Delia Named New England Hockey Writers Association All-Star; Gustafsson Wins Unsung Hero Award
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Two members of the Merrimack College men's ice hockey team earned New England Hockey Writers Association honors on Friday, as junior goaltender Collin Delia (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) was named to the 2016-17 New England Division I All-Star Team, while senior forward Hampus Gustafsson (Ljungby, Sweden) was named the recipient of the Joe Tomasello Unsung Hero Award.
Becoming the first Warrior to earn all-region honors since Mike Collins '14 and Jordan Heywood '14 did so in the 2012-13 season, Delia added yet another postseason accolade after also being named a Hockey East Third Team All-Star and the league's Stop It Goaltending Champion. Delia was also named an All-Hockey East Writers and Broadcasters Association Second Team selection, as well. Finally, Delia also earned a pair of Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week and one Stop It Goaltender of the Month honors over the course of the season, as well as a finalist for the prestigious Hockey Humanitarian Award.
After missing a stretch of 11 straight games due to injury early in the season, Delia returned in mid-November and proceeded to put up the best goaltending figures of his career. The Rancho Cucamonga, California, native went on to post a 9-8-3 record in 21 starts/appearances to go alongside a 2.15 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage.
In 14 league games, Delia posted the top save percentage (.928) and third-best goals-against average (2.21) while owning the third-best win percentage (7-3-3, .654) amongst all conference goaltenders over the course of the league's 22-game regular season schedule. He did so despite missing nearly a half of the league season and was still able to surpass the minimum 40-percent of minutes played threshold to qualify for the league leader boards, demonstrating just how solid of a year he had between the posts.
Gustafsson, meanwhile, was Merrimack's top goal-scorer as part of a sensational final campaign with the Warriors. He lit the lamp a team-high 15 times, helping the Warriors finish seventh in Hockey East for the second straight season. Along the way, Gustafsson posted a career-best eight-game point streak (6-2--8) and notched the program's first hat trick in six years when he recorded a five-point outing (3g, 2a) in a road win at Boston College in February.
In 22 games against league competition, Gustafsson racked up eight goals and 19 points overall. He ranked tied for 23rd amongst all conference skaters in league scoring and was Merrimack's top scorer against other Hockey East schools.
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