Clouthier continued to pile up the penalty minutes and provide the team with a tough backbone but in two full seasons with the River Rats could only manage 17 points.

This led to him being dropped to the UHL for the 2003–04 season, where he iced for only two games for the Adirondack IceHawks before being re-called to the River Rats, who had missed his physical, intimidating style.

Clouthier would not finish the season at the River Rats though, with his third club being the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL, a level lower than he had been playing at in Albany.

Clouthier had proved himself to be an excellent addition to the Phoenix squad and so was re-signed in the summer by player/coach Tony Hand along with former Augusta Lynx team-mate Brian Passmore.

His physical play and 34 points in 68 games helped push the Phoenix to both the Challenge and Knock-Out Cup finals, the organisation's most successful season to date.

On hearing that his contract would not be renewed, Clouthier returned to his native North America to sign for the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees of the Central Hockey League.