Cory Clouston (; born September 19, 1969) is an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

coach, who most recently served as head coach of the

Kölner Haie The Kölner Haie (English: ''Cologne Sharks'') are an ice hockey club based in Cologne, Germany, that plays in the professional Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). The team was one of the founding members of the DEL. The ''Kölner Haie'' play their ho ...

of the

DEL Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes ...

. He has previously served as head coach of the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. The Senators compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Di ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL), the

Binghamton Senators The Binghamton Senators were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that played from 2002 to 2017. Nicknamed the B-Sens, they played in Binghamton, New York, at the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena. The B-Sens w ...

of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

(AHL), the

Prince Albert Raiders The Prince Albert Raiders are a Canadian major junior ice hockey team based in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Founded in 1971 as a member of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, the Raiders have been members of the Western Hockey League since 198 ...

, the

Brandon Wheat Kings The Brandon Wheat Kings are a Canadians, Canadian major junior ice hockey team based in Brandon, Manitoba. Founded in 1936, the team was for three decades a successful junior team playing principally in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. The Whe ...

and the

Kootenay Ice The Kootenay Ice (officially stylized as ICE) were a Canadian major junior ice hockey team based in Cranbrook, British Columbia, competing in the Western Hockey League (WHL) and playing its home games at Western Financial Place. The franchise, ...

of the Western Hockey League.

Playing career

Born in

Viking, Alberta Viking () is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is at the intersection of Alberta Highway 14, Highway 14 (Poundmaker Trail) and Alberta Highway 36, Highway 36 (Veterans Memorial Highway), approximately east of Edmonton. The town also lends ...

, Clouston attended the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...

from 1989–1993 where he earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in recreation administration. He played hockey for the University's Golden Bears team and was a member of the 1991–92

Canadian Interuniversity Sport U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body for universities in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country and four regional conferences: Ontario University Athletics (OUA), Résea ...

championship squad.

Early coaching career

Clouston's first coaching position was as an assistant coach with the

Powell River Paper Kings The Powell River Kings are a junior ice hockey team based in Powell River, British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Coastal Conference of the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL). They play their home games at Hap Parker Arena. History ...

of the British Columbia Junior Hockey League in 1994-95. He then served as

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

and head coach of the

Grande Prairie Storm The Grande Prairie Storm is a junior A ice hockey team in the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) based in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada, with home games at Bonnetts Energy Centre. History The organization was founded in 1966 as the Junior ...

of the

Alberta Junior Hockey League The Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) is an Alberta-based Junior A ice hockey league that belongs to the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL). It was formed as a five-team league in 1964. The 2023–24 season began with 16 teams, however 5 ...

. During his tenure with the Storm, the team compiled a .627 winning percentage (143-82-15) and he was named AJHL coach of the year in 1995-96. He joined the staff of the

of the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior hocke ...

(WHL) in 1999 as an assistant coach. In the summer of 2002, he was elevated to the head coach position of the Ice, which he held for five years compiling a .655 winning percentage (209–110–20–21). The club's best season under his leadership was 2004–05 when the club made it to the Western Conference final. Clouston also served as a coach for

Hockey Canada Hockey Canada (which merged with the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association in 1994) is the national governing body of ice hockey and ice sledge hockey in Canada. It is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation and controls the majority ...

during his junior hockey coaching years, as assistant coach for the national under-18 2005 Junior World Cup gold medalists, and head coach for the 2006 team that also took home gold.

NHL coach

Clouston joined the professional team coaching ranks in 2007, when he joined the

of the

(AHL). He was elevated to the head coaching position with the Ottawa Senators on February 2, 2009, following the firing of

Craig Hartsburg Craig William Hartsburg (born June 29, 1959) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and head coach, who currently serves as an amateur scout and defense development coach with the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League ( ...

. Though initially named interim head coach in Ottawa, Clouston's early success was rewarded and the club signed him to a two-year contract extension on April 8, 2009. He was the eighth person to hold the head coach position in modern Senators' history. With Ottawa, Clouston had attempted to change the Senators' game plan to be more of an attacking one, creating turnovers and generating offense as opposed to the defence-first system which Hartsburg had attempted to utilize. Clouston coached the Senators to a somewhat successful 2009-10 season, finishing with 44 wins and 94 points and a berth in the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...

playoffs. The team ultimately lost in the first round to the

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. The Penguins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), E ...

. A disappointing 2010-11 season saw Ottawa, beset by injuries to key players

Daniel Alfredsson Daniel Alfredsson (; born 11 December 1972), nicknamed "Alfie", is a Swedish-Canadian former professional ice hockey player and assistant coach for the Ottawa Senators. He spent 18 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL), primarily with the ...

and

Jason Spezza Jason Rocco Anthony Spezza (born June 13, 1983) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey Centre (ice hockey), centre and current assistant general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League. Spezza played 19 career seas ...

and erratic goaltending, languish in last place of the Eastern Conference standings for several weeks. General manager Bryan Murray made a flurry of midseason trades and promoted many minor leaguers for tryouts. The Senators played better as the season wound down, but finished out of the playoffs. Clouston was relieved of his duties by GM Bryan Murray on April 9, 2011. On June 14, 2011, the Senators announced former

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

assistant coach Paul MacLean as Clouston's successor.

Return to the WHL

On August 3, 2011, Clouston was named head coach of the

, replacing Kelly McCrimmon, who stepped aside to focus on his duties as GM. On May 15, 2012, it was announced that Clouston would not return as head coach of the Wheat Kings. From June 1, 2013 to October 31, 2014, Clouston served as head coach of the

. His record as the Raiders' coach was 41-41-3-2.

Coach in Germany

On January 21, 2016 Clouston was named head coach of

in the German

. He signed a deal for the remainder of the 2015-16 season, replacing Niklas Sundblad and led the Haie squad to a playoff semifinal appearance. In April 2016, he signed a new deal with

for the 2016-17 season. On January 19, 2017, he had his contract extended until 2019. After a series of bad results (three losses out of four games), he was relieved of his duties on November 20, 2017.

NHL coaching record

Awards and records

*1996 –

coach of the year *

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

– Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy (WHL coach of the year) *2005 –

Brian Kilrea Coach of the Year Award The Brian Kilrea Coach of the Year Award is given out annually to the coach of the year in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). Originally called the CHL Coach of the Year Award, the trophy was renamed in 2003 to honour Brian Kilrea when he won h ...

(CHL coach of the year) *

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

– Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clouston, Cory 1969 births Alberta Golden Bears ice hockey players Binghamton Senators coaches Canadian ice hockey coaches Canadian sportspeople of Irish descent Canadian people of Scottish descent Ice hockey people from Alberta Kootenay Ice coaches Living people Ottawa Senators coaches People from Beaver County, Alberta Prince Albert Raiders coaches