Clouston charges full steam ahead with Blazers

Blazers head coach Shaun Clouston checks out his notepad.

    Shaun Clouston has always looked towards the opportunity that lies ahead.

    After he was released as head coach and general manager of the Medicine Hat Tigers on May 30 so the Tigers could bring back Willie Desjardins into both roles one day later, Clouston wasn’t sitting on the outside looking in for long as far as the WHL was concerned.

    On June 17, the 51-year-old Viking, Alta., product was hired as the head coach of the Kamloops Blazers. Clouston found himself taking over a team that was one the rise and appeared to be nearing a position to take off.

    Last season, the Blazers finished locked in a tie for the final playoff berth in the WHL’s Western Conference with the Kelowna Rockets as both teams sported identical 28-32-6-2 records.

    The Blazers proceeded to down the Rockets 5-1 in a standings tiebreaker game in Kamloops. After getting passed the Rockets, the Blazers put up a fight before falling 4-2 in a best-of-seven first round playoff series to the Victoria Royals.

The Blazers celebrate a goal from Daylan Kuefler, centre.

    Serge Lajoie, who was the Blazers head coach, mutually parted ways with the club on April 11, which created a head coaching vacancy.

    Clouston stepped into that role and there has been no looking back.

    On Friday before 3,517 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the Blazers downed the host Saskatoon Blades 5-2 in a WHL regular season contest.

    That win allowed the Blazers to improve to 20-9-2-1 to continue to sit first in the B.C. Division, while the Blades fell to 14-15-1-2 posting three regulation setbacks and an overtime loss over their last four games.

    Thanks to the Blazers strong start, Clouston became the 17^th bench boss in the history of the WHL to pick up a milestone 400^th career regular season win. He picked up the milestone victory on Oct. 25, when the Blazers downed the Royals in Victoria 2-1.

Ryan Hughes had a goal for the Blazers on Friday.

    “It has been really good,” said Clouston. “It is always challenging to have change.

    “I’ve been in one spot for so long, it was 16 years, so it was a big move. It has been very enjoyable right from kind of the first meeting with (Blazers general manager) Matt Bardsley I felt real comfortable. I felt like it was going to be a good spot.

    “Then, I met Donny Moores our president and got the same sense. Ever since I accepted the job, it has been eyes forward and get excited about the opportunity instead of looking in the rear view mirror, and it has been great.”
    As the season has gone on, Clouston was joined on the Blazers staff by his younger brother, Cory, who became a Blazers assistant coach.

    With Friday’s win, Shaun Clouston improved his career regular season coaching record to 411-290-52. He was the head coach of the Tri-City Americans in 2002-03, but was released after 60 games, when the Americans posted a record of 16 wins, 39 losses and five ties.

Connor Zary had a goal and an assist for the Blazers on Friday.

    He joined the Tigers as an assistant coach under Desjardins before the start of the 2003-04 campaign and would spend the next 16 seasons in the Hat.

    Clouston was promoted to associate coach before the start of the 2005-06 campaign. Working with Desjardins, Clouston experienced WHL championship victories with the Tigers in 2004 and 2007.

    Before the start of the 2010-11 season, Clouston took over the role of head coach, when Desjardins departed to become the associate coach of the NHL’s Dallas Stars.

    In August of 2012, Clouston took on the duties as Tigers general manager to go along with his duties as head coach. He held both roles until his separation with the Medicine Hat side.

Max Martin gives the Blazers WHL title winning experience.

    Clouston proceeded to find a comfortable landing spot in Kamloops, and he is enjoying his time in the B.C. centre.

    “It is a great city,” said Clouston. “Obviously, I have visited there a number of times as a coach over the years.

    “I have some good memories of my playing days.”

    One of those memories came when Clouston played in his final season in the WHL back in the 1988-89 campaign as captain of the Portland Winterhawks. In those days, the WHL was a 14-team circuit as opposed to the 22-team circuit of the current day.

    Back in 1988-89, the Winterhawks were part of the six-team West Division, and they played the Blazers frequently.

Captain Zane Franklin gives the Blazers strong leadership.

    In the playoffs, the Winterhawks downed the Blazers in a best-of-nine West Division final 5-3 to advance to the WHL Championship series. In the best-of-seven WHL final, the Winterhawks were swept by the eventual Memorial Cup champion Swift Current Broncos.

    When the Winterhawks eliminated the Blazers in the West Division final, the series clinching win came in Kamloops.

    “I remember coming in the night before,” said Clouston. “I remember going to movies.

    “I remember spending a lot of time in Kamloops. I always thought it was a nice city. I got to spend some time there in August with my family.

    “We did lots of site seeing and hiking and exploring. It is a real nice part of the world.”

Rayce Ramsay made 28 saves in goal for the Blazers on Friday.

    Besides doing some site seeing, Clouston spent some time getting to getting to know the players he was inheriting. He accomplished a lot of that over the phone, but was able to meet some of the players in person too.

    On the ice, the style Clouston’s Blazers play a style that is pretty much a carbon copy of the Tigers teams he oversaw.

    The Blazers like to transition up the ice with speed and skill. Skilled forwards like star centre Connor Zary and left-winger Orrin Centazzo are utilized on the penalty kill with the hope they will be able to create turnovers and score a short-handed tallies to go along with killing off infractions.

Montana Onyebuchi gives the Blazers back end toughness.

    Kamloops has the best penalty kill in the league at 87.6 per cent and has scored the second most short-handed goals at seven.

    “I think we are a team that is growing,” said Clouston. “I think we have some potential.”

    Zary, who is in his 18-year-old campaign, is the Blazers most well-known star, while Clouston added that overage left-winger Ryan Hughes has been a big early season trade pick up from the Blades.

    Clouston said overage captain Zane Franklin has been stellar for the Kamloops side and the Blazers have greatly benefited by picking up overage defenceman Max Martin in an early season trade with the Prince Albert Raiders.

    Martin was a key contributor to helping the Raiders finish first overall in the WHL regular season standings and capture the WHL championship last season.

    “I think we have real good leadership,” said Clouston. “I think Zane Franklin is a guy that is real confident and keeps the guys on task.

    “Max Martin is a guy that he has been through it. He knows how to win. If you watch him play, he is just steady.

Blazers HC Shaun Clouston gives direction to his players.

    “He has patience, he has poise (and) he competes. If there something to be said, he says it. He has been really, really big for us.”

    As for Friday’s game itself, the Blazers broke through at the 6:29 mark of the opening frame, when rookie 17-year-old left-winger Daylan Kuefler snuck a weird angle goal past Blades star netminder Nolan Maier. Kuefler’s goal came on his team’s second shot of the game.

    The Blades evened things up at 1-1 with 4:41 remaining in the second period on a controversial tally. Breaking into the offensive zone down the right wing, Blades winger Tristen Robins toe dragged around a Blazers defenceman and sent a pass to linemate Alex Morozoff.

Daylan Kuefler jets up ice for the Blazers.

    Morozoff directed the puck into the Saskatoon goal with his foot, but the goal stood up after a video review.

    The game didn’t stay on even terms for long. With 1:52 remaining in the third, Centazzo chipped the puck up to Zary.

    Zary, who is a Saskatoon product, got partially in alone on the Saskatoon goal and potted his 20^th tally of the season to give the visitors a 2-1 edge.

    At the 2:48 mark of the third, Hughes collected a high loose puck at the left side of the Saskatoon goal and potted his 14^th tally of the campaign to give Kamloops a 3-1 advantage.

Orrin Centazzo, right, celebrates his short-handed goal.

    Centazzo scored an even-strength tally and a short-handed marker to put the visitors up 5-1.

    Blades right-winger Zach Huber netted the game’s final goal with 1:36 remaining in the third to round out the 5-2 final in the Blazers’ favour.

    Huber also engaged rugged Blazers defenceman Montana Onyebuchi with 11.2 seconds remaining in the third period.

    Zary had an assist to go along with his goal and was a plus-two in the plus-minus department as he played his first game back with the Blazers one day after being cut from make the final roster for Canada’s world junior team.

    Clouston expected Zary to have a big night after being cut by Team Canada.

    “He has responded a bunch of times,” said Clouston. “He has a lot going for him this season, a lot to prove.

    “It is a big year for him, and he is handling it great. He is a competitor. He plays with passion.

    “He shows up and competes every night.”

Blades RW Zach Huber fights Blazers D Montana Onyebuchi.

    Maier stopped 22 shots to take the setback in goal for the Blades. Saskatoon product Rayce Ramsay turned away 28 shots to pick up the win in net for the Blazers.

    Ramsay, who is the Blazers backup goalie, picked up his third win of the campaign in seven appearances. Clouston was pleased with how the WHL rookie netminder performed on Friday.

    “He (Ramsay) has a couple of shutouts at home, but he has struggled a little bit on the road,” said Clouston. “He needed this one.

    “We needed him to be good especially early. It was really nice to see him be rewarded. There have been some challenging stretches for him, and it was a big night for him in front of his hometown crowd.”

    The Blazers travel to Prince Albert on Saturday to face the defending WHL champion Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre). 

Quinn Schmiemann controls the puck on the back end for the Blazers.

    That contest will be the Raiders “Teddy Bear Toss” game, so those attending the game in P.A. will be able to throw stuffed toys on the ice when the Raiders score their first goal.

    The Blades return to action on Sunday, when they host the Raiders at 4 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.      That contest will be the Blades “Teddy Bear Toss” game, so those attending the contest in Saskatoon will be able to throw stuffed toys on the ice when the Blades score their first goal.

    The items collected at the “Teddy Bear Toss” games on both centres will be distributed to local hospitals and charities in their respective centres.

    When the Blazers play in Prince Albert, it will be the final stop on a six-game road trip playing all of the WHL’s East Division teams. The Blazers players from Saskatchewan and Alberta have had a large contingent of family and friends following them on this swing.
    While there is still a long way to go in the current campaign, Clouston said the club’s current road swift has been a great team building experience.

The Blazers celebrate their win on Friday night.

    “I think the guys really enjoy it,” said Clouston. “We have lots of friends and family at all the games.

    “I think it gives us a little spark and jump. Sometimes you worry that guys will try to be too fancy or too creative, but no, we’ve done a real good job. The guys are excited to be out here even though it is minus 30 C or whatever it is.

    “They are enjoying it. They are having some fun. It has been a good trip.”

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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