Defenseman Guillaume Gelinas has been reassigned to the Quad City Mallards by the American Hockey League’s Iowa Wild, while forward Matt Neal has been released from a professional tryout agreement by the Wild and has returned to the Mallards, the Mallards announced today.

Neal last Saturday made his AHL debut against the Charlotte Checkers and skated against the same opposition the following afternoon after signing a PTO with Iowa last Friday.  Gelinas did not see any game action over the weekend.

Gelinas, 22, scored two goals and picked up two assists in 37 games as a rookie with the Wild last season.  The 5’ 10”, 185-pound Quebec City native turned professional after enjoying a standout junior career.  Gelinas scored 43 goals and pocketed 150 assists for 193 points in 275 games over five seasons with the Val d’Or Foreurs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.  In 2013-14 Gelinas won the Emile Bouchard Award as the league’s top defenseman.  That campaign also saw Gelinas lead QMJHL defensemen in points (92), finish third overall in assists (69) and finish seventh overall in points (92) while capping off his junior career by helping propel the Foreurs to the QMJHL President’s Cup title.

Neal, 23, made an immediate impact after joining the Mallards out of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in March.  The 5’ 11”, 200-pound Minesing, Ontario, native piled up a goal and five assists in seven regular season games before scoring three goals and adding two assists in seven playoff games. 

Neal scored five times and notched 11 assists for 16 points in 35 games as a senior at RPI last season.  In 2013-14, he set collegiate career highs by scoring ten goals and recording 27 points in 37 games.

Over his four seasons as an Engineer, Neal produced 25 goals and 52 assists for 77 points in 127 games.

Before arriving at RPI, Neal spent three seasons with the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Stouffville Spirit.  In 2010-11, he finished his junior career in style by ringing up 40 goals and 60 assists in 50 games to finish fourth in the OJHL with 100 points.

The Mallards will begin their nineteenth season- and their second in the ECHL- on the road against the defending champion Allen Americans this Friday before returning to the Quad Cities to play their home opener on Friday, October 23 at 7:05 p.m. against the Tulsa Oilers.  The home opener will also bring a postgame fireworks show outside the iWireless Center and return of $1 Dog/$1 Beer Friday presented by 97X.  In addition, Every Friday game will also be a MetroLINK College Night this season.  The Mallards have once again partnered with Metro to provide transit service between Augustana College and downtown Moline during all Friday home games. As part of Metro’s unlimited ride program, Augustana riders can use their Augustana ID as their fare. 

Single game tickets for all Mallards regular season games- including the home opener- are on sale now at the iWireless Center box office, Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and Ticketmaster charge-by-phone toll free at 1-800-745-3000.  The box office is open weekdays from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.  Tickets are available for $10, $16, $20 and $28.

Mallards 2015-16 season tickets are also still available.  Season ticket holders enjoy significant savings off the walk-up ticket price and receive a host of exclusive benefits.  For more season ticket information, fans can contact the Mallards at 309-277-1364 or info@myqcmallards.com.