The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Shane Frederick

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December 1, 2009

Former MSU hockey player trades in his skates for a guitar

By Shane Frederick

When Chad Brownlee arrived at Minnesota State in 2003 to play hockey, he was a sixth-round draft pick of the Vancouver Canucks and hoped to carve out a career in the National Hockey League following college.

But the defenseman left Mankato with two surgically repaired shoulders and reinjured one of them during his first season of pro hockey in Idaho.

“I needed to play physical, and my strength was taken away from me,” he said. “It was tough. It took the wind out of my sails. I lost my love of the game, plain and simple.”

So like many athletes who see their playing days come to an end, Brownlee had to deal with moving on. He was a psychology major at MSU, but he opted to pursue a different career, one that might be as difficult to break into as professional sports: the music industry.

“I just jumped onto another set of tracks,” he said.

Brownlee is now a budding country singer. He has written and recorded a few songs that can be heard on his MySpace page and one single, “The Best that I Can (Superhero),” that is available for purchase on iTunes.

That song is going up the country charts in Canada — Brownlee lives in Vancouver, British Columbia — and, as of Tuesday, Brownlee’s name was at No. 29, below big names such as Reba, Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift and above stars like Brad Paisley, Keith Urban and Martina McBride.

Not a bad landing place for a guy who had once had dreams of being on the ice with the likes of Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and the Sedin twins.

“The sky’s the limit,” Brownlee said before Friday’s Minnesota State hockey game at the Verizon Wireless Center. “Even if you start by sitting on a pub stool for tips. ... You gotta be a rookie for awhile. I consider myself a rookie.”

Brownlee, who was the Mavericks’ captain during his senior year, belted out the national anthem before his old team defeated Michigan Tech 5-2. Earlier in the week, he was in the country capital of Nashville, Tenn., working with writers on some new songs. He said he that he plans to start recording them in early 2010 and release an album in the spring.

Many folks in Mankato have owned a Brownlee original for a few years. He wrote and recorded “The Hero I See” in memory of Anthony Ford, the boy who grew close with the Mavericks while battling leukemia. Brownlee performed the song at Ford’s memorial service and proceeds from sales of the CD went to a foundation in Anthony’s name.

Brownlee still draws on his hockey experience as he pursues a career in music. The two tracks are similar in that you need talent, work ethic and even a few connections

“Everything I’ve learned from hockey: the motivation, the drive, everything it takes to get to the next level,” he said. “It’s just a lot easier on the body.”

If all goes well for Brownlee, you can bet that he’ll be playing in his old home hockey rink in downtown Mankato again someday. Only he’ll have a guitar instead of hockey stick.



Shane Frederick is a Free Press staff writer. Click here to access his college hockey blog or e-mail him at sfrederick@mankatofreepress.com.

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Shane Frederick