HOME IS WHERE YOU MAKE IT
Jan 14, 2015By Tom Witosky
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When Jason Gregoire left home at the age of 17 to play hockey, little did he know just where and how far it would take him.
In eight seasons, the 25-year-old Winnipeg native has made Lincoln, Ne. (USHL), Grand Forks, N.D. (WCHA), St. John’s, Newfoundland (American Hockey League), Stockholm (Sweden 1st Division), Anchorage (ECHL) and now Des Moines (AHL) his home, attempting to make it to the National Hockey League.
“It’s certainly provided me with some very cool experiences,” the Iowa Wild center said in a recent interview. “I have been able to see parts of a lot of different countries. Mountains here, oceans there. It’s been very cool.”
Now, Gregoire (GREG-wahr) is impressing the Wild staff with his consistent two-way play in his first season with Iowa, which began with an assignment to play with the Alaska Aces in the ECHL following a good training camp in Des Moines last September.
“Since Gregoire has been here he has done a great job for us on both sides of the puck,” John Torchetti, Iowa’s head coach, said. “I was worried a bit about his size playing center, but he has done a really good job.”
Assigned mainly to play between the Wild’s current leading scorer, Michael Keranen, and winger Zack Phillips, Gregoire has scored five goals in his first 18 games. He also has lent stability to the offensive attack as players have been moved back and forth to meet the needs of the Minnesota Wild.
“He has great hockey sense,” Torchetti said. “He knows where to be on the ice given where the puck is. Offensively, he has really good vision. He is an impact player.”
Gregoire said that he is growing comfortable playing with Keranen and Phillips and believes there chemistry is developing the line into a solid contributor on offense. He said that his two wingers contrast in style, but that makes the line a bit more unpredictable to defense.
“Philly is good on the wall. When he gets the puck, he will cutback and maintain possession. That means I should be a little bit later so that I can get the puck in stride,” Gregoire said. “Michael, on the other hand, likes to grab the puck and skate so I know I should be wheeling in the offensive zone.”
He said the key to their playing together is to learn “the little things because every guy approaches the game a little bit differently.”
Attention to detail has been a strength of Gregoire’s throughout his brief playing career. Drafted in the third round of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Islanders, Gregoire displayed a shrewd business approach after his third year playing for the University of North Dakota in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association from the 2008-09 season through the 2010-11 season.
At the time, Gregoire had been North Dakota’s third leading scorer with 43 points in 35 games and had finished his collegiate career with 55 goals – plenty of offense for many teams.
Although he had been drafted in 2007, Gregoire played an additional year with Lincoln prior to his three collegiate years. By doing so, he made himself eligible for free agency under a clause in the NHL collective bargaining contract that gives college players the ability to become free agents if they go unsigned for 30 days after leaving school, provided that they are at least four years removed from their draft year.
“It made absolute sense for me to do it,” Gregoire, who majored in finance at North Dakota, said. “I still could have signed with the Islanders as a free agent and they were an option. I wanted to control the decision and what was the best option for me. I was looking for the best fit.”
After several teams took a shot at getting Gregoire to sign, he decided to sign with his hometown team, Winnipeg, just after the city had landed its second NHL franchise. “It was a little surreal,” Gregoire said. “But it was a chance to get to play in my hometown.”
But, Gregoire ended-up playing in St. John’s for two seasons before deciding to spend a season playing in Sweden for Sodertalje SK, where he scored 13 goals and added nine assists.
Gregoire said he relished playing in Sweden, but found his game was better suited to the tighter NHL-sized rinks.
“My game is tailored to the NHL rink. I am not an overly flashy guy or the fastest skater so I like the tighter corners where I can be quick in grinding it out and getting pucks to the net,” he said.
After 15 games with the Alaska Aces, Gregoire found himself playing in Iowa following the change in coaches after a difficult start to the 2014-15 season. Gregoire said he wasn’t sure what to expect because he had never played for Torchetti.
“It was a blank slate because I had never played for Torch and he had never seen me,” Gregoire said. “That is all a player can ask for so he can go out and work your tail off. Any coach is going to like that.”
Since then, Gregoire said that the team has improved visibly as Torchetti took an approach to learn each player’s strengths and develop them within his system.
“He is a good instructor and is really good for players,” Gregoire said. “He knows we are professionals. He talks to you so you learn.”
As for living in his sixth city in eight years, Gregoire has high praise for Des Moines despite the lack of mountains and oceans.
“I love Des Moines,” he said. “It has a great downtown and expanding areas in the suburbs, so there is a lot to do here. The city offers great support to the team and that is all you can ask for as a player.”