Tigers’ Clouston named Assistant for Canada’s Summer U18 Team
Thursday July 24, 2014
CALGARY, Alta. – Hockey Canada, in partnership with the Canadian Hockey League, announced Thursday that Shaun Clouston (Viking, Alta.), head coach and general manager of the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers, will serve as an assistant coach with Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team for the 2014 U18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup.
Clouston replaces Eric Veilleux, who was announced as part of the staff on June 12, but has accepted a position as an assistant coach with the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals.
In addition, Tim Speltz (Medicine Hat, Alta.), general manager of the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs, will work with the Program of Excellence management group, replacing Mark Hunter, who is unavailable for the tournament.
Clouston, 46, has been head coach in Medicine Hat for the last four seasons, and general manager for the last two. He has been with the Tigers since the start of the 2003-04, serving as an assistant coach from 2003-10. Clouston’s coaching career began in 1996, and has included stops as a head coach in Reno (WCHL), San Angelo (WPHL), Tulsa (CHL) and Tri-City (WHL), and as an assistant in Portland (WHL).
As a player, Clouston was drafted by the New York Rangers in the third round (53rd overall) of the 1986 NHL Entry Draft, and played professionally in Milwaukee (IHL), Cincinnati (ECHL) and Tulsa (CHL) after three WHL seasons with the Portland Winterhawks.
Speltz, 56, has been the general manager in Spokane since 1990, and had led the Chiefs to a pair of WHL championships and two Memorial Cup titles, in 1991 and 2008. He was named WHL Executive of the Year in 1995-96 and 1999-2000.
Forty-four players will gather in Calgary for Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team selection camp Aug. 2-5 at the Markin MacPhail Centre, following which 22 players will be selected to represent Canada at the 2014 U18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup. Canada has won the annual summer tournament six years in a row and 16 of the last 18 years.
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For more information on Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team and Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence, please visit www.hockeycanada.ca, or follow along through social media at www.facebook.com/hockeycanada, www.twitter.com/hockeycanada and www.twitter.com/hc_men.