LOS ANGELES — Collin Delia was a 17-year-old playing AAA junior hockey when the Kings faced the Devils in the 2012 Stanley Cup Final.
So there in the Staples Center stands that June sat Delia, wearing a red Martin Brodeur jersey, watching a battle between two generational goaltenders in Brodeur and Jonathan Quick. It was a relatively quick drive, after all — just 35 miles west down I-10 from his hometown of Rancho Cucamonga, California.
Ten years later, the iconic sign outside read Crypto.com Arena, the stands weren’t nearly as packed and the stakes weren’t quite as high, but Delia was back inside the home of the Kings on Thursday — this time, on the ice.
And in storybook fashion, Delia stole the show, making 43 saves over 65 minutes and stopping three more shootout attempts as the Blackhawks edged Quick and the Kings, 4-3.
“It’s hard to put it into words,” Delia said afterward, choking up a bit more than he could hide. “[It’s] just really cool to be from this area, to grow up watching the Kings and Ducks, especially Jonathan Quick, and to get to compete with some really good company and come out victorious. [It was] definitely a memorable experience.”
Delia’s dad and stepmom were in attendance, having made the drive themselves this time, still wearing red jerseys but this time for the Hawks.
The timing worked out perfectly. Buried beneath Marc-Andre Fleury and Kevin Lankinen on the depth chart most of the season, Delia has played decently well in the AHL — going 11-9-2 with a .905 save percentage for Rockford — but had seen only 28 minutes of NHL action entering this week.
Fleury’s trade Monday opened the door for his call-up, though, and the Hawks’ customary back-to-back in Southern California necessitated Delia to make on Thursday just his seventh NHL start in the last three-plus calendar years.
“It’s like a movie, right?” interim coach Derek King said. “It’s like all these movies you see about athletes, [showing] where they started and...where they ended up.
“He has had some mountains to climb. I’m sure he’s still going to have some mountains or bumps in the road. [It has been a tough] situation with the goalies this year. All of a sudden, he’s the guy getting called up. Obviously, ‘Lanks’ is our guy. But [Delia] fills in when the right time is for him, and he puts in a performance like that. That’s pretty solid.”
Delia was seeing the puck cleanly from the opening faceoff, as the Kings poured shot attempts from distance, and never lost composure even after the Kings battled back from three one-goal deficits. He made six saves on Arthur Kaliyev, four on Anze Kopitar and three on Adrian Kempe among his 43 in total, then stood tall in his first career NHL shootout.
After Alex DeBrincat won the skills competition in the bottom of the third round, the Hawks mobbed not DeBrincat but Delia, universally aware of the significance to him.
“It’s nice to get some shots early on,” Delia said. “The guys did a great job of letting me see pucks...and clearing second opportunities. They were great.”
Although the final shot counter did favor the Kings 46-31 — Quick made just 28 saves in the crease opposite Delia — high-danger scoring chances were even at 15-15 and expected goals actually slightly favored the Hawks.
For Delia, the future remains cloudy. The Hawks’ remaining schedule portends only two more obvious starting opportunities — in the two remaining back-to-backs — and he’ll be a 27-year-old unrestricted free agent this summer. A return to the Hawks’ organization isn’t implausible but isn’t exactly likely, either.
That surely wasn’t on his mind Thursday, though, as he made a memory that’ll last well beyond his pro career.
“You could see his smile when he came out of here,” King said. “You know how happy he is.”
