OHL Alumni Central

Mark Bell with the Kloten Flyers.

Mark Bell played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1996-97 to 1999-00, all with the

Kloten Flyers logo.

 Ottawa 67′s. In his first season, he played on a 67′s team that had high expectations of a Memorial Cup appearance but was shot down in the Ontario Hockey League’s Robertson Cup finals. In his third season, the 67′s won the Memorial Cup that they hosted despite not even appearing in the Robertson Cup final. Bell was second in scoring during that tournament.

In his final three seasons of OHL hockey, Mark was well above a point per game player. In his final season, he scored 34 goals and added 38 assists for 72 points in only 48 games.

Bell was drafted in the first round of the 1998 NHL draft by the Chicago Blackhawks, eighth overall. He played only 13 games in his first season out of junior, spending most of that season with the Norfolk Admirals of the AHL. In 2001-02, Mark became a regular with Chicago and missed only two regular season games over four seasons with the Blackhawks (not including 2004-05 – the dreaded strike year).

Mark shifted to the San Jose Sharks for the 2006-07 season then was cursed when he was sent to the Toronto Maple Leafs for 2007-08. Bell played only 35 games with the Leafs. he split 2008-09 with the Toronto Marlies and Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL before heading to Europe.

The Kloten Flyers finished fifth in the twelve team Swiss National League A. Bell played 39 of the team’s 50 regular season games and added 27 points. Kloten is to Zurich what Mississauga is to Toronto. Like Mississauga, the Zurich airport is actually located in Kloten.

Check out Mark Bell’s profile page on the Kloten Flyers official website.

Mark Bell is mentioned in this previous post about the Ottawa 67′s appearance at the 1999 Memorial Cup.

DiPietro as a member of the Swiss Olympic team at Turin in 2006.

The other day, we determined that Todd Elik was the oldest Ontario Hockey League alumnus still practicing his trade in the world of professional hockey. Closing in on 40 and still going strong is another OHL grad, Paul DiPietro.

DiPietro has spent 10 of the last 11 seasons with EV Zug of the Swiss National A League. He was bumped aside for the 2004-05 NHL strike season and played with EHC Chur of the Swiss B league that year. EV Zug is coached by OHL great, Doug Shedden. Shedden starred in the Ontario Hockey League from 1977-78 to 1980-81 with the Hamilton Fincups, Kitchener Rangers and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

Paul played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1986-87 to 1989-90. All his four seasons were spent with the Sudbury Wolves. In his final two seasons with the Wolves, DiPietro led the team in scoring. In his final season, his 56 goals and 119 points were second in the OHL, only to Keith Primeau.

DiPietro was originally drafted by the Montreal Canadiens, 102nd overall, in the 1990 NHL draft. He enjoyed a 192 game NHL career with the Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs and Los Angeles Kings. His last season in North America was 1996-97 which was split between the Kings and two IHL teams, the Phoenix Roadrunners and the Cincinnati Cyclones.

Paul spent one season in Germany’s DEL in 1997-98 before switching over to Switzerland.

Check out Paul DiPietro’s profile page at the EV Zug official website.

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Petr Taticek hoists the cup after Davos wins the 2009 Swiss championship.

Does getting drafted in the first round of the NHL draft, ninth overall, guarantee a long and prosperous National Hockey League career? In the case of Petr Taticek, no.

Taticek played two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in 2001-02 and 2002-03. he was drafted by the Florida Panthers after his first season. The Czech Republic native was just over a point per game player in the OHL. His NHL career to date has consisted of just three games with the Panthers in 2005-06.

Petr hung around North America for just three seasons, playing on several teams in the AHL and CHL. In 2006-07, Taticek played just one game with the AHL’s Hershey Bears before heading to Europe and his homeland, the Czech Republic.

The homecoming only lasted ten games, though. Later that season, Petr found himself playing for HC Davos in the Swiss National-A league and has been with the team since. HC Davos is, of course, the team that hosts the famous Spengler Cup every Christmas. The team finished fourth in the regular season standings this past season in the twelve team league.

Click here to view Petr Taticek’s profile page on the HC Davos official website.

Check out these previous posts about OHL grads playing Switzerland:

Brendan Brooks playing for SCL Tigers

Gardner and Down playing for ZSC Lions

Boyd Devereaux playing for Lugano

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Jamie Rivers played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with the Sudbury Wolves from 1991-92 to 1994-95. His final two seasons were nothing less than stellar.

In 1993-94, the offensive defenseman scored 32 goals and added 89 points for 121 points in 65 regular season games. This total was good enough for 6th in the league and helped Rivers win a Max Kaminsky Trophy as the top defenseman in the OHL.

1994-95 saw Jamie only get 65 regular season points on 9 goals and 56 assists in just 46 games. Rivers played an important role in Canada’s gold medal effort at the 1995 World Junior Championship. Jamie exploded in the playoffs with 33 points on 7 goals and 26 assists in just 18 games as the Wolves made it to the semi-finals before losing out in 7 games to the eventual Robertson Cup winners, the Detroit Junior Red Wings.

Selected by the St. Louis Blues in the third round of the 1993 NHL draft, Jamie played 454 games in the NHL with the Blues, New Islanders, Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers, Detroit Red Wings and Phoenix Coyotes.

Jamie tested the European hockey market in 2007-08, playing 18 games with Moscow Spartak in Russia. After a season back in North America in 2008-09 with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, Jamie went back to Europe for the 2009-10 season to play in the Swiss National A League with HC Ambri Piotta.

HC Ambri Piotta finished dead last in the 12 team league, 18 points behind the next team over just a 50 game schedule. The towns of Ambri and Piotta are two adjacent small villages in Switzerland with a combined population totalling just 500. The surrounding Canton of Ticino, however, consists of over 300,000 residents. The region is next to the Italian border. The team plays out of the Valascia Arena which holds 7000, including standing room and is open at both ends – something fairly common in that part of the world.

To view Jamie’s profile page on HC Ambri Piotta’s official website, click here.

Check out these previous posts related to hockey in Switzerland:

Brendan Brooks of the SCL Tigers

Cory Pecker of EHC Visp

Gardner and Down of ZSC Lions

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Brooks playing Norway in 2008.

Brendan Brooks played one season in the Ontario Hockey League split between two teams. In 1997-98, Brendan played 57 games in total, 25 with the Owen Sound Platers and 32 with the North Bay Centennials.

This past season, Brooks played in the Swiss-A National League with the SCL Tigers. He finished 12th in league scoring, despite being on a team that finished second last in the 12 team league.

Between the OHL and Switzerland, Brendan played on 12 different teams in the North American minors in the AHL, ECHL, IHL and UHL as well as Norway.

The SCL Tigers play out of Langnau im Emmental, a small town between Bern and Lucerne in somewhat central Switzerland. The team plays out of the Ilfus Stadium which has a capacity of 6500 spectators for hockey.

The team has great player profile pages on their official website and Brendan’s can be found here. The site is German only so you might want to refer to our German Hockey Language Guide for a little help in navigating.

Check out these previous posts on OHL alumni playing in Switzerland:

Cory Pecker with EHC Visp

Two OHL grads with ZSC Lions