Last season, he finished third in team scoring with 28 goals and 54 points and was named an assistant captain before heading south to Arizona. But shortly after arriving with the Sun Devils, his health took a sudden turn, contracting E. coli, a bacterial infection.
Cloutier’s brief stint in Arizona inevitably drew outside scrutiny. Some pointed to the 5-foot-9 winger — a player who never dominated the OHL offensively — as an example of why CHL players shouldn’t rush the jump to the older, more physically mature NCAA game.
But that framing doesn’t feel fair considering the reality of the situation.
“The reason why I wasn’t able to play more was (because) I got sick on that road trip,” Cloutier said, referencing the Sun Devils’ October swing through Augustana University in South Dakota. “There’s no hard feelings with ASU … There was nothing they could have done. They can’t play me when I’m on dialysis.”
Arizona State head coach Greg Powers echoed that sentiment earlier this month in a media conference, calling the situation “very serious” and emphasizing that Cloutier’s health always came first.
“He got really sick, and we weren’t going to talk about that publicly, but it was very serious to (the point) where he was hospitalized,” Powers said, adding that he returned to Canada around Halloween. “We’re just thrilled that he’s healthy now after being out so long. It was best for him to stay close to home and go back to junior. There was no ill will. He’s an unbelievable kid.”
