New era begins

Todd Howarth held the reins of the Thunder Bay North Stars for nine-and-a-half seasons.

Lonny Bohonos has held them for two days. Already he's promising changes.

The 38-year-old former NHLer took over the once mighty North Stars, a perennial powerhouse in the Superior International Junior Hockey League that has fallen on tough times in 2011-12 – at least by the lofty standards ex-coach Howarth and company set in the mid-2000s.

Mired in third place in the standings and inconsistent on the ice, Bohonos said turning the ship around this late in the season will be challenging, to say the least.

But he plans to do it his way.

"I look at it as great opportunity. Obviously (Todd) has a great track record and it's sad to see that anybody gets let go. But we have to move forward here with systems that teach the kids to play the way I want them to play the game," said Bohonos, best known for a 1999 playoff run with the Toronto Maple Leafs when he scored nine points in nine games, helping lead Toronto to the conference final.

He's not sure how the team will react to his way of doing things, having played under a disciplinarian like Howarth for so long.

The circumstances under which Howarth was summarily dismissed on Sunday, after leading the Stars to three straight wins will hit each player hard, some harder than others, Bohonos said.

"I don't know. Everybody's going to react differently. Like I said, we have to move forward. Obviously they've got a new coach. As a former player I've seen it done and witnessed it. It's never fun to see anybody get let go," Bohonos said.

"I don't know if anybody has had that happen to them before, but we are looking forward to (the rest of the season). We've got a great team and we get to host the Dudley Hewitt Cup."

Goalie Marc Nother, who Howarth brought to Thunder Bay earlier this season from the Wellington Dukes, said the past few days have been tough.

"Yeah, I mean all the boys, we all loved Howie. He was a great coach. He was definitely a player's coach for us. But I think we're excited to see what the future brings," said Nother, elected by his teammates to speak to the media after captain Sam Dubinsky, whose father David is a co-owner of the team and helped usher Howarth out, respectfully declined.

"I'm too beat up by this," the younger Dubinsky said.

The club initially told media Howarth had left for personal reasons, which Howarth later disputed in published reports.

The wiping clean of the North Stars coaching and management slate was thorough. In addition to Howarth, assistant coach Jason Firth is no longer with the SIJHL club, and general manager Trevor Lang was let go and picked up by the Fort Frances Lakers to be their director of scouting. Assistant coach Rob Varrin is staying on, with Gord Wilson added as the second assistant under Bohonos.

Nother has high hopes for his new coach, as the Stars get set for their first game under his tutelage on Wednesday night against the all-powerful Wisconsin Wilderness, the No. 4-ranked junior A team in the country, a squad that's lost all of five games this season.

"I think he's going to bring some good things to the table. I think we're going to stick to the same game though. I'm not sure exactly what to expect, but I think it's going to be OK."

Bohonos spent about three years with the Thunder Bay Kings organization after retiring in 2006, where he coached 14 of the current players on the North Stars roster. That should help make the transition a little easier, said Bohonos, who wants to win his way into the Dudley Hewitt Cup, even though as hosts the Stars have an automatic bye.

"Hopefully that can rub off on some of the other kids and it's an easy transition for them. Like I told the kids yesterday, for me it doesn't matter if you're a first-year kid or a fourth- or fifth-year player, you're all going to get an opportunity to play and we'll from there.

Star gazing: Howarth's son Isaac will stay with the Stars, despite his father's departure ... Forward Bradley Cox expects to miss a couple of weeks with a shoulder injury suffered against Iron Range on the weekend ... Sioux Lookout's Chris Hoffman was named player of the week ... Howarth, who took over the team from Dave Simpson at the start of the 2002-03 season, was 379-94-14-23 behind the bench.