Mark Dekanich

Mark Adam Dekanich (born May 10, 1986) is a Croatian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He was selected by the Nashville Predators in the fifth round (146th overall) of the 2006 NHL entry draft.

Playing career As a youth, Dekanich played in the 2000 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Burnaby. He later played four years of collegiate hockey at Colgate University.

During his sophomore season at Colgate, Dekanich started 36 of Colgate’s 39 games where he set a then-school-record of 988 saves. He ranked first in the ECACHL conference for the 2005–06 season with a .924 save percentage and was subsequently named to the all-ECAC first team and won the Ken Dryden Award as the ECAC Goaltender of the Year.

In his junior season, Dekanich started 36 of Colgate’s 40 games where he broke his single-season saves record with .993. Although his postseason ended early due to injury, he was selected to the all-ECAC second team and ECAC all-academic team.

On December 3, 2010, the Nashville Predators called Dekanich up from the Milwaukee Admirals, however he did not make his NHL debut until December 18, 2010 when he played 50 minutes against the Los Angeles Kings in relief of the Predators' starter Anders Lindbäck.

On July 3, 2011, Dekanich was signed as a free agent by the Columbus Blue Jackets. However, he missed the majority of the 2011–12 season recovering from reconstructive ankle surgery. On July 6, 2012, Dekanich left the Blue Jackets organization and signed as a free agent to a one-year, contract with the Winnipeg Jets.

On May 20, 2013, Dekanich signed his first European contract with Croatian team KHL Medveščak, which competed in the KHL for the 2013–14 season.

After two seasons in Zagreb, Dekanich returned to North America, signing a one-year ECHL contract with the South Carolina Stingrays on September 10, 2015. He was invited to AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, training camp prior to the 2015–16 season, and was signed to an AHL contract with the club before he was returned to the Stingrays on October 15, 2015.

On August 18, 2016, Dekanich signed an AHL contract with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He most recently played for the Reading Royals of the ECHL. In November 2018, Dekanich announced his retirement on Twitter.

He currently runs his own strength and conditioning business by the name of Dexshow High Performance.

Records Dekanich currently holds the Milwaukee Admirals single season records in both save percentage (0.931) and goals against average (2.02).

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP W L T/OT MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV% 2002–03 Coquitlam Express BCHL 20 3 11 0 1059 83 0 4.70 .874 — — — — — — — — 2003–04 Coquitlam Express BCHL 30 13 15 1 1647 89 2 3.24 .909 — — — — — — — — 2004–05 Colgate University ECAC 5 1 1 0 161 5 0 1.85 .904 — — — — — — — — 2005–06 Colgate University ECAC 36 18 11 6 2126 81 4 2.29 .924 — — — — — — — — 2006–07 Colgate University ECAC 36 15 17 4 2136 83 1 2.33 .923 — — — — — — — — 2007–08 Colgate University ECAC 41 18 16 6 2389 86 6 2.16 .924 — — — — — — — — 2008–09 Milwaukee Admirals AHL 30 15 10 2 1663 58 1 2.09 .923 — — — — — — — — 2009–10 Milwaukee Admirals AHL 49 27 16 0 2804 109 4 2.33 .914 7 3 4 408 19 1 2.79 .909 2009–10 Cincinnati Cyclones ECHL 2 2 0 0 125 1 1 0.48 .981 — — — — — — — — 2010–11 Milwaukee Admirals AHL 43 23 13 5 2500 84 4 2.02 .931 — — — — — — — — 2010–11 Nashville Predators NHL 1 0 0 0 50 3 0 3.60 .880 — — — — — — — — 2011–12 Springfield Falcons AHL 5 1 2 1 240 16 0 4.00 .867 — — — — — — — — 2012–13 St. John's IceCaps AHL 35 16 14 1 1914 95 2 2.98 .895 — — — — — — — — 2013–14 KHL Medveščak Zagreb KHL 27 11 9 6 1630 58 3 2.13 .936 2 0 2 118 7 0 3.57 .890 2014–15 KHL Medveščak Zagreb KHL 12 0 10 0 591 47 0 4.76 .838 — — — — — — — — 2015–16 South Carolina Stingrays ECHL 35 20 9 4 2004 72 2 2.16 .925 10 5 4 603 17 2 1.69 .922 2015–16 Hershey Bears AHL 1 0 1 0 59 4 0 4.09 .818 — — — — — — — — 2016–17 Reading Royals ECHL 39 21 12 1 2189 111 1 3.04 .910 6 2 2 406 11 0 1.62 .954 2016–17 Lehigh Valley Phantoms AHL 1 0 0 0 33 5 0 9.10 .839 — — — — — — — — 2017–18 Reading Royals ECHL 34 13 15 0 1975 101 3 3.07 .906 — — — — — — — — NHL totals 1 0 0 0 50 3 0 3.60.880 — — — — — — — —

Awards and honours Award Year College All-ECAC Hockey First Team 2006 Ken Dryden Award2006 All-ECAC Hockey Second Team 2007 All-ECAC Hockey Third Team 2008