600 wins in, Blazers’ Clouston has found a home in Kamloops

“Yeah, that is cool,” said Clouston, head coach and general manager of the Kamloops Blazers. “You know, I feel that in my heart. It’s just rewarding to feel like maybe we were a little bit of a part of that.”

Clouston, 57, is one of five head coaches to reach 600 wins, joining the exclusive club on Nov. 28, when his Blazers edged the Spokane Chiefs 5-4 at Sandman Centre.

“The thing that stands out to me is just all those relationships – connections, players, teammates, people you’ve coached with, people that you’ve coached against and got to know a little bit,” Clouston said, noting he received texts from across the hockey world. “It’s a neat feeling to look back and say, ‘Wow, it has been quite a while.'”

Clouston, with 602 wins, is chasing Lorne Molleken (626), Wenatchee Wild head coach Don Nachbaur (726), Ken Hodge (742) and Don Hay (752).

The longevity and success is remarkable considering the brevity of his first head coaching gig in the league.

He was fired partway through his first season with the Tri-City Americans, jettisoned in February of 2003.

“It was terrifying,” Clouston said. “I had a young family. What are we going to do next?

“It was hard on the ego and if you hang on to that, I don’t think you can learn. I had to learn some things from that.”

Clouston was either an assistant coach or associate coach for the Medicine Hat Tigers under head coach Willie Desjardins from 2003-2004 to 2009-2010, winning a pair of WHL titles during that stint.

When he took over as head coach for the Tigers in time for the 2010-2011 season, he was armed with experience and lessons learned from his downfall in Tri-City, with one chief among them.

“It’s really clear – I wasn’t able to establish relationships with the older guys,” said Clouston, a forward for the Portland Winterhawks from 1986 to 1989, captaining the club for two seasons. “I learned that it’s absolutely crucial to connect with the older players, the leaders, and make sure they’re helping you and you’re helping them. It really becomes a team thing. It’s all of us.”

Clouston was the Tigers’ all-time leader in coaching wins at the time of his dismissal in 2019 and quick to find work in Kamloops, joining the Blazers in time for the 2019-2020 campaign.

One of his first calls was to mental performance coach Bob Wilkie and together, Clouston said, they began the process of assessing the leadership group and establishing relationships with every player on the roster.

Clouston said leaders at the time included Connor Zary, Brodi Stuart and Zane Franklin.

Through phone calls and meetings, Clouston and Wilkie discovered there was a divide between the younger and older players on the team, along with friction between Zary and Franklin.

Working through those issues was among the first steps to establishing the culture that exists now on Mark Recchi Way, he said.

“It’s not always easy, but for the vast majority of them [the players], I think the overall feel is that it’s a good environment,” Clouston said. “It’s a healthy environment. It’s engaging. It’s vibrant. We set that tone or bar early. We’re going to value the players. Everybody’s got their own stuff and we’re going to try to see through that and work with the players individually, building trust.”

The Blazers have had eight head coaches (Guy Charron twice), three of whom were fired mid-season and replaced by an interim bench boss, since the Tom Gaglardi ownership group took over prior to the 2007-2008 campaign.

Clouston, the longest-tenured of the bunch, led the Blazers to the B.C. Division title in each of his first four seasons, the run of success culminating in 2023, when Kamloops hosted and placed fourth at the Memorial Cup.

The Blazers – who missed the post-season in 2024 and 2025 – are approaching the WHL holiday break in the 2025-2026 campaign sitting sixth in Western Conference standings, with a record of 14-12-2-3.

Clouston said he is not driven by the chase for his elusive first WHL title as a head coach.

“Maybe I should be,” said Clouston, a gold-medal-winning coach on multiple Hockey Canada staffs. “I don’t know. Those thoughts come into my head. Would it be nice and awesome? Yeah, of course, and yet I don’t think about it a lot. I try to think about what I need to do today. Balance in life is really important. Family and quiet time and relationships are all extremely important. We forget that in like 100 years from now, it’s not really going to matter. I try to enjoy each day as much as I can, try not to get too caught up in the stressful parts. If you do your best and players do their best, if you build good relationships, if you max out potential, the result will be what it’s supposed to be.”

Clouston was asked about his position near the top of the all-time wins list.

“There are two sides to that,” he said. “If you have a little bit more success, you’re not here, right? If there was more success or earlier success, you have opportunities to move up. There has to be a level of inner confidence – extreme confidence – to get there. Early on, if I’m honest with myself, that was missing. Ironically, in a sense, I would say in recent years I’ve felt like I could do this and I haven’t got any phone calls and that’s fine. On the flipside, I’m really grateful.”

Clouston said he belongs in Kamloops.

“It’s the way it’s supposed to be,” Clouston said, noting his appreciation for longtime staff members and current and former coaching partners. “Right now, I’m really, really enjoying it. I’m enjoying everything. I’m enjoying my family. I’m enjoying the city.”

Clouston said he does not spend time wallowing in regret.

“I do things that maybe I regret at the time,” Clouston said. “You kind of kick yourself. Then, a few years later, you’re like, ‘Wow, that wasn’t that bad,’ or, ‘I needed to learn that.’ It almost turns into gratitude because if that didn’t happen, the next part wouldn’t have happened. I wouldn’t have ended up in Kamloops.”

If Clouston, from Viking, Alta., sticks with the Blazers for a few more seasons, he can catch one of Kamloops’ favourite sons in his hometown.

He needs 150 wins to catch Hay.

“If that were to happen, it would be terrific,” Clouston said. “I have no objections to being here. I feel good. I think I’ve overcome some things. Lots of stories, lots of memories. I’ve learned lots. I can help create an environment that’s really conducive to players developing and getting better.””

by Marty Hastings

600 wins in, Blazers’ Clouston has found a home in Kamloops

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