The Quad City Mallards have signed Whitehorse forward Jordan Lane to a contract.

Lane, who is listed at six-foot-eight, 240 pounds adds a significant size factor to the Mallards' forward ranks.

The minor league hockey team is based out Moline, Illinois.

The team plays in the 10-team Central Hockey League and is an affiliate of the American Hockey League's Iowa Wild and National Hockey League's Minnesota Wild.

The 24-year-old Lane scored two goals and added two assists while collecting 110 penalty minutes in 19 games with Portage College in Lac La Biche, Alta. last season.

"We needed a big, physical presence on our team and Jordan can provide that,” Mallards coach and general manager Terry Ruskowski said in a press release.

"I actually first talked to Jordan last year but he decided he needed to work on his conditioning. Two years ago, when he reported to camp (with the ECHL's Elmira Jackals) he thought he was in good condition but now we know he's in great condition,” Ruskowski explained.

"Jordan knows what he has to do to help the team. He's going to make the rest of our guys feel like they're three inches taller and he can play in front of the net.”

Lane, a graduate of the Whitehorse Mustangs program, played two seasons of professional hockey before joining the Portage College Voyageurs last season.

In 2010/2011, he scored three times and piled up 132 penalty minutes in 61 games as a rookie with the Central Hockey League's Evansville Icemen.

The following season, the left-winger notched a goal and an assist along with 53 penalty minutes in 34 games with the Jackals.

Lane turned pro after five years of junior hockey, a stint that included a season in the major junior ranks with the Moncton Wildcats of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in 2008/2009.

He has also played for the Princeton Posse of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League, the Dauphin Kings and Neepawa Natives of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, and the Estevan Bruins of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.

The Mallards will open their 17th season, and their fourth in the CHL, when they host the Rapid City Rush Oct. 19.