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Tigers camp one week away.
COLLIN GALLANT
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It’s been six years since Shaun
Clouston was a head coach in the Western Hockey League.
He’ll become one again this season
in his old stomping grounds.
The Medicine Hat Tigers associate coach
will lead the Tigers on the team’s pre-Christmas road trip to
the U.S. Division while head coach Willie Desjardins takes leave to
work with the national junior program.
The Tigers’ biennual trip south of
the border includes a late afternoon game in Kennewick, Wash.
against the Tri-City Americans — the club that hired and
fired Clouston from his first junior head coaching job in early
2003.
"I haven’t given it a whole lot of
thought," said Clouston, whose sights are set on the opening day of
Tigers training camp, Thursday, August 21.
"It’s been a long time, this is year
No. 6 here for me... We’ve been there twice and the first
time back, there was some emotion... To be honest there’s a
little more emotion for me going back to Portland."
Clouston, a former Winter Hawks player and
assistant coach, will also guide the Tigers into Portland on the
five-game December swing that also visits the defending regular
season champions in Tri-City and defending WHL and Memorial Cup
champion Chiefs in Spokane.
After a seven-year playing career,
Clouston coached minor-pro hockey for five seasons in the
Southeastern U.S., then joined Portland for a one-year stint as an
assistant coach in 2001-02.
He moved to Tri-City as head coach the
following year, but with the Ams struggling with a 16-39-2 record,
Clouston became the fourth coach in four years to feel the axe in
Kennewick.
Clouston joined the Tigers in that
off-season to take over from the departed Doug Lidster.
"My focus is here now," said Clouston.
"It’s been great at every step.
Desjardins is expected to leave the team
in early December to Ottawa where the final World Junior team
selection camp will be held.
The Ottawa based tournament gets underway
on Boxing Day and concludes with the gold medal game on Jan. 5,
2009.
The Tigers will play 13 games over that
time span.
The Tigers face four of the five U.S..
Division teams in December, and will return in late January to face
the Seattle Thunderbirds of Kent.
That game should be played in the
T-Birds’ new downtown, 6,025-seat rink in the Seattle suburb
of Kent.
The Tigers will open the season with a
three game road trip starting Sept. 19 at Edmonton. The home opener
is set for Sat., Sept. 27 against the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Also of note, the Tigers will host the
Kootenay Ice in a holiday matinee on Thanksgiving Day, Monday, Oct.
13.
Tigers rookie training camp will begin
with on-ice sessions on Friday, Aug. 22 at the Arena.
Veterans are expected to report on
Wednesday, Aug. 27 and the team will head to Edmonton for the Oil
Kings tournament the following Friday.
The Tigers will face the Regina Pats and
the Oil Kings on the Labour Day longweek.
The Tigers also face the Saskatoon Blades
and Swift Current Broncos, both in Saskatoon, on Sept. 6 and 7,
respectively. |
