A veteran of both the Lone Star Cavalry and the Santa Fe RoadRunners, Gardner, KS native Jared Brown has signed a contract with the Quad City Mallards of the Central Hockey League. Per team policy, details of the contract were not published. Brown, 25, scored twice and picked up an assist in five games with the Mallards after joining the team in March following the completion of his senior season at Northern Michigan where he was teammates with two other RoadRunner alumni, Reed Seckel and Erik Higby.
Brown made an immediate impact with the Cavalry in the 2003-04 season, with 15 goals and 14 assists as a rookie. The following season as he and nine Cavalry teammates headed west to Santa Fe, he led the team in scoring with 57 points (22g, 35a). His collegiate career took him to NMU. Over four years as a Wildcat, the 5' 10", 195-pound Brown scored 32 times and recorded 83 points in 155 games. In his junior season, Brown produced nine goals and 23 points in 41 games while helping NMU to the school's first NCAA tournament bid in a decade.
Brown's former coach Scott Langer was there in Lone Star and Santa Fe. "Jared is a guy that played with a lot of heart and you always knew what you were going to get from him. He may not have been the biggest player on the ice, but he played like he was. I'm not surprised to see him continuing to grow and succeed. He's a special player." His new coach weighed in on Brown as well. "We're excited to see if Jared can carry over his strong finish coming out of college last season to this year and be an offensive catalyst for us," said Mallards Head Coach / GM David Bell.
Former RoadRunner Assistant Coach Mark McFarlane played 455 games for the Quad City Mallards over the course of six seasons. Another RoadRunner veteran, Drew Akins appeared in six games for the Mallards in 2010-11.