzburg last season, Danny contributed 29 points in 48 regular season games and sat out 136 minutes in the sin bin.

Erik Reitz played three years on the point in the Ontario Hockey League from 1999-00 to 2001-02, all with the Barrie Colts. Reitz was Barrie’s captain in his final season and also played for Team USA at the IIHF World Junior Championships. The Colts went to the Robertson Cup finals that season, as well, losing to the Erie Otters.

Reitz was drafted after his first OHL season by the Minnesota Wild in the sixth round of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, 170th overall. Erik played in Minnesota’s system from 2002-02 to midway through the 2008-09 season, mostly with the Houston Aeros of the AHL. In total, Reitz played 48 NHL games with the Wild and New York Rangers. In 2009-10, he made the jump across the pond and played in Russia’s KHL. He was signed to Salzburg last season but didn’t play any games due to injury. After a playing seven games in a pre-season tournament, Reitz is once again on the disabled list this year.

Markus Pock played just three games in the Ontario Hockey League. The native of Austria played three games for the Sudbury Wolves last season before returning to Austria to play for Salzburg.

During the 2010-11 hockey season, 84 graduates of the Sudbury Wolves were still active in the world of hockey. This number is a great tribute to how consistly productive the Sudbury Wolves organization is.

This past season, there were Sudbury Wolves alumni playing in Canada, United States, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Austria, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Italy, Slovakia, Switzerland and Finland. Several grads were still in the process of taking advantage of the great scholarship program that is offered by the Ontario Hockey League. Sixteen Sudbury grads played Canadian university hockey in 2010-11.

An even better indicator of the quality players that the Wolves produce is the fact that fifteen were playing in the National Hockey League. 23 players were with the Wolves in the 1990′s and two of those started their careers in the 1980′s. Paul DiPietro played with Sudbury from 1986 to 1990 and was a member of Zug in the Swiss National League A this past season. Sean O’Donnell began play with the Wolves in 1988 and finished this past season as a member of the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers.

Hopefully, we’ve captured all the Sudbury Wolves grads still active in 2010-11. If there’s someone missing, please let us know in the comments below!

Patrik Lusnak will return to HK 36 Skalica for his third season. The Sudbury Wolves grad began his professional hockey career in the Czech Republic part way through the 2008-09 season after playing 35 games with the Wolves. In those 35 games, Lusnak scored 20 goals and totalled 34 points.

Lusnak played in the Ontario Hockey League for three seasons, 2006-07 to 2008-09, all with the Sudbury Wolves. The Slovakian born player was an important member of Team Slovakia at the 2008 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. Despite finishing out of medal contention, Patrick contributed five points in six games. 2007-08 was Lusnak’s best season in the OHL with 20 goals and 59 points in 58 games.

After finishing the 2008-09 season with HC Trinec of the Czech Extraliga, Lusnak moved back to Slovakia and SK 36 Skalica of the Slovak Extraliga. This past season, Patrik played in 54 regular season games with Skalica, scoring 13 and adding 14 assists for 27 points. Skalica finished seventh in the eleven team Extraliga and bowed out in the first round of the playoffs.

Lusnak was loaned to SHK 37 Piestany of the Slovak 1.Liga (tier 2) for their playoff run. SHK 37 Piestany finished the regular season first in the 14 team league. Patrik played 17 playoff games for the team, contributing eight points as they marched their way to a championship.

Lusnak will return to HK 36 Skalica for the 2011-12 season. Could this be his breakout year in the league?

Ontario Hockey League European imports are typically limited to players from the Czech Republic and Russia. However, every once in a while, a Swede finds his way to the OHL. Anton Hedman played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, 2005-06 and 2006-07. In his first year, he played 60 games with the Sudbury Wolves, scoring 18 goals and totaling 34 points. He was the 37th overall pick by the Wolves in the 2005 CHL Import Draft. The following season, he split his time between the Owen Sound Attack and Guelph Storm.

The Stockholm, Sweden native came to the Ontario Hockey League already a prospect of the NHL’s Boston Bruins. Hedman was taken by Boston in the eighth round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, 255th overall. Anton played a season in Sweden’s under 20 SuperElit league with Djurgarden before coming to Canada.

Things didn’t pan out in North America and Hedman returned to Sweden for the 2007-08 season. He played three years with various teams in the Allsvenskan (Sweden’s tier 2 professional league) before stepping up to the Elitserien with MODO this past season, 2010-11.

In his first season at the elite level, Hedman played 48 of MODO’s 55 regular season games, scoring five goals and contributed a total of twelve points. The team finished dead last in the twelve team Elitserien and narrowly escaped relegation. MODO is just a few years removed from winning the league championship, having won in 2007.

Many familiar names have played for MODO through the years before their big breaks in the NHL, including: Anders Hedberg, Tomas Gradin, Anders Kallur, Bo Berglund, Lars Lindgren, Tomas Jonsson, Lars Molin, Markus Näslund, Peter Forsberg, Niklas Sundström, Anders Eriksson, Mattias Timander, Per Svartvadet, Hans Jonsson, Henrik and Daniel Sedin, Samuel Påhlsson and Mattias Karlin.

Check out Anton Hedman’s profile page at the MODO official website.