LEWISTON — Lewiston Maineiacs forward Sam Grenache was conspicuous in his absence from the team skate with the fans following Saturday night’s victory over Baie-Comeau.

His absence from the team going forward is the end result.

“Sam wanted to talk to the coaching staff after Saturday’s game, and he was very unhappy with his ice time,” Maineiacs’ coach and president Don MacAdam said. “He was unhappy with being disciplined over the bad penalty he took on Friday night, and he decided to quit the team. We’re not happy with his decision, we’re not happy with the way he handled it, but we’re very happy with the way the team is, and we want people here who are relatively pleased with the fact that, as a team, we’ve won three of our first four and swept our opening weekend at home. He wasn’t, so he’ll be suspended by the team, since he’s quit.”

Grenache, a 20-year-old forward who skated last season for the Montreal Junior, had no points and nine penalty minutes in four games this season. The Maineiacs are 3-1 in the early going.

“It’s the team that’s the operative word here,” MacAdam said. “We want to have a situation where, every player who is here will be better as a player and hopefully better as a person when they leave here, but it’s always through the team, not a player above the team. We’ve already had a couple of situations, and I’m sure a lot of other teams have, as well, where individuals have put themselves ahead of the team. That’s their choice, and there are consequences.”

Lewiston acquired Grenache back in August from the Junior for a third-round draft pick in 2011. Grenache accumulated 22 goals and 16 assists for 38 points and 181 penalty minutes in 102 regular season game in parts of four seasons for three different teams.

He was occupying one of three slots allotted by each team to 20-year-old skaters alongside defenseman Matt Boyle and goaltender Adrien Lemay. With that spot open, the question now hanging over the Maineiacs is whether the team will bring in another player to fill that position.

“Only if we can find them,” MacAdam said. “Only if we can find a quality player who’s a character person. If we don’t have that combination, there’s no need to do that. We really like our group of players. We feel we have a fine group of young men on and off the ice, and it’s our responsibility as coaches and as management to make sure that we don’t disrupt the chemistry that’s building here.”

Losing Grenache means the Maineiacs are down to 13 forwards and seven defensemen, leaving them, at least on paper, fairly thin across the board. MacAdam doesn’t see the need to panic.

“Often times, I think there’s an exaggerated case made for keeping a lot of players around,” MacAdam said. “It’s never the quantity, but the quality. We’d like to use four lines, and we’d like to use six ‘D’ and we’d like to use both of our goaltenders, but if that’s not available to us, then we’ll adjust. In the four games so far, we’ve used our 12 forwards, we’ve used them all, a lot. Obviously not enough for one person at least, but it’s the way we believe we’re going to have success. If we’re down a couple of guys, the other guys just have to suck it up and get the job done.”

Gelinas still impressing

After expecting Eric Gelinas back in the fold with the team this weekend, the Lewiston Maineiacs are still waiting for the steady blueliner to return from the New Jersey Devils’ preseason camp. He participated in a Red-White scrimmage Sunday, playing with all of the rookie defensemen and the veteran forwards against all of the veteran defensemen and goalies and rookie forwards. His squad lost, 4-1.

“That’s exciting, that’s great, that’s exactly why players come here, to get that extra opportunity to play,” MacAdam said. “We’re thrilled about that.”

Tuesday’s live blog from the Devils’ morning skate and scrimmage had no mention of Gelinas being back on the ice with the squad, and MacAdam said he hopes Gelinas goes as far as he can, as soon as he can.

“At 18, he has to play in the National Hockey League or come back here,” MacAdam said. “Is he ready now? I don’t know. I haven’t seen him play there, but we know he is going to be. This is a fine young man with a lot of talent, and he’s going to be playing in the NHL one of these days. Will it be this year? I don’t know.”

With the team’s stated goal of making a run at a championship in 2010-11, the possibility that Gelinas may stay with the Devils next season, even if not this year, is starting to creep into the Maineiacs’ minds, too.

“If he’s this close this year, who’s to say that he won’t be ready next year,” MacAdam said. “It’s happened to this organization before. It happens to a lot of junior teams every year. If it’s this year or next with Eric Gelinas, we’ll be thrilled for Eric and we’ll adjust accordingly.”

Just in town

Local businesses and ticket-holders shouldn’t be shocked to see Maineiacs’ principal owner Mark Just out and about this week. Just, a native of Chicago, vowed this summer to be more hands-on with the team’s every day business this year, and so far he’s been good on his word.

Just arrived Monday and will spend the week working in the front office and meeting with local business owners, continuing his message of moving forward, beyond the debacle of last winter’s failed move.

“I want to be a bit more hands-on, keep my finger on the pulse of what’s happening here,” Just said Tuesday.

He sat through practice Tuesday, chatting with injured defenseman Sam Carrier as the rest of the team went through drills on the ice in front of him.

“This team, it’s got character,” Just said. “The players on this team remind me a lot of three years ago, their attitudes and they way they handle themselves. This is a good group of kids.”