Cory Clouston

Cory Clouston (born September 19, 1969 in Viking, Alberta) is the head coach of the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL). He is the former head coach of the Binghamton Senators of the American Hockey League (AHL) and the Kootenay Ice of the Western Hockey League (WHL).

Playing career
Born in Viking, Alberta, Clouston attended the University of Alberta from 1989–1993 where he earned a bachelor's degree in recreation administration. He played hockey for the University's Golden Bears team and was a member of the 1991–92 Canadian Interuniversity Sport championship squad.

Coaching career
Clouston's first coaching position was as an assistant coach with the Powell River Paper Kings of the British Columbia Hockey League in 1994-95. He then served as general manager and head coach of the Grande Prairie Storm of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. 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 Kootenay Ice of the Western Hockey League(WHL) in 1999 as an assistant coach. In 2001, 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 WHL finals. Clouston also served as a coach for Hockey Canada 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.

He joined the professional team coaching ranks in 2007, when he joined the Binghamton Senators of the American Hockey League (AHL). Clouston was elevated to the head coach position of the Ottawa Senators on February 2, 2009, following the firing of Craig Hartsburg and signed a two-year contract with the club on April 8, 2009. He is the eighth person to hold the head coach position in modern Senators history.

Clouston has attempted to change the Senators' game plan to be more of an attacking one, creating turnovers instead of the defence-first system Hartsburg chose. Clouston has been nicknamed the 'baby-faced drill sergeant' by the media for working the Senators hard in practice.

Awards and records

 * 1996 – Alberta Junior Hockey League coach of the year
 * 2005 – Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy (WHL coach of the year)
 * 2005 – Brian Kilrea Coach of the Year Award (CHL coach of the year)
 * 2007 – Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy