This past weekend, the Grand Valley State men’s Division II club hockey team brought in yet another skilled player to the squad to help bolster their roster for a championship run.

Junior goalie Dylan Knox had a strong performance in his Laker debut on Saturday, Jan. 13, as he only allowed two goals and saved 92 percent of the 25 shots on goal in the win against Indiana University. 

Dylan Knox is a seasoned veteran when it comes to the college hockey circuit, as he previously played two years at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, along with playing all over the U.S. and Canada.

“I started playing hockey when I was 15, which is relatively late considering most guys start as soon as they can walk,” Knox said regarding his previous hockey experience. “I lived and played in Florida a couple years, moved to Massachusetts and lived there a few years, lived in Canada, lived in Maryland, and now I live here in Michigan.”

Knox brings some more experience to a GVSU roster full of veterans ready to make a run in the playoffs, as he has past experience in the Metropolitan Junior Hockey League, playing for the Florida Eels and the Boston Junior Rangers.

From there, he joined the Blind River Beavers in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League, helping to lead them to a quarterfinal appearance after missing the playoffs the previous year. Knox posted an impressive season for the Beavers, saving 88 percent of his shots in 28 regular-season games and saving 91 percent of his shots in the playoffs. 

Once it was time for him to play in college, Knox spent a year in Division III playing for the Rams of Framingham State before his two-year stint with UMBC. After UMBC’s team folded, Knox was left scrambling for a school to play with until he got a call from GVSU head coach Mike Forbes.

“When our program got canceled, it left me in a bit of a weird situation, but fortunately, when it happened, a couple schools reached out to me, and Grand Valley was one of them,” Knox said. “I knew about coach Forbes and how good the program was, so it sounded like a match for me and I decided to go for it.”

Once Knox made his decision to transfer to GVSU and move to Allendale, Forbes and the rest of the hockey program made the transition as smooth as possible for him.

“Coach Forbes gave me a call, and he said we’d love to bring you here and add some chemistry to the lineup,” Knox said. “He told me, ‘Our goal is to make a run at a championship, and we think you could be a part of that goal,’ and I was sold. Everything got transferred over, and here I am.”

Now that the transition is fully finished and Knox is playing for the team, he’s simply excited to get back to playing the position he has played since he was 15.

“I started out playing forward, and our team’s goalie (at the time) didn’t show up to practice, and they asked if anyone wanted to play goalie,” Knox said. “I happened to be the one kid crazy enough to raise my hand, and the rest is history.”

Knox joins a GVSU hockey team that is looking forward to making another run at the championship, and he hopes to do whatever he can to help this team on their quest for glory.

“This is a phenomenal program with a great coach, and all the guys have been fantastic,” Knox said. “They’ve had a great pedigree in the past, and I’m just excited to be a part of it all.”

The GVSU team looks primed for another year with postseason success, as they have posted an impressive 15-3-2 record with only one loss on the road. This team has the championship mentality, which is why Knox is the perfect edition.

“I want to win a national championship here, and anything less than that is something that nobody wants,” Knox said. “We’re all here to win the ultimate prize.”

GVSU looks to prepare for the playoffs and improve this weekend, as they have two matchups at DePaul University. The games are at the JIH West Arena. The game on Friday, Jan. 19, is at 9 p.m., and the game on Saturday, Jan. 20, is at 1:45 p.m.