Cory (left) and Shaun Clouston will coach together with the Blazers for the first time in their careers (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

CLOUSTON BROTHERS

Clouston brothers embracing chance to coach together for first time in Kamloops

Oct 22, 2019 | 5:50 PM

KAMLOOPS — A week ago, Cory Clouston was at his home in Cranbrook. On Tuesday, he was on the ice at the Sandman Centre helping with Blazers practice.

“I got a phone call from my brother [Shaun Clouston] and asked if I would be interested. He didn’t give me a lot of details, but I said ‘for sure,'” said Cory.

It will be the first time Cory coaches with his older brother Shaun, who has him by a year and a half. Cory knows, especially being the younger brother, he’s the assistant, a position he last held in 2002 when the Kootenay Ice won the Memorial Cup.

He went on to be a head coach in the league, then the NHL, two and a half seasons as the bench boss in Ottawa.

“I think I’ve coaching 25 years. I’ve coached at every level — the American league, the NHL, junior — and when you’ve gone through the ringer, when you’ve done just about everything you possibly can, as far as seeing everything you possibly can, that experience. I see the game well,” noted Cory.

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Shaun says it’s amazing to be working with someone with that much coaching experience, not to mention his brother.

The Blazers have been looking for a full-time assistant since Darryl Sydor took a leave of absence earlier this month.

“I think at this level, it takes a couple full-time coaches to break down the video, to spend time with players, to work on all kinds of things you have to work on,” said Shaun.

Shaun and Cory have remained close since growing up together in Viking, Alberta. They played together one year in minor hockey with their dad as coach before playing a season on a team in Midget.

“We played our very first year. I didn’t start until I was seven, so our very first year, we have a younger brother. The three of us played on a Tom Thumb team in Viking and our dad coached,” remembered Shaun. “We did play one year of Midget together, one year after Hitch [Ken Hitchcock] left. I played one year under Ken in Sherwood Park, and when he left to come to Kamloops that next year, Cory came and we played in Sherwood Park together.”

The two are best friends and have talked hockey over the years multiple times a week. Cory had been out of coaching for two years after being fired from his head coaching job in Germany. Last year, he helped Shaun in Medicine Hat when he could.

Now working full-time together, the brothers will have to put aside any egos and family history to make it work.

“We are brothers, so we’re going to have to make sure that when we’re at the rink, we’re coaches,” said Shaun. “In the evenings or on days off, we can hammer some things out that brothers need to chat about. When we’re here at the rink, it’s real important. We’ve discussed that already. The main focus is on being coaches.”