ST. LOUIS — The Affton Americans dropped the puck on their bid for a national title Monday night.
It comes just three months after their teammate Colin Brown, 16, was struck and killed by a stray bullet while riding home from a game.
Now, Brown’s legacy will be helping hockey players punch their ticket to college for years to come.
“Just making sure his name lives on,” Affton Americans U16 CSDHL head coach Bob Jakubeck said. “That’s my goal.”
It was one of many goals on Monday night at Affton Rink, as Brown’s former teammates hoped to make many more goals against the St. Louis Sting 16U team to get a bid to nationals.
“They’re actually a big rival of ours,” Jakubeck said. “They’re the first team that we played after Brownie’s death. So it’s going to bring back a lot of memories.”
The start of a four-game round robin hopefully ending in a championship game on Sunday.
Related: Affton Americans dedicate championship victory to fallen teammate Colin Brown
However, there is already a new winner as of this weekend at the Mid States High School Championship Game.
It’s CBC hockey player Joe Potter. He is the inaugural recipient of the $5,000 collegiate scholarship that bears his former teammate’s name.
“After Brownie passed, we found out he donated all of his organs,” Jakubeck said. “He saved four lives. Now he’s helping similar young men chase their dreams in college. Brownie was an incredibly gifted student. He was going to go to Michigan. He was going to be an orthopedic surgeon. I have no doubt that he was going to be extremely successful.”
One of the reasons Missouri Hockey wanted to award the scholarship on Friday was to take a moment to remember Brown during the high school championships. It’s a new tradition that’ll be here for many years to come.
“(Potter) had several letters of recommendation including from the principal about his academic success,” said Chris Durso, president of Missouri Hockey.
Potter is a senior at CBC and is going to Maryville next year to study cybersecurity.
This new scholarship is a bittersweet way to remember the 16-year-old hit and killed by a stray bullet on I-55 near Loughborough Avenue just before Thanksgiving.
Related: Second suspect charged in shooting of high school hockey player on I-55
“What’s really moving to me is that the Brown family was in attendance,” Durso said. “They were able to go on the ice for the presentation. That was so meaningful to me.”
For any local senior high school hockey players interested in the Colin Brown hockey scholarship, applications will likely open again in December and close mid-February 2026.
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