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.
Rory Gregoire has chosen not to play for the Flin Flon Bombers. Bombers coach-GM Doug Stokes had a dinner meeting with Gregoire and his father in Kindersley, as Gregoire made the trip to watch the Kindersley game. "I think he was looking for some guarantee, assurances that he was going to be a go-to-guy as a 20-year-old," Stokes said. "I told him I wasn't going to give him any assurances of that. I didn't tell him that he wouldn't be a go-to-guy, I certainly didn't indicate that he wouldn't be a power play guy, penalty kill guy and get a lot of minutes, but he has to earn that like every other player." Stokes added that because Gregoire was unsure of his status with the team, he chose to play Junior 'B' for the Saskatoon Royals. Finishing the year in there would also allow him to return to Junior 'A' as an over-age 21-year-old. "What I don't understand I guess is, the kid tried to play Junior A, and the question I threw at him is if you weren't traded from North Battlefords' would you have contemplated Junior 'B'?" Stokes explained. "Well he said no. I said then why would you now? "His situation in Battlefords' wasn't secure either. He started on the top two lines, then the revolving doors started there and Glen (Watson coach-GM) started making a bunch of changes, then he fell further down in the order," he said. With Gregoire not reporting, the deal that sent the rights of midget AAA player Craig McCallum has been voided. During the trade deadline, the team also released rookie forward Darryl Finnerty. "He's now playing with the Peace River Navigators of the Alberta Junior B League," Stokes said. "Without even the changes that we made, he wasn't going to play, the bottom line is he's an 18-year-old kid that has to develop. You're not going to develop sitting in the stands."
