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.
Flin Flon Bombers back-up Travis Crickard has been given an early start to his Christmas break. Crickard has been suspended for three games after fighting Battlefords' North Stars goalie Jonathan Laniel, who joined a mini-brawl near his net during a 6-3 win over the Bombers. "It basically sucks," Crickard said of his suspension. "There's no other way to put it. I seen their goalie grab one of our players (Keelan Cook), and so I knew I had to go down there to fight him." Bombers coach-GM Doug Stokes explained that in CHA (Canadian Hockey Association) rules if a player crosses the center ice line to fight a goalie, than that player receives an extra game. North Stars goalie, Laniel, received a two-game suspension. "I don't think I should have been suspended for three, maybe I should have got the same amount of games as the other goalie," explained Crickard, "but that's not up to me, that's up to Laury Ryan (SJHL president). "No, I don't regret it all, I got to stick up for my boys if something like that happens," he said. "If something like that happens again, I'd definitely do it again." With Crickard not able to play until after the Christmas break, Stokes has called up an affiliate player from Yorkton who was expected to join the team on Monday. "I'd probably would have been more disappointed had he didn't do that than I would be that he did," said Stokes. "Their goaltender got involved in the fracas and that gives them an odd-man." With the suspension, Crickard potentially misses a start as his team played Nipawin yesterday, then La Ronge in back-to-back games on Dec. 29 and 30.
