Photo: Sean Flynn Photography/Quad City Mallards

The Quad City Mallards today announced they have re-signed forward Jeff Lee, the team’s top point scorer in 2013-14.

Last season Lee, 26, not only led the Mallards with 60 points but also topped the club with 37 assists.  The 6’ 2”, 210-pound Calgary native ranked second on the team in goals (23) and plus/minus rating (+16) and finished tied for tenth in the Central Hockey League in shorthanded goals (2) while skating in each of the Mallards’ 66 regular season games.  Lee also played a significant leadership role in what was his second full professional season and was named a Mallard assistant captain in February.

“Jeff came in and did an outstanding job for us last season.  He scored a lot of important goals and made a lot of big plays for us in the offensive zone but was also a really strong, consistent two-way forward night-in and night-out,” said Mallards coach and general manager Terry Ruskowski.  “The fact that he also showed a lot leadership qualities for a relatively young guy was also very important for us.”

Between February 8 and February 22 Lee ripped off the Mallards’ longest point scoring streak of last season, a nine-game run during which he scored five times and collected 9 assists for 14 points.  That outburst was far from Lee’s only hot streak of the campaign.  He was named Oakley CHL Player of the Week after piling up four goals and three assists in just three games over Thanksgiving weekend.  Lee went on to add eight more points (two goals and six assists) in the CHL President’s Cup playoffs while helping the Mallards reach the semi-finals for the first time in 11 years. 
 

Lee joined the Mallards after scoring seven goals and totaling 21 points in 55 games as a rookie with the Rapid City Rush in 2012-13.  

Lee enjoyed three successful years at the University of New Brunswick before turning professional.  He helped UNB to the 2011 University Cup- the Canadian national title- and three straight Atlantic University Sport conference crowns while recording 11 goals and 28 points in 53 career games as a Varsity Red.

Lee arrived in New Brunswick following a season-plus with the Edmonton Oil Kings of the major junior Western Hockey League.  In total, he produced 29 goals and 81 points in 119 WHL games.  After scoring 22 times and notching 62 points in 72 games for the Oil Kings in 2008-09, Lee got his first taste of pro hockey when he played two games for the American Hockey League’s Springfield Falcons at the tail end of that season.  

His time at UNB was not Lee’s first stint in the intercollegiate ranks.  He played for the University of Alaska-Fairbanks in 2006-07 and at the start of the 2007-08 season after spending two years in the Alberta Junior Hockey League with the Drayton Valley Thunder and Sherwood Park Crusaders. 

2014-15 Mallards season tickets are now on sale.  Ticket packages are available to meet almost any budget.  A limited edition season ticket holder Mallard jersey, 12 additional ticket vouchers per seat and free parking are among a host of exclusive benefits available to season ticket holders.  For more season ticket information fans can call the Mallards’ business office at 309-277-1364.