Troy Bodie was playing hockey in Manitoba over the Thanksgiving long weekend, but not wearing the colour of jersey he hoped to be.

Clad in an orange Portage Terriers jersey, the 26-year-old forward practiced with the MJHL club at the PCU Centre on Monday night as he weighs his options for where next to take his career.

Terriers coach Blake Spiller was excited to get a player with 107 games of National Hockey League experience on the ice with the team.

"It should probably give them a little bit of extra jump here tonight," said Spiller. "He gets a skate in, and our guys get to skate with an NHL player."

Bodie had signed a professional tryout contract with the Winnipeg Jets in September and attended training camp with the team. He was the last player to be released as his contract expired last Wednesday and nothing else was signed.

Bodie is now a free agent and is looking to catch on with another team.

"There's some things going - minor-league offers and that sort of thing," said Bodie. "We're just weighing our options and are going to go from there, figuring out with the best thing is."

After being shuffled in and out of the lineup as a member of both the Anaheim Ducks and Carolina Hurricanes last season, Bodie wanted to see what he could accomplish regularly competing against NHLers in camp.

"It was great while it lasted," said Bodie. "I went in there not really sure what to expect out of camp or out of myself, even, coming from Carolina where I didn't play a whole lot.

"I was wondering what player was going to show up."

As the season approached, Bodie was feeling confident about his chances of making the opening-day roster. However, the Jets claimed forward Brett McLean off waivers from Phoenix last week, gobbling up the final roster spot.

"I thought I went out and had a great camp, a few good games, but it was great while it lasted, sticking around right until the end," said Bodie. "I thought 'Geez, I'd made it'.

"But I was missing a key part of that - the contract."

"By Monday - a week ago today - I was the 13th forward in practice and I was just like 'That's it, there's no one else left to cut'," added Bodie. "I guess that wasn't the case.

"In hockey, nothing's ever happened until it's happened."

There were some highlights in camp, as Bodie scored the winner in a 3-1 victory over Ottawa in St. John's, NL in the city's first professional hockey game since 2005.

"The fans were great. It's obviously exciting having hockey back there," said Bodie. "I tried my best to put all that aside.

"I just went out and tried to play my game, and I did well."

Bodie said that there was talk of heading back to the Newfoundland capital as part of the American Hockey League's St. John's IceCaps, but opted to look for another deal.

"I just thought I'd go a different direction," said Bodie. "There's other offers on the table."

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