St. Paul, MN – January 4th, 2024 – Minnesota Hockey is excited to announce that Joe Delich has accepted the position and will assume the role of Executive Director, Minnesota Hockey, beginning January 8th. Delich came to the search process with high recommendations from our great partners at the Minnesota Wild and others across the greater hockey community. Joe has demonstrated the professionalism, experience, skill, passion and values that Minnesota Hockey believes will make him an outstanding leader and advocate for our organization and its members now and into the future.

A product of Minnesota Hockey, Delich is a native of the Iron Range and came up through the Eveleth Youth Hockey Association and Eveleth High School. A graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Delich was a four-year letterman for Falcon hockey and later an assistant coach and recruiter. He would also spend time as an assistant coach at Colorado College. Delich played internationally with Team USA Hockey at the World University Games in Sofia, Bulgaria, served as a Scout for the Sioux Falls Stampede of the USHL, spent time on the coaching staff for the University of Minnesota Model Camp(s) and dedicated 10+ years to coaching boys and girls youth hockey across all age groups.  

On a professional level, Delich was a career Air Force officer, serving in numerous leadership and management roles. He has held senior-level management positions in the energy sector, served as the Chief Operating Officer of the non-profit STAR (Serving the American Rinks), was an assistant commissioner with College Hockey America (CHA) and holds a Ph.D. in Sport Management & Administration, where he has taught undergraduate and graduate sport business programs as an adjunct professor.

Joe and his wife Lisa currently reside in Andover, MN, where their daughter Merrill is a senior on the Andover Girls Hockey and Lacrosse High School team(s) and their son Dominic is an Andover Bantam AA and Lacrosse player. Delich currently volunteers as an assistant coach with the Huskies Bantam AA program.