THUNDER BAY – When the Thunder Bay North Stars take the ice this fall, it'll be a different looking club than the one that had clinched top spot when the pandemic shut down the Superior International Junior Hockey League in March 2020.
Eight 20-year-olds from last season are gone, aging out unceremoniously with their team on the sidelines unable to play due to restrictions put in place by the province.
Jett Leishman, Jacob Anttonen, Austin and Ryley Cardinal, Michael Vecchio, Liam Tivers and goalies Jacob Stone and Seth McKay won't be back, leaving plenty of questions for coach Rob DeGagne as training camp approaches next month.
“We've got a little bit of a rebuild to do on the front end. Our back end should be good and our goaltending. We've got some key guys coming back up front and we've got some guys signed from out of town, from the Toronto area and a couple of guys from the B.C. area,” said DeGagne, hours before his team claimed the first annual North Stars Golf Classic at Fort William Country Club last Thursday.
While it was tough to recruit this past season, with so many leagues shuttered, DeGagne said his team isn't alone in that respect.
Everyone's in the same boat and luckily there are lots of kids out there looking for a place to play, he added.
“It’s just a matter of taking the right ones,” DeGagne said.
“We’ve got until really January to build a team that we want. You’ve got to have some bricks in place. We’re not in a panic to get guys just to get guys. We want good quality guys and if it takes us a little bit longer, so be it.”
DeGagne, who took over the North Stars prior to the 2017-18 campaign, said he feels bad that the players who graduated from junior didn’t really get the chance to go out on the ice. The North Stars did get in a handful of meaningful games last season, but the team did not return to the ice following the Christmas break, the province instituting a lockdown on Boxing Day that did not lift in time to allow league play.
SIJHL commissioner Darrin Nicholas was left with no choice but to cancel the remainder of the season as the shutdown kept extending.
“It’s hard on those kids for sure,” DeGagne said.
The North Stars hope to hold a camp in mid- to late August and are in negotiations with the city to determine if ice time will be available. If not, they’ll hold camp at the Fort William First Nation arena.
DeGagne added they’re hoping to find some local talent at the camp, noting their new recruits are all from out of town.
