Blazers ink Loiselle

Back in the day, when Dean Clark was a lineman for the county and Gord Loiselle was in the wholesale business, primarily selling potato chips, they were opponents on the fastball diamonds in and around St. Albert, Alta.
“We didn’t even like each other,” a chuckling Clark said Thursday after introducing Loiselle as the Kamloops Blazers’ director of player personnel.
Clark, the Blazers’ general manager and head coach, signed Loiselle to a two-year deal, replacing Randy Hansch, who now is the assistant general manager and director of player personnel with the WHL’s newest team, the Edmonton Oil Kings.
Hansch, 41, spent 15 years on the Blazers’ staff, including 13 in a fulltime capacity. A former goaltender, he also played with the Blazers and, in fact, posted the first playoff shutout in franchise history, beating the Medicine Hat Tigers 4-0 on May 2, 1986.
Loiselle, a 56-year-old divorced father of two, joins the Blazers after 10 years as the Portland Winter Hawks’ director of player personnel. Prior to that, he spent three seasons scouting for the Calgary Hitmen, which is where he and Clark first worked together. Loiselle will continue to live in Calgary while working for the Blazers.
Prior to Hansch resigning, Clark’s game plan called for him to begin spending more time on the coaching side. Clark feels he has neglected that to a degree as he has worked to rebuild the organization from the morass in which it found itself a few years ago.
When Hansch announced his resignation, Clark’s biggest concern was finding someone who would allow him to spend more time coaching and maintain “peace of mind.” He feels he has found that person in Loiselle.
“I wanted to focus a lot more energy and time (in the dressing room),” Clark said. “That really played into knowing that I needed to get a guy who has some experience being in player personnel, working with scouts and directing them to where he wanted them to go . . .
“It gives me peace of mind knowing that I can go (to the dressing room) and do what I have to do and what I really want to do . . . knowing that Gord is out there doing the job.”
Loiselle said the biggest part of that job is ensuring the Blazers have “coverage in all areas.”
“I know most of the scouts that work for the Blazers,” he added. “Most of them have been here for a long time and I feel quite comfortable with the guys we have in place.”
Which doesn’t mean there won’t be any changes to the scouting staff.
“Some guys might go with Randy,” Clark said. “He brought a lot of those guys on. . . . I’d be surprised if someone didn’t go with Randy. But the good thing is that they’re pretty loyal Blazers, too.”
Loiselle doesn’t expect much change in his life because of his new position.
“It’s pretty similar,” Loiselle said of his job description here as opposed to Portland. “I don’t see a whole lot of change. . . . It’s the same tournaments looking at the same age group of kids.”
In an average season, Loiselle said he will watch between 400 and 500 games and drive as much as 75,000 kilometres. He doesn’t expect that to change.
One of the first things he will do — something that will carry on through training camp — is familiarize himself with the players on the Blazers’ list.
“It’s a good list,” he said. “I feel pretty fortunate to come into this situation.”
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This is at least the third time Clark and Loiselle will have worked together.
They both were with the Hitmen in the late-1990s, Clark as the head coach and Loiselle as the No. 2 man on the scouting staff.
Prior to that, there was this peewee AAA team in St. Albert. Clark was on the coaching staff and “we needed a manager to deal with the parents.”
Enter Loiselle.
The feeling then was that the team was OK but wasn’t that good. Still, it ended up in the provincial final playing against a team from Sherwood Park.
“We were up 2-0 and it was 2-2 after the second,” Loiselle said. “We lost 4-3.”
Sherwood Park’s best player, Clark recalled, was future Blazers ball of hate Tyson Nash.
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Loiselle has two grown children — Brett lives in St. Albert; Michelle resides in Calgary.
“She’s a good ball player, too,” Clark said.
Pause.
“She didn’t get that from her dad.”
Obviously, those old fastball rivalries are hard to kill.
JUNIOR JOTTINGS: The Spokane Chiefs have rounded out their coaching staff with the hiring of Hardy Sauter as an assistant under head coach Bill Peters. Sauter spent three seasons as a WHL defenceman, including one season (1991-92) with the Chiefs. Sauter, a nephew of former WHL coach Doug Sauter, spent the last two seasons as GM/head coach of the SJHL’s Nipawin Hawks. With the Chiefs, he fills the vacancy created by the departure of Steve Pleau, who now is the Oil Kings’ head coach. . . .

EUROPEAN UPDATE: D Trevor Johnson, formerly of the Moose Jaw Warriors, has left Val Pusteria of Italy’s Serie A and signed with the Belfast Giants of the British Elite league. Former WHLers with the Giants include Jason Ruff and Mark Dutiaume. The Giants also were Theo Fleury’s last pro team. . . . Ex-Portland G Scott Langkow will take a six-week tryout deal into camp with Jokerit Helsinki of Finland’s SM-Liiga, that country’s top league. Former NHLer Doug Shedden is the head coach, and camp opens July 23. Langkow already has played four seasons in Finland, splitting last season between HV-71, the club team of former Blazers’ LW Jonas Johansson, and SC Rapperswill-Jona of the Swiss National League A. . . . Former Swift Current Broncos F Layne Ulmer, who spent last season with TPS Turku of the Finnish SM-Liiga, has signed with Frankfurt of the DEL, Germany’s top league. Last season, Frankfurt’s roster included ex-WHLers Chris Armstrong, Chad Bassen, Shane Peacock, Jay Henderson, Steve Kelly and Ian Gordon. Head coach Rich Chernomaz also played in the WHL. . . . Former Prince Albert Raiders F Paul Heale, who split last season between Linköping of the Swedish Elitserien and Ässät Pori of the Finnish SM-Liiga, has signed with HK Acroni in Jesenice, Slovenia.