OKLAHOMA CITY - The North American Hockey League named the Oklahoma Warriors its Organization of the Year at the 2023 NAHL Awards, and many individuals earned honors with season awards including Garrett Roth, winning Head Coach of the Year, Joey DelGreco winning Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, a spot on the NAHL All-Rookie Team and DelGreco and Owen Baumgartner named to the All-NAHL First Team. Additionally, Oklahoma’s Tim Verstraete was named runner up for Volunteer of the Year for his contributions to the team’s in-game production.
With Roth at the helm, the Oklahoma Warriors led the NAHL in points, wins, goals for and penalty kill percentage in their first season in Oklahoma. The Warriors’ off-ice success included charitable work to benefit Tinker Air Force Base, Fort Sill, SSM St. Anthony, OKCYHA, Oklahoma Humane Society, The Oklahoma Blood Institute and numerous elementary school gym class visits across Oklahoma City and its suburbs.
Baumgartner’s stellar year on the backend, which saw him set an all-time league record for points in a career by a defenseman with 119, earned him one of the two spots up for grabs by a blueliner on the All-NAHL First Team. Baumgartner finished sixth overall in defenseman scoring on the year and second best in points-per-game average out of defenders who skated in more than three games, with a 0.93. The Air Force Academy commit had a career year in points-per-game production and was two points shy of a career-best with 12 fewer games played.
DelGreco earned the titles of Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year as well as a rightful place in the top three forwards that make up the 2022-23 All-NAHL Team. The Grand Rapids, Minnesota, native led Oklahoma’s league-best offense with 69 (22G+47A) points in the regular season and ranked third in the entire 29-team NAHL. The Augustana University commit played in all 60 games for the Warriors, and recorded 13 more assists than the next closest first-year skater
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