{"id":440420,"date":"2026-02-01T20:56:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T20:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/440420\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T20:56:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T20:56:19","slug":"unforeseen-decision-has-dalton-delozier-rolling-for-hometown-demons-morning-journal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/440420\/","title":{"rendered":"Unforeseen decision has Dalton DeLozier rolling for hometown Demons \u2013 Morning Journal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes the best things in life are unexpected.<\/p>\n

Westlake senior Dalton DeLozier\u2019s hockey life has been different than most, having spent the majority of his high school career playing for the AAA Cleveland Barons. He intended to return to the U18 team for one last season, but there wasn\u2019t a spot for him.<\/p>\n

As a result, DeLozier finally got to do something he always wanted to do \u2014 play Westlake hockey.<\/p>\n

Both DeLozier and the team have benefited as he tallied 43 goals and 56 assists in the regular season while the Demons captured the Greater Cleveland High School Hockey League Blue North Division title and are the No. 1 seed in this week\u2019s Baron Cup.<\/p>\n

DeLozier called this the most fun season he\u2019s ever had, and it shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying with all of my friends, that\u2019s probably the biggest part of why it\u2019s been the most fun,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m playing with guys I\u2019ve grown up with my whole life. Now I finally get to play with them, and we\u2019ve worked so well together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DaltonDalton DeLozier and Westlake take on Mayfield on Jan. 30. (Brian Fisher for The News-Herald)<\/p>\n

DeLozier has played hockey since he was 4 years old and has gone to Westlake all his life. This is the first time he\u2019s been able to play with his friends. As previously stated, that wasn\u2019t the plan.<\/p>\n

Finding out he wasn\u2019t able to play for the Barons was difficult for DeLozier, but he made the best of it. Instead of chasing another opportunity and moving away, he decided to stay put.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty hard at first,\u201d DeLozier said. \u201cI was pretty set on it, playing AAA hockey for my final season. I had some options to go play in Philadelphia for another AAA club. It just didn\u2019t feel right to leave my senior year.\u201d<\/p>\n

That decision ended working out well, to say the least. DeLozier\u2019s numbers speak for themselves. He has five games with at least four goals and 10 goals with at least three assists. The senior also had a game of five goals and five assists in a 13-3 win over Orange in December.<\/p>\n

Not only has playing Westlake been memorable so far, but it has brought out his best on the ice, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is probably the best decision I could\u2019ve made, no doubt about it,\u201d DeLozier said. \u201cI did not expect any of this to happen at all. I expect to put up some points, but this year I\u2019ve just been able to get really creative and get out of my comfort zone. It\u2019s been really surprising to me as a player, and I honestly wish it would\u2019ve happened sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeLozier isn\u2019t doing it alone. Westlake has a talented team across the board. Junior Seth Schons has 41 goals and 41 assists for a total of 82 points and Luke Hyland has 29 goals and 42 assists.<\/p>\n

The Demons have a lot of firepower with DeLozier leading the charge.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a great kid,\u201d Westlake coach Brendan Teets said of DeLozier. \u201cHe comes from a great family. He is an all-around good person. He\u2019s going to be very successful in life. \u2026 It\u2019s great to have him. It\u2019s a great addition. At the end of the day, it\u2019s about the team. He definitely has some good hard workers around him as well as him making the passes. Dalton is the one making the play and getting to the right place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not only has DeLozier left his mark in his lone season at Westlake, he has a chance to leave a legacy. The Demons look for their first Baron Cup in program history and begin bracket play on Feb. 3.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been in this position before where we\u2019ve had a No. 1 or No. 2 seed and we just can\u2019t seem to pull it off come Baron Cup time. I\u2019m hoping this year is going to be different,\u201d Teets said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to keep working. This year, we\u2019re trying to pull off something new and win a Baron Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeLozier\u2019s most fun season is coming to a close. His hockey career isn\u2019t necessarily done just yet as he will attend Miami University and try to play club. With that said, he will soak in his final moments playing hockey for Westlake.<\/p>\n

\u201cWearing the Westlake jersey now, it\u2019s been an honor and it\u2019s been so fun,\u201d DeLozier said. \u201cThey\u2019ve accepted me. It\u2019s truly special.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WestlakeWestlake hockey player Dalton Delozier is the state’s top scorer this season. (Courtesy Westlake High School Athetics)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sometimes the best things in life are unexpected. Westlake senior Dalton DeLozier\u2019s hockey life has been different than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440421,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[1245,5,46359,43,53855],"class_list":{"0":"post-440420","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-high-school-sports","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-hs-hockey","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-westlake-demons"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}