Dan Cloutier

Playing career

Cloutier began his junior career in the OHL with the Sault Ste. He appeared in four playoff games as the Greyhounds reached the J. Ross Robertson Cup Finals, losing to the Peterborough Petes, but the team qualified for the 1993 Memorial Cup as host and won the tournament; Cloutier did not play in the Memorial Cup. The following season he became the starter, recording 28 wins, 14 losses, and 6 ties with a 3.56 GAA and .890 save percentage, leading the Greyhounds to the OHL semifinals.

Selected 26th overall by the New York Rangers in the 1994 NHL entry draft, he was returned to the OHL after his first training camp. In 1994–95 he posted a 4.41 GAA in 45 games as the Greyhounds missed the playoffs. He signed an NHL contract with the Rangers on July 7, 1995. Cloutier also played five games at the Junior A level with the Timmins Golden Bears during his rookie OHL season, and had previously played Junior B with the St. Thomas Stars in 1991–92, recording a 5.83 GAA over 14 games.

International play

Cloutier represented Canada at the 1995 World Junior Championships, going undefeated in three games with a 2.67 GAA to help the host country win a gold medal in Red Deer, Alberta. He missed the following year's tournament due to a shoulder injury. He was added to Team Canada's roster for the 2001 World Championships as one of four goaltenders but did not appear in any games; Canada finished fifth.

Personal life

Cloutier was born in Mont-Laurier, Quebec, to Ivan and Susan Cloutier, and moved with his family to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, as a child due to his father's work as a logger. He is bilingual, having grown up in both French and English communities. His older brother Sylvain also played hockey, captaining the OHL's Guelph Storm before a professional career in England and later coaching the Corpus Christi IceRays. As a youth, Cloutier played in the 1990 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a team from Sault Ste. Marie and was on the same bantam team as future NHL goaltender Marty Turco.

He patterned the butterfly elements of his playing style after Patrick Roy. Cloutier and his wife Nikki have a daughter and a son; after his playing career, the family moved to Barrie, Ontario. In November 2005, a rumour circulated that he was being investigated for a hit-and-run accident that killed two people; his agent later refuted the rumour as "absolutely untrue."