The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
One of Flin Flon's links to big league sports will come home this summer to inspire young people standing at the edge of their futures. Pittsburgh Penguins enforcer Reid Simpson has accepted an invitation to be the guest speaker at the Hapnot Collegiate graduation ceremony in June. "I think it's going to be great for the kids," commented Marcie Johnson, a staff advisor for the Hapnot grad committee. "Reid has graduated from Flin Flon. Not everybody's going to be a hockey player, but you can dream and you can attain your goals." The students voted Simpson, a Hapnot graduate from the 1980s, as their guest speaker earlier this week. Simpson took the skills he first honed in Flin Flon all the way to the NHL starting in the 1991-92 season. The 34-year-old left winger has suited up for two games for the Pens this season, accumulating zero points and 17 penalty minutes. He's spent most of the season with Pittsburgh's farm club, the Wilkes-Barrie Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League, where he has racked up 17 points and 125 penalty minutes in 38 games. Pittsburgh is Simpson's ninth stop in 14 NHL seasons, having also laced 'em up for the Philadelphia Flyers, Minnesota North Stars, New Jersey Devils, Chicago Blackhawks, Tampa Bay Lightning, St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens and Nashville Predators. The 6'2", 216 lb. enforcer was drafted 72nd overall by the Flyers in the 1989 NHL entry draft. The Hapnot Collegiate graduation ceremony is slated for Tuesday, June 29 at the Whitney Forum. Simpson is the only Flin Flonner to have played in the NHL this season. Flin Flon's Matt Davidson, whose rights are owned by the Calgary Flames, hasn't skated in a game since last season. A 1995 draft pick of the Buffalo Sabres, Davidson is currently on the roster of the AHL's Lowell Lock Monsters.
