It's time for another season of professional hockey, at least for everyone but the National Hockey League. At the time of this posting the NHL players were considering the most recent offer from management to end the lockout.

A lot has happened since the last Pro Hockey Notes, some good things, some tragic.

First, the good. Former Golden Knight Willie Mitchell became the third member of Clarkson's 1997 recruiting class to win a Stanley Cup championship, joining classmates Erik Cole, who won one with the Carolina Hurricanes, and Kent Huskins, who won one with the Anaheim Ducks.

Mitchell was the first player on the Los Angeles Kings to be handed the Cup after captain Dustin Brown accepted it from commissioner Gary Bettman.

Mitchell takes the Stanley Cup to his hometown

There also was sadness in the Clarkson community in June when former Golden Knight Bryan Rufenach, who was a teammate of some current members of the squad, died in an accident while on a trip to Switzerland. Rufenach, who was only 23, was electrocuted.

Rufenach Tribute

As the current season begins the goal this week is merely to inform where former Clarkson players are playing this season. Starting next week I will begin tracking stats for each league in a cycle. The order will be NHL (if and when it begins), AHL, Europe plus (which includes ECHL and every other pro hockey league) and Future Watch (which looks at how Clarkson's recruits are doing).

So here is the current status of the former Golden Knights in pro hockey as the 2012-13 season begins:

NHL

Erik Cole, Montreal Canadiens

Willie Mitchell, Los Angeles Kings

Grant Clitsome, Winnipeg Jets

Kent Huskins, no team

Randy Jones, no team

AHL

Steve Zalewski, Albany

David Leggio, Rochester

Mark Borowiecki, Binghamton

Brandon DeFazio, Bridgeport

ECHL

Shawn Weller, South Carolina

Matt Beca, Florida

Paul Karpowich, Evansville

Nick Tremblay, Greenville

Corey Tamblyn, Idaho

Jake Morley, Idaho

Julien Cayer, Reading

Europe, Asia

Scott Freeman, Ljlbljana Olimpija HK, Austria

Chris D'Alvise, Ljlbljana Olimpija HK, Austria

Phil Paquet, Frederikshaun, Denmark

Chris Blight, Cardiff Devils, Wales

Mac Faulkner, Cardiff Devils, Wales

Shea Guthrie, Coventry Blaze, England

David Cayer, Strasbourg, France

Rob McFeeters, China Dragon

Dave Reid, Hannover Indians, Germany

Jay Latulippe, Chamonix, France

Louke Oakley, Kaufbeuren, Germany

*NOTE: If you know of any players missing from this list contact me at ccarey@wdt.net. Lauri Tuohimaa recently retired from the Finnish league and has become an agent.

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