Cory Clouston knew as early as age 13 that he wanted to coach hockey.

‘I was talking with my family and thinking, ‘If I don’t make it as a player then I would like to get into coaching,’ Clouston said. The 37-year-old first-year head coach of the Binghamton Senators from Viking, Alberta, grew up on hockey and acknowledges that for most Canadians, it’s a way of life. ‘The whole culture and environment is geared around hockey. Your best athletes in Canada tend to play hockey.’

So it was a natural progression that took Clouston through college at the University of Alberta, where he played four seasons while earning his B.A. in recreational administration.

‘What I learned there was the foundation of what a winning team is about,’ he said.

One important influence on Clouston was coach Clare Drake, considered to be the ‘dean’ of intercollegiate hockey coaches. ‘I was able to learn from some very good hockey people,’ she said.

For Clouston, the opportunity to coach the Binghamton Senators is an exciting prospect. He left the Western Hockey League’s Kootenay Ice, where he was coach for the past five years, and hopes to bolster up the B-Sens to a better season than their prior one.

‘We don’t talk about last year, we try to look forward,’ he said, noting that one advantage this season has is a team of mostly new players. ‘To me, developing players and winning are the two main goals. Winning creates a winning environment, and as you develop players, you’re going to win and the more you win, the more the players develop.’

In addition to a roster of new players, there are a few returners, including Danny Bois, Jeff Glass and Josh Hennessy.

‘For the most part, this team doesn’t have any memories of last year. What we try and do is not focus on that at all,’ Clouston said. ‘The challenge that we have is that we’re a whole new group of players and it’s allowed us to start fresh.’

While Clouston admits to being somewhat of a perfectionist, it’s a trait he feels serves as betterment for the success of the team.

‘I’ve been known to be kind of a detail-oriented person,’ he said. ‘I try and stress the little things. It’s the team that does the little things; they might chip a puck out, they have better angles and stick positions. All those little things make a huge difference.’

Not surprisingly, an interest in sports seems to run in the family. His brother Shaun is an associate coach for the Western Hockey League’s Medicine Hat Tigers. Despite the similar jobs, Clouston admits their work on the ice may be somewhat different.

‘[Shaun’s] got a little more of a relaxed approach,’ he said.

Clouston recalls growing up on Canadian hockey where he lived in a town of only 1,200 people.

‘You skated or you played hockey, that’s how you killed your time,’ he said. ‘And the majority of the broadcasts are hockey. Everywhere you turn, it’s in your face. You’re flooded with it: on the radio, television, the newspapers.’

It’s no surprise then to see where Canada’s contribution to the sport of hockey has been huge, with around 13 current B-Sens players being Canadian.

For Clouston, his path to Binghamton has been a progression of his various past successes, including being named Coach of the Year twice by the Western Hockey League. It’s this kind of recognition that makes him optimistic about his tenure with the Binghamton Senators.

‘You can have a group of players that aren’t a team,’ he said. ‘It’s no different than a family. Any team that’s had success comes from an environment where players are supporting and caring about each other.’

The Binghamton Senators will host a pair of games this weekend, taking on the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at 7:05 p.m. today before facing off with the Norfolk Admirals at 7:05 p.m. tomorrow. All B-Sens home games are played at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. For more information on the B-Sens schedule, call (607) 722-SENS (7367) or visit their Web site at binghamtonsenators.com.