THUNDER BAY – Following a mostly lost hockey season, the Thunder Bay Kings have turned their focus to the 2021-22 campaign, on Wednesday announcing the coaches for all four of their teams.
Joe Ritson has been tagged to lead the under-13 squad, while Matt Simeoni will guide the under-15 team. Former NHLer Lonny Bohonos will take on the reins of the under-16 team, while Jeff Ricciardi returns for a second season with the under-18 club.
Ritson, who played for the Kings organization before heading off to the University of Denver to play for Thunder Bay’s George Gwozdecky, spent four seasons in the minor pros, including a 17-game stint with the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League in 2002-03.
The 42-year-old has been coaching in AA for the past several seasons.
Simeoni is also an alumnus of the Kings program, the goaltender on the organization’s first West Regional-winning team that played at the Air Canada Cup in 1992 in Dartmouth, N.S., winning a silver medal.
A former draft pick of the Ontario Hockey League’s Ottawa 67s, he’s a long-time coach in Thunder Bay who coached the Kings under-13 team last season.
Bohonos, who played 83 games and parts of five seasons with the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs, is probably best known for putting up nine points in nine games during Toronto’s second-round playoff run in 1999 – though it marked the end of his NHL career.
The Winnipeg-born 47-year-old went on to play several seasons in Europe before retiring in 2006, later moving to Thunder Bay.
In 1993-94 he led the Western Hockey League in goals, assists and points and was named a Canadian Hockey League first-team all star.
Bohonos has been a long-time supporter of the Kings program, serving both behind the bench and on the executive.
Finally, Ricciardi is back for Year 2 with the under-18 team.
A 14-year pro who turns 50 in June, Ricciardi was a stay-at-home defenceman who enjoyed success in the ECHL, the IHL and also in Germany and Italy, retiring after the 2007-08 campaign. He also played with the Thunder Bay Bombers in 2005, winning the Allan Cup and is currently a scout for the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves.
The Kings U15, U16 and U18 teams are slated to play in the Greater Toronto Hockey League in 2021-22. The league did not play this past season due to COVID-19. The U13 team’s opponents will be determined at a later date.
The teams will announce full coaching staff once they are finalized.
