Stepping inside the Harding Mazzotti Arena in Glens Falls brings back a lot of memories for Sylvain Cloutier.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just like home here coming back,\u201d Cloutier said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s here where he began his professional career with the Adirondack Red Wings in 1993 after being selected 70th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the National Hockey League entry draft. Cloutier would end up playing eight seasons in Glens Falls, including three with the Adirondack Frostbite in the United Hockey League.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be able to put that jersey on and be able to play in front of these fans, and scoring my first pro goal against the Providence Bruins,\u201d said Cloutier, who was inducted into the Adirondack Hockey Hall of Fame as part of the 2020 class.<\/p>\n
That passion and pressure is what drew him back here, now as the head coach of the Adirondack Thunder, ECHL affiliate of the New Jersey Devils. Cloutier was named the fifth head coach in team history back in July.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve enjoyed every game here,\u201d Cloutier said. \u201cOur fans are passionate. They let you know when you win and let you know when you lose. So as a player, that pressure to come play here, it\u2019s good pressure because the people in this community care about their hockey team.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Quebec native scored 45 goals and 103 assists in 287 games with Adirondack in the American Hockey League. In addition to the 565 AHL games played with Adirondack, Albany, Houston and Syracuse, Cloutier also played in seven NHL games with the Chicago Blackhawks.<\/p>\n
He was also the captain when he won a Calder Cup with Houston during the 2002-03 season. However, Cloutier never won a championship in Glens Falls. That unfinished business as a player is another reason he wanted this job.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis community deserves that championship,\u201d Cloutier said. \u201cAnd we want to make the playoffs, but also myself and [associate head coach Ben Holmstrom] we do want to bring a championship here. That\u2019s our goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
After his playing tenure wrapped up, Cloutier started his coaching career with the Corpus Christi IceRays in the Central Hockey League in 2008. He then headed overseas to coach the Hull Stingrays in the EIHL from 2009 to 2014.<\/p>\n
Most recently, Cloutier returned to Corpus Christi in 2022 before arriving in Glens Falls. Even in year one, he\u2019s not afraid to set the expectations and the bar high. Cloutier is making sure his players are also buying into it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first thing he really said, as far as team goals, is just playoffs. We need to get in that final eight in our division,\u201d said Jeremy Brodeur, a goaltender for the Thunder. \u201cAnd from there, you never know what’s going to happen. So building toward that every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s almost like a playoff brand hockey,\u201d said Ryan Wheeler, a defenseman for the Thunder. \u201cIt’s very physical, which is what we want to play like going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the city and the arena has changed a lot over the last 30 years, the passion and the desire for a championship remains the same. That\u2019s why Cloutier is wholeheartedly embracing this opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to compete every night,\u201d Cloutier said. \u201cMake sure we come to work, put the work boots on, and for the most part, the guys have done that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stepping inside the Harding Mazzotti Arena in Glens Falls brings back a lot of memories for Sylvain Cloutier.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[61964,555,155,157,156,61965,223,154,835],"class_list":["post-148611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-albany-capital-region","tag-app-sports","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news","tag-jackson-wang","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}