The Rockford IceHogs experienced a large roster turnover from the end of the 2016-17 season to the beginning of the 2017-18 season with twelve rookies jumping into the roster and making their AHL debuts by the end of the 2017 calendar year. One such rookie is goaltender Collin Delia. With injuries to J.F Berube and Corey Crawford, Jeff Glass ended up being recalled to the Chicago Blackhawks and Delia found himself in a starting role for the IceHogs late in December.
Delia’s Unconventional Rookie Season
One of the more interesting paths that a rookie could take in his first pro season, Delia began his 2017-18 season as an undrafted free agent signing by the Blackhawks organization after impressing during the Prospect Summer Camp after three seasons at Merrimack College where he was named the 2016-17 Hockey east Goaltender of the Year.
Delia began the season with the Indy Fuel in the ECHL, but frequently made recalls to the IceHogs for practice workouts with the AHL staff. With Indy, he made ten appearances with a 1-7-2 record, 4.12 GAA and a .887 save percentage.
So far with the IceHogs, Delia has three appearances with a 1-2-0 record, 3.76 GAA and a .825 save percentage. Numbers that don’t jump off the page for any goaltender, but for Collin, his progression and development is outside of the numbers on a stat-sheet.
The-Rink recently caught up with Delia after his third career start and talked with him about his start to his professional career and what he can do to improve as the year goes on.
1-On-1 with Collin Delia:
What’s Next?
The Rockford IceHogs host the Cleveland Monsters on Tuesday night at the BMO Harris Bank Center for the second AHL game of the 2018 calendar year. Rockford enters the game sitting in second place in the AHL Central Division with a 18-13-2 record, 38 points and a .576 points percentage. The Monsters come into Tuesday’s game at the bottom of the AHL Central Division with a 9-15-5 record, 23 points and a .397 points percentage. Puck drop for Tuesday night’s game is at 7pm CT.