Enlarge Image 

Jamie Stoddard's association with the Bombers officially ended Tuesday when the club told their longest-serving member he had been released. (MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES)

He was hardly a speedster or a game-breaking deep threat. But Jamie Stoddard did manage to carve out a respectable career with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers as a reliable pass catcher, popular team guy and important role player over an nine-year span that included two Grey Cup appearances.

Stoddard's association with the Bombers, however, officially ended Tuesday when the club told their longest-serving member he had been released and was free to try and landing work with another Canadian Football League team.

A native of Richmond, B.C., the 31-year-old Stoddard pulled in 191 passes for 2,808 yards and 11 TDs in his career as a Bomber. His best season was '01, when he finished with 34 receptions for 526 yards and four touchdowns.

The Bombers currently have three Canadian receivers on their roster -- Arjei Franklin, Aaron Hargreaves and Brock Ralph -- and could select another in Saturday's Canadian Draft. Franklin, Ralph and new quarterback Stefan LeFors are all holders on placekicks, one of Stoddard's main responsibilities during his years in blue and gold.

AIR DEFENCE BOLSTERED: The Bombers announced the signing of two defensive backs on Tuesday, one an American and the other a homegrown product.

We told you about the addition of Nick Kordic (6-0, 210, Western Ontario) back in March after he met with Bombers head coach Mike Kelly at the CFL Congress in Hamilton. Kordic, 25, played in 15 games with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats last year as a special-teams specialist and finished with 11 tackles.

John Eubanks (5-10, 173, Southern Mississippi), the second Bombers addition, was signed by the Washington Redskins as an undrafted free agent in 2006 and played seven games in the NFL after a solid collegiate career in which he was named Conference USA's Special Teams Player of the Year in 2004, a two-time Conference USA all-star (2003-04) and the league's top freshman (2002) as a kick returner/cornerback.

The club also announced the release of defensive back Aric Williams, signed in early March.

DAN THE MAN?: The Bombers may be dusting off a veteran kicker to bolster their competition in training camp. Whispers across the CFL say Winnipeg has signed 36-year-old placekicker Dan Giancola to a contract after he apparently impressed the club's brass at a workout last weekend in Winnipeg. The Bombers won't confirm the signing and rumour has it the transaction may depend on what happens in this weekend's draft.

Giancola's story became legendary in the late 1990s when he joined the Toronto Argonauts after attending 131 free-agent camps looking for work. He connected on 78.7 per cent of his field goals for the Argos in 1999, numbers that earned him a look from the Buffalo Bills. After being cut, Giancola bounced around the CFL, kicking for the B.C. Lions and the Argos again in 2001 before being selected by the Ottawa Renegades in the dispersal draft, returning to Toronto as an injury replacement for Noel Prefontaine in 2004 and most recently working as a personal trainer in Niagara Falls.

BLUE NOTES: The Pittsburg Morning Sun in Kansas is reporting the Bombers have signed D-lineman Aaron McConnell, a four-time conference all-American who has spent four years in the Arena League with the Nashville Kats and Colorado Crush. He was named to the Arena League's All-Rookie team in 2005. McConnell is a find of new Bombers director of player personnel John Murphy. McConnell spent last year helping coach a high school team but is apparently eager to get back in the game.

"It is hard to walk through Wal-Mart and not try to tackle someone," McConnell told the Morning Sun. "I am itching right now and I am ready. It is in my blood so much and I am ready to get back into football and I love it.

"I wake up every morning to play football."

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 29, 2009 C4