Daily Dose

Daily Dose of the Dub: Blazers hire Clouston as head coach, Hurricanes acquire Jerome from Royals

Written by Ben Dooley on

Blazers hire Shaun Clouston as head coach

The Kamloops Blazers have announced the hiring of Shaun Clouston to be their new head coach and they have promoted assistant coach Darryl Sydor to be the team’s associate coach.

Clouston joins the Blazers from the Medicine Hat Tigers who he had spent the last 16 season with before bringing back Willie Desjardins to be the team’s head coach and general manager for the 2019-20 season. He served as the team’s assistant and associate coach from 2003-2010, a period in which the Tigers won two WHL Championships in 2004 and 2007 respectively. He took over as head coach in 2010 when the aforementioned Desjardins left to join the Dallas Stars organization and in 2013 he took over the General Manager position as well. He left the Tigers organization as the franchise’s leader in wins and is currently third in wins among active WHL coaches with 391.

Sydor joined the Blazers last season as an assistant coach under then-head-coach Serge Lajoie who parted ways with the team at the end of the season. He is also part-owner of the team with Tom Gaglardi and fellow Blazers alumni Jarome Iginla, Shane Doan, and Mark Recchi. Sydor played with the Blazers in the late-80’s and early 90’s suiting up for 227 games and scoring 77 goals and adding 197 assists. During his time in the WHL, Sydor won 2 WHL Championships, a Memorial Cup Championship and was named the WHL’s top defenseman in the 1991-92 season. He went on to have a successful NHL career playing in 1291 NHL games and winning two Stanley Cups with the Dallas Stars (1999) and the Tampa Bay Lightning (2004). After retiring from the NHL, Sydor spent nine seasons coaching the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues organizations before returning to the Blazers.

Hurricanes acquire overage Jerome from Royals

The Lethbridge Hurricanes have acquired overage forward and Lethbridge native D-Jay Jerome from the Victoria Royals in exchange for a conditional pick in both the 2021 and 2022 WHL Bantam Draft. Jerome has played 167 games in the WHL with the Red Deer Rebels, Prince Albert Raiders and Victoria Royals recording 31 goals and 28 assists. In 68 games last season with the Royals, Jerome had 23 goals and 19 assists.

After the trade, the Royals are now down to seven overage players while the Hurricanes currently have nine overage players listed on their roster. However, the Hurricanes list includes goaltender Liam Hughes who left the team after a trade from Seattle last season and NHL prospects Jake Leschyshyn (Vegas 2017 2nd round draft pick), Jordy Bellerive (signed with Pittsburgh in 2017), and Nick Henry (Colorado 2017 4th round draft pick) who are not expected to return to the WHL for the 2019-20 season. Both teams will still have to make a couple of tough decisions to get down to the WHL limit of three overage players.

Four WHLers to attend Dallas Stars Development Camp

The Dallas Stars will be holding their annual development camp from June 24-28th and a total of four WHLers have received invites to the camp:

  • Forward Brodi Stuart (141 GP, 36 G, 40 A with the Kamloops Blazers, undrafted in NHL Entry Draft)
  • Defenseman Dawson Barteaux (174 GP, 10 G, 60 A with the Regina Pats and Red Deer Rebels, a sixth-round pick of Dallas in 2018 NHL Entry Draft)
  • Defensemen Jarret Tyszka (213 GP, 25 G, 76 A with the Seattle Thunderbirds (2017 NHL Entry Draft fifth-round pick left unsigned by Montreal)
  • Defenseman Luke Zazula (168 GP, 8 G, 42 A with the Kamloops Blazers, undrafted in NHL Entry Draft)

The roster will also include the 2019 NHL Entry Draft Picks of the Stars as well as undrafted players they choose to invite to the camp.

11 WHL Draft Picks to attend 2019 USA Hockey Boys Select 17 Player Development Camp

USA Hockey will be holding its 2019 Boys Select 17 Player Development Camp next week and a total of 11 WHL Draft picks will be attending:

  • Forward Cross Hanas (fourth-round pick of the Portland Winterhawks)
  • Forward Zach Michaelis (fourth-round pick of the Prince George Cougars)
  • Forward Riley Stuart (fifth-round pick of the Tri-City Americans)
  • Goalie Jackson Dylla (sixth-round pick of the Regina Pats)
  • Forward Aidan Thompson (seventh-round pick of the Portland Winterhawks)
  • Forward Hunter Hastings (eighth-round pick of the Spokane Chiefs)
  • Forward Tristan Rand (eighth-round pick of the Tri-City Americans)
  • Forward Josh Doan (ninth-round pick of the Kamloops Blazers)
  • Forward Cameron Berg (ninth-round pick of the Seattle Thunderbirds)
  • Forward Jackson Nieuwendyk (12th round pick of the Portland Winterhawks)
  • Forward Samuel Deckhut (12th round pick of the Medicine Hat Tigers)

USA Hockey uses this camp to help finalize the roster for the annual Hlinka Gretzky Cup.

Rabbit signs in Romania for 2019-20 season

Wacey Rabbit (289 GP, 91 G, 131 A with the Saskatoon Blades and Vancouver Giants) has signed with ASC Corona Brasov of the Erste Liga in Romania for the 2019-20 season. Last season with the Jacksonville IceMen of the ECHL, Rabbit had 29 goals and 31 assists in 70 games.