EASTERN JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE COACHING STAFF

Head Coach EJHL/President/Owner Syracuse Stars- Don Kirnan
Don@syracusestars.net
315 -254-5229

In addition to 9 years of coaching at the Junior A and more than 15 years of coaching at the Junior B level, Coach Kirnan has been the president of the Syracuse Stars Junior Hockey Club since 1986, and has more than 25 years of innovative coaching experience. Through his involvement at the USA Olympic Development camps, and as a coach at the Olympic Festival in 1993, he has developed a system of play which enhances speed and player skill development along with the ability to play against the strongest teams, as well as advancing their skating skills and system concepts.

Coach Kirnan believes that the constant exposure to high caliber of play, along with an emphasis on education creates the ideal situation for aspiring student athletes to enhance their skills on the ice and in the classroom. Many players in the Eastern Junior Hockey league as well as the Empire Junior Hockey league advance to the next level of hockey whether it is to NCAA programs or Major Juniors.

During the past nine years, the Syracuse Stars Junior A and Junior B programs have been instrumental in securing over 12 million dollars in college scholarship awards; 6 of their players are now in the NHL; 8 have went on to play in the AHL; 12 have played in the OHL; for the past 8 years Syracuse has sent at least one player to the National Development Team, 10 overall; countless others have gone on to the USHL, Division I and Division III colleges.

This season Coach Kirnan returns to coaching Junior A and refocusing the organization on player development and placement in accordance with USA Hockey's new Standard play. Not only is he involved in working with both Junior A and Junior B players at training camps, he will constantly be involved throughout the year focusing and developing advance skills, such as scoring, defensive tactics, and goal tending. His promise is that each player will receive excellent training in both the tactical and skill part of the game.

"Junior Hockey is a great stepping stone for your hockey career and we look forward to the opportunity to show you the benefits of our organization," Coach Kirnan.

Associate Head Coach
Syracuse Stars EJHL - Scott Montagna

Scott Montagna has been involved in hockey for over 30 years. After growing up in Marquette, MI and playing for the Marquette Electricians Midget program, he played Jr. A and Jr. B hockey in the USA and Canada, including time with the then Mason City Huskies of the USHL. Other teams were Compuware in the NAHL, the Marquette Americans of the Northern Ontario Hockey League, the Yorkton Terriers of the SJHL and the Rochester Americans Jr. B Hockey Club. He played college hockey for the Oswego State Lakers.

For the last 6 years Coach Montagna has been the head coach of the Syracuse Stars 92AAA team. The 92 Stars have captured many tournaments in both the USA and Canada. The team took a bronze medal in the USA PeeWee Nationals in 2005. The Stars 92's have won 2 State Championships and 85% of their games over the past 5 Seasons. Coach Montagna's teams have been ranked as high as #1 in the country in their age group and have been in the top 10 in the USA for the past 5 years. Coach Montagna also worked with the Syracuse Stars 95's this past season taking them to their best record ever.

Besides his coaching duties with the 92 Stars winter club, Coach Montagna has been on staff with ProStar Hockey as a scout and evaluator for the past 4 years. This past season he was also a scout for the Central Scouting Branch of the USHL developed by Prospects Hockey. In 2006 he helped coached at the Empire State games in NY State where the Central team took a Bronze Medal. He has worked as an evaluator for the NY Region USA Select Camps for 4 years. He is involved at all levels in the Syracuse Stars Prospects program as a coach and coordinator and has been the VP of Player Development for MYHA for the past 3 seasons.

Coach Montagna has a firm belief in discipline and hard work leading to results on the ice and looks forward to being involved with the Syracuse Stars Junior Hockey Program

Asst. Coach
Syracuse Stars EJHL - Don Kirnan Jr.

Donny has been involved in hockey for over 30 years. He played hockey at SUNY Potsdam University and served as the Head Coach for the Empire League 2006/07 season and served as the Assistant Coach for EJHL League for the 2007/08 season.

EMPIRE JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE COACHING STAFF

Associate Head Coach
Syracuse Stars EMPIRE - John Walsh (Walshy)

The 2008 – 2009 season will be coach Walsh’s 26th season behind the bench. He has been coaching in the Stars organization for Don Kirnan since 1985 where he was an assistant coach for the Jr. B team of the New York Penn Jr hockey league. Coach Walsh or Walshy as his friends and players call him, went back to coach the Bantam 14 and under team in 2000. The team won the New York State championship and was a finalist in the Nationals that year. After the 2000 season he returned to the Jr A team of the Ontario Provincial Tier II Jr A hockey league, as an assistant coach. The following season he became the head coach, and since then has coached the Jr A team and the Jr B team on and off. This past season (07/08 ) he was the assistant coach of the Jr A team. Coach Walsh also worked with the Syracuse Crunch team from 1995 – 1999 serving under Jack McIlhargy and then Stan Symle. Coach Walsh has had several of his former players go on to play in the NHL, AHL, ECHL, SPHL, division I & division III college hockey, as well as the USA program. “My passion is to teach young hockey player’s how to develop their skills, and get them to the next level”.

Asst. Coach
Syracuse Stars EMPIRE - Jamie Huff

Coach Huff was a member of the SUNY Canton Junior College Hockey Team were he was able to experience something that very few players in any sport get to enjoy when his team won the 1992 Junior College National Hockey Championship, in Lake Placid, NY. After competing for two seasons at Canton, he completed his college as a member of the SUNY Brockport Hockey Team. In 1995, Coach Huff earned his Bachelor's Degree from SUNY Brockport.

Immediately after graduation, Coach Huff wanted to continue his involvement in the game and also wanted to give something back to the organization he grew up playing for and took a coaching position with the Syracuse Junior Stars Hockey Club. Coach Huff continued in this role for a couple of years and was forced to take a short-term leave from the game of hockey to start a family. A few short years later, Mr. Huff was blessed by the birth of his daughter Alexis.

Coach Huff was again able to resume his coaching career by accepting a position as Assistant Coach of the Cortland Flames Bantam Hockey Team. After a season with the Flames, Coach Huff accepted the position of Head Hockey Coach for the Syracuse Stars Junior B Hockey Club. Coach Huff played a major role in turning around a struggling program by returning Syracuse to the top of the Empire Junior B Hockey League. In his first two years as a head hockey coach, Coach Huff's teams finished second in the regular season standings and fell one overtime shot short of qualifying for the US National Junior Hockey Championship in the 2003-2004 campaign. Since 2004, Coach Huff once again decided to move up to the next level of coaching when he joined the Syracuse Stars Junior A Hockey Club as an assistant coach, where he continues to coach to this present day.

Asst. Coach
Syracuse Stars EMPIRE - Greg Goodnough

Asst. Coach
Syracuse Stars EMPIRE - Steve Wilson