Anthony De Luca of the Concordia Stingers is the 2016-17 recipient of the Clare Drake Award for Men's Hockey Rookie of the Year. He is the first ever Concordia hockey player to win the award.
The five-foot-10, 210-pound forward ranked second in U SPORTS for goals scored with 24 and fourth in scoring with 43 points.
A first team OUA East all-star, the Rosemere, Que. native proved to be the most dangerous player in the conference while on the man-advantage, as he scored a league-high 13 goals on the power-play.
He helped the Stingers finish the regular season with 19 wins and 40 points in 28 games making the 2016-17 regular season their best in more than 30 years.
“Anthony is a pure goal scorer and he was a big offensive threat for us, especially on the power play,” said Concordia head coach Marc-André Élement. “It’s been a long time since Concordia has had someone with that skill level on the ice.
“He has a powerful shot. He’s strong on the puck. It’s not easy to play against a guy like that. He’s a game changer.”
Previously, De Luca spent three seasons in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with the Rimouski Océanic. In the junior ranks, he played 202 career games picking up 101 goals and 108 assists for 209 points. Rimouski won the QMJHL championship in 2015.
