March 26, 2022

By Fred Liggett
FredL@lstribune.net

The Kansas City Mavericks are currently enjoying a season long 10 day break from playing games.

When the team returns to the ice they have eight regular season games left to play and all of them will be against division rivals Allen or Wichita.

Whenever the Mavericks are at work, one can be certain that veteran forward Anthony DeLuca is in the middle of the action. DeLuca, a 27-year-old Montreal Canada native, was put to work by Mavs head coach Tad O’Had as soon as he became a Maverick. The results have been good for the Mavs as last weekend’s games up in Rapid City showed fans and teammates alike.

The left-handed forward made the game tying goal in the Friday, Mar. 18 game against the Rush. The very next night DeLuca was at it again as he scored the first Mavs goal of the game with just 13 seconds left in the first period. Doing well in the ECHL is nothing new for Deluca who has been in the league as well as overseas for a number of years.

DeLuca previous playing experience in the ECHL was with the Trois-Rivieres Lions this season. Before the 2021-22 season he has spent time with the Brampton Beast, Wichita Thunder and the Alaska Aces. Before returning to the ECHL DeLuca played overseas with the Sheffield Steelers in the UK, where he was re-signed to begin the 2021 season with the team.

DeLuca is enjoying playing with the current edition of the Mavericks but earlier in his career enjoyed playing with two former Mavs. Anthony played with former Mavs Sebastien Sylvestre and Loic Leduc with Rimouski Oceanic of the QMJHL in 2013-14 season. A year later they won the QMJHL championship in 2014-15 and DeLuca led the team with 44 goals.

Check out DeLuca and the rest of the Mavericks when they host rival Wichita Thunder on Saturday, Apr. 2. The fun begins inside the Cable Dahmer Arena when the puck drops at 7:05 p.m.