OHL Alumni Central

Drew Bannister, as mentioned yesterday, is one of four players from the 1993 Memorial Cup winning Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds that are still playing in professional hockey today.

Bannister played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1990-91 to 1993-94, all with the Greyhounds. His first and second year, the Greyhounds were the Robertson Cup champions. In 1993, the team won the Memorial Cup, despite not winning the Robertson. They earned a berth in the Mem as the host city. In both 1992 and 1993, Drew Bannister was named to the Memorial Cup All-Star team.

In his final season in the Ontario Hockey League, Drew played for Team Canada at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. The tournament was held in the Czech Republic and Canada won gold. Oddly enough, not a single Canada player made the tournament All-Star team.

Bannister was taken by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round of the 1992 NHL Entry Draft, 26th overall. Drew has seen a total of 164 NHL games with the Lightning, Edmonton Oilers, Anaheim Ducks and New York Rangers. The last NHL game Drew played was during the 2001-02 season. Bannister has been in Europe since the 2002-03 season, with exception of 2009-10 when he returned to the American Hockey League to play for the Binghamton Senators.

Not just a champion in the OHL, Bannister was also part of the AHL’s Calder Cup winning team in 2000, the Hartford Wolf Pack. In 2007-08, he was named the top defenseman in Germany’s 2.Bundesliga as he led the Kassel Huskies to a playoff championship. This allowed Kassel to move up to the elite DEL for the next season.

This season, 2010-11, Bannister has been playing for the Hull Stingrays of Great Britain’s Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL). Drew has worn an ‘A’ on his jersey for Hull and is currently trying to help the team through the playoffs.

Check out Drew Bannister’s profile page at the Hull Stingrays official website.

Jaroslav Janus during Slovakia's upset of the USA at the 2009 Under-20 World Juniors.

Recently, we featured the Ontario Hockey League grads currently playing for the ECHL’s Florida Everblades (click link to go to that article). At the time, there were five OHL alumni on the team. A sixth player, Jaroslav Janus, had been sent up to the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals at the time and has since been returned to Florida.

Janus played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2007-08 to 2009-10, all with the Erie Otters. The Slovak goaltender played the bulk of the games for the team in his first two seasons and just a handful in 2009-10 as he spent half the season with Norfolk.

The season before coming to the Ontario Hockey League, Jaroslav played goal for Team Slovakia at the IIHF World Under-18 Tournament in which Slovakia finished fifth. In the 2009 Under-20 Championships, Janus led Slovakia to the Bronze medal game where they bowed out to Russia. Jaroslav was selected to the tournament’s All-Star Team.

Janus was selected in the sixth round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning, 162nd overall. He was also taken the same year in the second round of Russia’s KHL Draft by Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, 42nd overall. He has obviously chosen to remain in the Tampa Lightning organization, splitting his time between the AHL’s Admirals and the ECHL’s Everblades.

Check out profile page of Jaroslav Janus at the Florida Everblades official website.

Mike Angelidis played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2002-03 to 2005-06, all with the Owen Sound Attack. Mike scored 25 goals over his first three seasons then exploded for 53 in his final campaign with the Attack.

His 53 goals were good for third in the OHL. He was chosen as a First Team All-Star and was selected as the Most Improved Player in the Western Conference in the annual coaches poll. More importantly, Angelidis was awarded with the Dan Snyder Trophy as the Ontario Hockey League’s Humanitarian of the Year. Mike was also selected as the CHL’s Humanitarian of the Year.

Undrafted, Angelidis was quickly brought into the Carolina Hurricanes system upon graduation. He played four season with Carolina’s affiliate in the American Hockey League, the Albany River Rats and wore the ‘A’ on his jersey. Over the summer of 2010, Mike signed a one-year two way contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning and has spent the season so far with their AHL affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals.

To check out Mike Angelidis’ profile on the Norfolk Admirals official website, go to the roster page and click on his name.

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Nikita Alexeev played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 1998-99 to 2000-01, all with the Erie Otters. The Otters were Midwest Division regular season champions in Alexeev’s final two seasons and Hamilton Spectator winners in 2000-01. The Otters were ousted in the Western Conference finals that season by the Plymouth Whalers, four games to one. Nikita was selected to the OHL’s Third Team All-Star squad in his final season.

Alexeev was taken eighth overall in the 2000 NHL draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning. He played 44 games with the Lightning in his first season of professional hockey and only 34 in his second. It wasn’t until the 2006-07 season when Nikita would play in the NHL again. He put in 78 games between the Lightning and the Chicago Blackhawks. That would be his last season in North America.

2007-08 saw Nikita shift to Russia’s KHL (at the time still called the RSL). He entered the league with Ak-Bars Kazan and has been with team since. Kazan has won the KHL championship (Gagarin Cup) the past two seasons and are currently sitting three points out of first place in the league’s Eastern Conference.

Check out Nikita Alexeev’s profile page on the Ak-Bars Kazan official website.

Nikita appears in this previous post at OHL Alumni Central listing the graduates of the Erie Otters still active in professional hockey during the 2009-10 seasons.

Ontario Hockey League grad Gerald Coleman is on his tenth team in six seasons of professional hockey (eleven if a call-up to sit on the bench for the AHL’s Peoria Rivermen this season counts). His early season numbers with the East Coast Hockey League’s Alaska Aces are similar to those he put up with the London Knights when he was awarded two Dave Pinkney Trophies.

Coleman played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2002-03 to 2004-05, all with the London Knights. In 2003-04, he shared the Dave Pinkney Trophy for best team goals against average with Ryan McDonald. McDonald was traded to Guelph for Adam Dennis for the 2004-05 season. Coleman and Dennis shared the Pinkney that season. In 2003-04, Gerald had the league’s best save percentage. The following season he had the league’s best GAA.

Despite a 1.70 GAA and a .941 save percentage during 2004-05, it was Dennis who played all the playoff games in London’s run to their Robertson Cup victory followed by their Memorial Cup victory. (Click here to read a previous post on Adam Dennis at OHL Alumni Central).

Coleman was taken by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the seventh round of the 2003 NHL draft, 224th overall. In his rookie season, 2005-06, he played his only two NHL games with the Lightning. Since, he has played for nine other teams from all corners of the continent: Springfield Falcons – AHL, Johnstown Chiefs – ECHL, Portland Pirates – AHL, Augusta Lynx – ECHL, Phoenix Roadrunners – ECHL, Worcester Sharks – AHL, Trenton Devils – ECHL, Lowell Devils – AHL and the Aces.

During the 2008-09 season, Coleman was selected to the ECHL second team all-stars as a member of the Trenton Devils. His 2.38 GAA and .915 save percentage over 40 games was certainly worthy of the honour.

Check out Gerald Coleman’s profile page at the Alaska Aces official website.

Gerald also in mentioned in the following posts at OHL Alumni Central:

Members of the 2004-05 London Knights still active in pro hockey during the 2009-10 season.

List of London Knights Alumni still active in pro hockey during the 2009-10 season.

The OHL Alumni Big List.