Growing up, Colton Dach was always motivated to beat his older brother Kirby Dach and now, he looks to use that same motivation to make the Chicago Blackhaws’ opening night roster.
Colton is truly a younger brother at heart.
Both Colton and Kirby were top-notch hockey players with aspirations of making the NHL from a young age.
Kirby is two years older than Colton, so Colton adapted a mentality to beat his older brother anyway he can, which is a mindset he now has transferred over to his professional career.
“I grew up with Kirby and he was always an older guy and I always challenged myself to beat him every time we would do something, so I just kind of look at it that way,” Dach said. “I’m going in here and trying to earn a spot and take a job and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Kirby was selected by the Blackhawks with the third overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft and played a couple of seasons for the organization before getting traded to the Montreal Canadiens in 2022.
Colton was picked by the Blackhawks in the second round of the 2021 draft.
This past season, Colton was with the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL and he was playing well as he had 11 goals, 16 assists and 27 points in 48 games. However, his season was cut short after suffering a concussion.
“Last year I came in, I thought I had a really good camp,” Dach said. “I proved to them I can play in the NHL. I came to camp with the mindset of making the team last year and it did sting a little bit getting that phone call. … I wanted to do that first and foremost and obviously the injuries, they sucked, but they build adversity and come back this year ready to play.”
“It’s always frustrating, especially when you miss a long period of time over things you can’t really control, but in the end, there’s a path that’s going to be for me and I just gotta take that one step at at time. And with those injuries, it allows me to work on little areas of my game that need to improve, so I took that time to try and improve my game.”
Now, Dach has a real chance to make the Blackhawks’ opening night roster and it’s safe to say he is pretty confident in his chances.
“I know the player I can be, I know the player I can be in the NHL,” Dach said. “I showed glimpses of it in the NHL last year and that’s just the game I need to play 100 percent of the time to stay up here.”
Keep an eye out for Colton because he doesn’t just want to make the NHL but he is hungry and determined to show everyone what he is capable of.
