On Thursday, Rockford IceHogs and Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Collin Delia was named the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year for Rockford. The award, selected by each AHL club, is presented to each winner for their outstanding contributions to the local community and charitable organizations during the 2017-18 season.
From this list of all the finalists, representatives from IOA/American Specialty and the AHL will choose the winner of the 2017-18 Yanick Dupre Memorial Award. The AHL’s annual Man of the Year award is named after the late Yanick Dupre.
Delia Honored As IceHogs “Man Of The Year”
Delia has had quite the rookie season this year, starting back in the Summer when he signed his first professional deal with the Blackhawks out of Prospect camp. He began his pro career with the ECHL Indy Fuel and made 10 appearances before making his full-time jump to the AHL in December. With the IceHogs this season, he has made 24 appearances with a 14-6-4 record, 2.68 GAA, and a .904 save-percentage.
On Thursday evening, Delia made his NHL debut with the Chicago Blackhawks against the Winnipeg Jets. Anton Forsberg was the originally scheduled starter for Chicago, but suffered an injury during his pregame warmup and forced Delia into the starting role.
Collin Delia waves to some fans before the IceHogs and Penguins game. (Courtesy: Todd Reicher)
Delia played 45:59 in his debut, making 25 saves on 27 shots faced, but left the game early in the third period due to cramping issues and the Blackhawks had to play their emergency backup, Scott Foster, for the final 14 minutes of the game. Foster was able to save all seven shots he faced and played the “closer” role (on MLB Opening Day, no less) to Delia’s first career NHL win in his first career start.
The Blackhawks are in Colorado to take on the Avalanche for a Friday night contest and Delia is expected to make the start. Friday night’s game against the Avalanche was originally scheduled to be his NHL debut and thankfully he will not miss that start.
After the conclusion of the Blackhawks season on April 7 against the Jets, the IceHogs’ season still has three games to be played and it would be expected that Delia will return to Rockford at that point and help the IceHogs complete their regular season and into the Calder Cup Playoffs, if they are to qualify.