Monday, December 4, 2006

USHLers playing Major Juniors

Just a quick glance at rosters from the three CHL leagues (WHL, QMJHL, and OHL) to see how many guys with any USHL ties were playing in the CHL. Now, these ties may be nothing more than being a draft pick, but it's always fun to see where some former draft picks have gone.

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (4)
Joel Rechlicz (Chicoutimi Sagueneens) - Joel played a total of 4 USHL games, 2 with Indiana and 2 with Des Moines. He racked up 20 PIM in those 4 games, while recording 0 points.

Todd Chinova (Quebec Remparts) - Waterloo's 7th Round Pick, 72nd Overall in 2005.

Angelo Esposito (Quebec Remparts) - Chicago's 9th Round Pick, 89th Overall in 2005.

Kyle Kelly (Victoriaville Tigres) - Waterloo's 19th Round Pick, 163rd Overall in 2005.

Western Hockey League (9)
Peter Mueller (Everett Silvertips) - Peter was a former futures pick of Sioux City, and was scheduled to be at camp the following June, but decided on the Major Junior route instead.

Kaspars Saulietis (Kelowna Rockets) - Kaspars suited up in 10 games for the Des Moines Buccaneers back in 04/05, and recorded 5 points (3-2--5.)

Tysen Dowzak (Kelowna Rockets) - Tysen is a former 1st round draft pick of the Lincoln Stars, but never suited up for them.

Randy King (Lethbridge Hurricanes) - Randy spent a couple seasons with Green Bay before being dealt to Everett Silvertips.

Martin Hanzal (Red Deer Rebels) - Martin spent 19 games with the Omaha Lancer last season, and put up 19 points. Hanzal is a very tall player, who played soft at times, but was always a focus point for the other USHL teams. He is playing some pretty good hockey in the Dub, racking up 47 points in just 31 games for the Rebels.

Jared Spurgeon (Spokane Chiefs) - Jared was a futures draft pick of Cedar Rapids last year, but opted for the WHL.

Erik Felde (Tri-City Americans) - Erik played 1 season with the Riders, but it was a pretty good season for him. He notched 31 points and helped lead the Riders to their first ever Clark Cup title in 2005.

Tommy Tartaglione (Regina Pats) - Ice's 17th Round Pick, 139th Overall in 2005.

Chris Francis (Portland Winter Hawks) - SF's 14th Round Pick, 121st Overall in 2006.

Ontario Hockey League (23)
Luke Lynes (Brampton Battalion) - Luke was a former draft pick of the Sioux Falls Stampede, but never suited up for the Pede.

Kevin Mole (Kingston Frontenacs) - Kevin was a futures draft pick of the Des Moines Buccaneers, but opted for the OHL instead.

Aaron Rock (Kingston Frontenacs) - Aaron spent last season with the Tri-City Storm and was one of the best goalies in the league. He hasn't been able to put up the numbers he did in the USHL, going 3-10-2 in his OHL career.

Victor Oreskovich (Kitchener Rangers) - Victor spent a year with the Gamblers, and had a pretty good season. He earned a scholarship to Notre Dame and was drafted in the 2nd round by the Colorado Avalanche. He left the Irish mid-way through last season to play in the O. Chris Heisenberg's blog talks about Oreskovich no longer being on the team.

Robert Bortuzzo (Kitchener Rangers) - Robert was a futures draft of the Musketeers, but chose the OHL route.

John Murray (Kitchener Rangers) - John was a standout goaltender last year for the Stampede.

David Meckler (London Knights) - David spent 2 seasons with the Waterloo Black Hawks and was a goal scoring machine in his 2nd season with the team.

Patrick Kane (London Knights) - Kane was first pick in the 2005 futures draft by Omaha and was on their protected list prior to the start of this season.

Sam Gagner (London Knights) - Sam is one of the best talents in the OHL and played a year with Sioux City before making the jump.

Kevin Bodker (London Knights) - Bodker earned a spot on Sioux City's roster early last season and became the youngest player in the league that season.

Logan Couture (Ottawa 67's) - Couture was a late round draft pick a couple years back for the Lincoln Stars.

Trevor Lewis (Owen Sound Attack) - The USHL's 2nd leading scorer last year finds himself playing in the OHL this year. Lewis was scheduled to play for the Michigan Wolverines this year, but the Los Angeles Kings offered him a contract and wanted him to play in the OHL. Lewis has 39 points in 29 games so far, so he's continuing where he left off last year.

David Kolomatis (Owen Sound Attack) - David was on Omaha's protected list prior to the start of the season. Just a few months before the start of the season, it was announced David would be reporting to Owen Sound.

Zach Bogosian (Peterborough Petes) - Zach was a draft pick of Cedar Rapids this past May. His brother, Aaron, was also drafted by Cedar Rapids and is currently on the roster.

Jared Boll (Plymouth Whalers) - Jared is in his 2nd season with the Whalers after spending a pair in Lincoln.

Frank Grzeszszak (Plymouth Whalers) - Sioux City lost another key young player from last year's team when Pacho decided to join the Whalers this season.

Tyler Haskins (Saginaw Spirit) - Tyler spent one season in Sioux City, helping them to the Clark Cup title.

Christian Steingraber (Sarnia Sting) - Christian made the Musketeers roster out of camp and was released mid-way through the season. He was then picked up by Des Moines and won a Clark Cup with them. He was scoreless in 42 career USHL games. He tried out for Cedar Rapids this past summer, but did not make the team. Christian has only played in 10 of Sarnia's 29 games.

Barry Sanderson (Mississauga IceDogs) - Tri-City's 18th Round Pick, 164th Overall in 2006.

Jack Combs (Saginaw Spirit) - Lancers draft pick in 2004.

Vladimir Nikiforov (Barrie Colts) - Indiana's 2004 1st round Future's Pick.

Nigel Williams (Saginaw Spirit) - Indiana's 2004 4th round Future's Pick.

Philip McRae (London Knights) - Des Moines' 17th round pick, 136th overall in 2005.

Some of these guys are just loosely linked to USHL teams, and I'm aware of that. I may decide to do something like this for pro leagues in the future.

EDIT: Thanks to my anonymous poster for giving me a heads up on a few that I missed!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

CHINOVA, Todd Quebec
Wtrl's 7th Round Pick, 72nd Overall in 2005 (USHL)

ESPOSITO, Angelo Quebec
Chi's 9th Round Pick, 89th Overall in 2005 (USHL)

TARTAGLIONE, Tommy Regina
Ice's 17th Round Pick, 139th Overall in 2005 (USHL)

KELLY, Kyle Victoriaville
Wtrl's 19th Round Pick, 163rd Overall in 2005 (USHL)

FRANCIS, Chris Portland
SF's 14th Round Pick, 121st Overall in 2006 (USHL

SANDERSON, Barry Mississauga
TriC's 18th Round Pick, 164th Overall in 2006 (USHL)

Jack Combs Saginaw
Omaha 2004

Anonymous said...

I think you missed some.....

Ryan said...

thanks, didn't realize those ones had been drafted. Shows how hard I looked.

Anonymous said...

good post......... go to hockeydb.com to find the pro, college & major a players