(Image credit: CFJC Today/File photo).

By Aaron Schulze

Hay is Back

Former Blazers head coach Don Hay returns to Kamloops as associate coach

Aug 2, 2022 | 8:24 AM

KAMLOOPS — A familiar face is back behind the Kamloops Blazers’ bench.

In a news release Tuesday (Aug. 2) morning, the Blazers announced they’ve hired Don Hay as an associate coach ahead of the 2022-23 Western Hockey League (WHL) season.

Hay, a Kamloops local, began his coaching career with the Blazers in 1985-86. He is the winningest coach in WHL history with 750 careers wins, four Memorial Cups – including three with the Blazers – and seven WHL championships as a head or assistant coach.

Following the Blazers’ 1995 Memorial Cup win, Hay served in various coaching roles with the Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames, and Tri-City Americans in the NHL, the Utah Grizzlies in the American Hockey League, and the Vancouver Giants and Tri-City Americans in the WHL. Hay returned to the Blazers as head coach in 2014-15 before departing following the 2017-18 WHL season. He spent the previous four seasons as an assistant and associate coach with the Portland Winterhawks.

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Additionally, the Blazers announced they’ve extended the contract of Shaun Clouston, the team’s general manager and head coach. Clouston has been the Blazers’ head coach since 2019-20 and took over as general manager in 2021-22.

A news conference featuring Clouston and Hay will be held Tuesday morning from Sandman Centre.