Thursday, July 22, 2010

OKC Blazers Had The Attendance, Did They Have The Players?

After Wade Brookbank signed with Rockford, I got to thinking just how many former OKC Blazers players actually played in the AHL/IHL or NHL. The Blazers were consistently in the top 5-10 minor league hockey franchises in average attendance, but did they have the players? So I went to find out for myself. After a night of going through HockeyDB, here’s what I found.

Keep in mind that I’m only counting players who played in the AHL/IHL or NHL either while playing for the Blazers or AFTER playing for the Blazers. Listed on HockeyDB, there were 316 players that suited up for a game with the Blazers. Of those 316, there were 28* who played in at least the AHL or IHL after or while playing for the Blazers.

*Technically 29, but it didn’t feel right to include Brenden Morrow in that count for the argument that he would not have even touched a Blazers jersey had it not been for the lockout.

To take it a little bit further, I went ahead and separated the players by those who played for the Blazers before the 2000-01 season, and those who played in the 2000-01 season and beyond. Those that overlapped that line will be counted in the second group.

Those that played before the 2000-01 season:

Garrett Burnett - Played 3 games for the Blazers in the 1995-96 season. Went on to play in 261 IHL games and 39 NHL games.

Eric Dubois - Played 25 games for the Blazers in the 1992-93 season. Went on to play in 324 games in the IHL.

Sean Gorman - Played 122 games for the Blazers in three seasons from 1992-96. Played in 60 AHL and IHL games within that same period.

Jamie Hearn - Played 59 games for the Blazers in the 1992-93 season. Played in 2 IHL games with the Phoenix RoadRunners in 1996-97.

Victor Ignatjev - Played 47 games for the Blazers in the 1994-95 season. Went on to play 249 games in the IHL and 11 in the NHL.

Craig Johnson - Played 183 games for the Blazers in five seasons from 1992-99. Played in 38 games in the IHL within that span.

Chris Johnston - Played 84 games for the Blazers from 1996-99. Played in 1 IHL game for the Houston Aeros in 1998-99 season.

Paul Krake - Played 17 games for the Blazers in the 1992-93 season. Played 52 games in the AHL and IHL from 1992-97.

 Sylvain Mayer - Played 2 playoff games for the Blazers in the 1992-93 playoffs. Played 3 games in the AHL with the Cornwall Aces in 1995-96.

Steven Moore - Played 241 games for the Blazers from 1995-99. Played in 1 IHL game with the Kansas City Blades in 1999-00.

Sergei Naumov - Played 28 games for the Blazers in the 1994-95 season. Went on to play 16 IHL games.

Simon Olivier - Played 210 games for the Blazers from 1995-00. Went on to play 41 games from 1999-01.

Alan Perry - Played 112 games for the Blazers from 1992-95. Played 3 games in the IHL with the Houston Aeros in 1994-95.

Cam Severson - Played 15 games for the Blazers in 1998-99. Went on to play in 331 AHL games and 38 NHL games.

Bruce Shoebottom - Played 43 games for the Blazers in 1993-94. Played in 1 game for the Rochester Americans in 1994-95.

Steve Simoni - Played 301 games for the Blazers from 1992-98. Played in 18 in the IHL for the Houston Aeros in 1996-97.

Sergei Tkachenko - Played 16 games for the Blazers in the 1995-96 season. Played 14 games for the Syracuse Crunch in the 1995-96 season.

Those that played in 2000-01 and after:

Gregor Baumgartner - Played 6 games for the Blazers in the 2000-01 season. Went on to play 65 games in the IHL and AHL.

Wade Brookbank - Played 114 games for the Blazers from 1999-2001. Has gone on to play in 352 games in the IHL and AHL and has played in 127 NHL games.

Sebastien Centomo - Played 52 games for the Blazers from 2005-07. Played 12 AHL games with the Manitoba Moose in the 2005-06 season.

Justin Chwedoruk - Played 54 games for the Blazers in the 2005-06 season. Went on to play 3 games with the Springfield Falcons in the 2007-08 season.

Shawn Germain - Played 55 games for the Blazers in the 2005-06 season. Played one game with the Hershey Bears in 2006-07.

Jason Goulet - Played 108 games for the Blazers from 2004-06. Played in 8 games with Bridgeport in 2006-07.

Brad Herauf - Played 79 games for the Blazers from 2003-05. Has played in 91 AHL games with the Albany River Rats the last two seasons.

Brant Nicklin - Played 19 games for the Blazers in the 2000-01 season. Played one game with the Milwaukee Admirals in 2002-03.

Reagan Rome - Played in 1 playoff game for the Blazers in the 2001-02 season. Played in 42 AHL games from 2004-07.

Hardy Sauter - Played 590 games for the Blazers from 1996-05. Played in 1 IHL game with the Houston Aeros in 1996-97.

Marty Standish - Played 445 games for the Blazers from 2000-09. Played in 18 AHL games in the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons.

Random Stats: 11 of the 28 players played in less than 10 AHL/IHL games. Bump it up to 20 games and the number is 16 of the 28.-- There were only 11 players that played for the team after the turn of the century. Standish is the only one that played for the Blazers after 2007, but it has been 8 years since he played in the AHL. -- The four players that have played in the NHL combined for 251 games played, 10 goals, and 6 assists.

This goes to show just how much of a higher level of hockey is coming to Oklahoma City.

-Written by Eric Rodgers-

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