INDIANAPOLIS—The Indiana Ice announced today a pair of personnel moves in their hockey operations department.
Head coach/GM Ron Gay has been reassigned to the newly
created Operations Director of Ice Sports & Entertainment and the
team has hired Jeff Brown as the new GM/Head Coach of the club.
“Ron has been an integral part over the last two years in
the community with the Indiana Ice and the Indiana Junior Ice youth
programs,” said Ice Executive Vice President and C.O.O. Justin Hart.
“We have multiple new projects in the pipeline and future long term
planning ahead of us. His experience at the arena programming level
will be a huge long term asset for the organization moving forward.”
Taking over the coaching reins for the Ice is former NHL
defenseman Jeff Brown who has been signed with the club through the
2013-14 season. Brown’s NHL career spanned 13 years and included stops
in Quebec, St. Louis, Vancouver, Hartford, Carolina, Toronto and
Washington. He played in 747 games and amassed 585 points (154 goals,
431 assists) and 498 penalty minutes.
During his peak years with Quebec and St. Louis in the
late ‘80’s and early 90’s, he was a power play specialist who was first
among team defensemen in scoring on six different occasions. His best
year was in 1992-93 with St. Louis where he registered 25 goals and 78
points on a team that included NHL greats Brett Hull and Brendan
Shanahan.
“I am extremely excited to tackle this challenge,” said
Brown. “I look forward to coaching in the premier junior hockey league
in the United States.”
As a coach, he has enjoyed success in the junior ranks as
he coached the St. Louis Bandits of the North American Hockey League for
four seasons which included three Robertson Cup Final appearances and
one Tier II national championship.
“We welcome Jeff to the Indiana Ice organization and if
history is correct we hope his head coaching experience will give the
team a chance to turn around a very difficult start to the season and
work towards a ninth consecutive playoff appearance in the USHL,” stated
Hart.
Coach Brown’s staff will include Associate Head Coach Matt
Curley and Assistant Coach Adam Krug as the new staff prepares for a
road set in Waterloo this upcoming weekend.
(Nathan can be reached at nathanfournier@mainehockeyjournal.com)
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