Clark glad to be back and just coaching

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
No one is happier about tonight’s WHL exhibition game being played at Interior Savings Centre than Dean Clark.
Clark is the head coach of the Prince George Cougars, who will provide the opposition for the Kamloops Blazers. Clark was the general manager and head coach of the Blazers until he was fired on Nov. 7, 2007.
“I’m glad we’re playing an exhibition there,” he said Thursday, “just to get everything out of the way.”
When Clark signed on as head coach of the Blazers on May 16, 2003, he had no idea that he was walking into a hornet’s nest.
Just four months later, long-time office manager Maxine Patrick was gone — she later would be convicted in the disappearance of more than $900,000 — and long-time president Colin Day had resigned.
Eight months later, general manager Mike Moore was gone and Clark was the interim director of hockey operations, alternate governor and head coach.
Four years later, shareholders voted to sell the franchise they had owned since 1981 and Clark, now the GM and head coach, was fired 17 games into the season. The Blazers, who had won 40 games the previous season, were 6-9-1-1.
If only the entire mess really could be wrapped up in three paragraphs . . .
Asked if he feels that he has gotten over it all, Clark replied: “Yeah, I think so.”
One night earlier, appearing on Vancouver radio station CKNW with SportsTalk host Dan Russell, Clark had offered:
“You put a lot of effort into things and doing both roles (and) I spent a lot of energy doing those things. It’s like you’re in a car going 100 miles an hour and all of a sudden it’s at a dead halt because you hit a brick wall. It’s kind of the same feeling . . . only that everybody else in the car is still driving away and you’re kind of left behind. It was tough . . . it was tough.
“But it also was probably good for me as well in some ways; I got away from it for a bit. One of the things I realized in looking back was that I came into the league as a coach, I had success as a coach . . . I tried to do as much as I could to help Kamloops. I worked hard at it every day.
“Did I spread myself too thin doing both jobs? I think so. My strength as a coach probably didn’t come through and I’m glad to be back in the game as a coach and worrying about that end of the job as opposed to trying to do both.”
Yesterday, Clark was even more adamant about trying to do both jobs.
“I would never do it again,” he said, adding that he spent far too much time in Kamloops putting out fires as the GM. “I would do one or the other, but there’s no way I would do both again. Having a year and half off to really think about it . . . I wasn’t anywhere near the coach I could have been in Kamloops.
“I’m enjoying what I’m doing right now. I’d rather coach.”
Clark ended up reaching a contract settlement with the Blazers’ ownership group and eventually went to work for the Mike Priestner Automotive Group — which has since changed its name to Go Auto. Clark was learning all aspects of the business with a long-range plan of taking over as general manager of a dealership.
Before things progressed that far, however, Cougars owner Rick Brodsky came calling.
Clark, with 382 regular-season victories the 13th winningest coach in WHL history, came out of negotiations with a five-year contract as head coach . . . and only head coach.
Clark took over from Wade Klippenstein, who had moved up from assistant coach when Drew Schoneck was fired in December. Brodsky is hoping that Clark’s experience will bring some stability to the coach’s office.
Last season, the Cougars went 25-44-0-3 and lost a first-round series to the Vancouver Giants. The Cougars, then, are in pretty much the same boat as the Blazers, who went 33-33-2-4 and bowed out to the Kelowna Rockets in the first round.
“Our young guys are great,” Clark said. “I really like what we’ve got coming.”
His roster now includes three players with ties to the Blazers.
The Cougars picked up winger Alex Rodgers, 20, on waivers from Vancouver and then made a trade to get goaltender James Priestner, 18, from the Brandon Wheat Kings. The Cougars also added defenceman Daniel Medland-Marchen, 17, when he was released by the Blazers prior to training camp.
During Clark’s time in Kamloops, the Blazers had selected Rodgers in the 13th round of the 2004 draft, Priestner in the second round in 2006 and Medland-Marchen in 2007.
All three are expected to play tonight and will be on the season-opening roster.
COUGARS NOTES: Game time tonight is 7 o’clock. The teams meet in Prince George on Saturday in the exhibition finale for both clubs. . . . The Cougars went 1-1-0-1 at a tournament in Everett on the weekend. . . . F Brett Connolly, the reigning CHL rookie of the year, isn’t expected to play tonight, but may play in Saturday’s rematch. He has been bothered by a hip injury since playing for Canada at the U-18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament early in August. “We’re just making sure,” Clark said. “This thing has been bugging him since the (Hlinka tournament).” Connolly, who has been skating, scored 30 goals as a 16-year-old last season so it’s rather important that he be healthy before he returns to action. . . . F Nick Buonassisi (hand, day-to-day), F David Greyeyes (concussion) and D Dallas Jackson (shoulder, three weeks) also are hurting. . . . Sophomore Slovakian F Marek Viedensky, 19, was returned to the Cougars by the NHL’s San Jose Sharks yesterday. He was the only Prince George player at an NHL camp.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
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