If it's to restrict the overall size, then I would be persistent and continually remove leaves throughout the season, that said it will remove much of the vigor of the tree, but you can gauge the amount of energy removed throughout the growing season. Because you are so far north, you will have many more daylight hours during the summer, so I'd be more forceful with leaf removal earlier in the season to time the new growth flushes with the longer days.
I would definitely say timing will be important if you combine leaf stripping with branch pruning/thinning. As it's going to remove a lot of energy from the tree to do either, so staggering them would produce better results, like strip leaves in spring, thin branches in fall.
Leaf stripping doesn't always generate a branch, more so if the stripped branch is in a bare, exposed area, but it's consistent at producing flowers.
When I strip leaves, I don't head back the branches unless I'm pruning for scions.
You can stagger stripping to try to have better timing, but I've never noticed a benefit to doing so, as most buds produce multiple blooms.
That said, I'd make sure if that is the plan to strip the leaves further up the branch earlier, that way the male flowers are on the thinner portion of the branch around the time the female flowers are on the thicker portions that could support a large cherimoya fruit.