Muskegon Lumberjacks announce hiring of new head coach John LaFontaine
By @MichaelCaples –
The Muskegon Lumberjacks have announced that they will have a new head coach behind the bench next season.
The United States Hockey League franchise has tabbed Michigan native John LaFontaine to be the team’s new head coach.
A Pontiac native, LaFontaine told MiHockey in an exclusive interview that he excited to join general manager John Vanbiesbrouck and second-year team owner Dan Israel in Muskegon.
“I’m very excited,” LaFontaine said. “I’m very excited to join the Muskegon Lumberjacks team and very impressed with Dan and I’ve known John for many years. I couldn’t be more excited to join their organization and I’m looking forward to help the team and work with them.”
LaFontaine, who previously coached the Wichita Falls (Texas) Wildcats of the North American Hockey League, replaces Todd Krygier.
It’s been a long journey for LaFontaine, whose coaching career started back in 1992.
“I was actually working for Chrysler when I first got the opportunity to coach – that was with the Detroit Freeze. Then I coached at Compuware and then in Canada with the Windsor Bulldogs. Then I went up to Lake State and coached at Lake State for two years, then joined the Soo Indians for another two. I was hoping to get back to being a head coach, so I got the opportunity to coach the Bozeman Icedogs out in Montana when that opened up. I spent seven years out there.
“Seven years with Bozeman, and those seven years – we ended up selling the team and selling our facility. They retrofitted into a cargo distributor called Beverage Storage so there was no more team in Bozeman – that’s when I went to Shattuck St. Mary’s and coached there for seven years. I had a chance to coach a lot of high-end players at Shattuck. And then these last two years have been with Wichita Falls, the Wildcats down there.”
He enjoyed his time in Texas, however.
“It was great,” LaFontaine said. “Just a great ownership, a great fan base, friendly community. I really enjoyed Texas, I really enjoyed our time there. Might be the friendliest people we’ve met – southern hospitality was great.”
LaFontaine said he wants his new team to be strong with the puck.
“The game’s changed. We want to play a puck possession game and we want our players to make plays.”
Krygier, who guided the Lumberjacks to their first-ever appearance in the USHL Clark Cup Finals in 2014, spent the last three seasons as head coach of the Lumberjacks.
“We make this move with a heavy heart, but believe this is the right move for the development of our players,” said Israel in a release. “We are passionate about Muskegon, our position in the hockey community, and look forward to building the best organization in Junior Hockey.”