On a Sunday night in early March, Notre Dame lost at Minnesota in the Big Ten Conference hockey quarterfinals that marked the end of Tory Dello’s college career and the beginning of a sequence of events he’ll never forget.
The defenseman joined his teammates on the bus back to South Bend, hopped in his car for a quick visit home to Crystal Lake and his attention turned to what was next. Dello had agreed to an amateur contract tryout with Toledo in the ECHL with the plan to play next season with the Grand Rapids Griffins in the AHL.
He left for Toledo on a Tuesday but by the next night, amid the emerging cloud of the coronavirus scare, his career went light speed into a chaotic, brief and unforgettable 24 hours. Even now, with Dello back home and practicing social isolating, the head-spinning event is hard to believe.
"It was certainly pretty crazy," Dello said.
"That young man will have a great story to tell when he gets older," said Griffins coach Ben Simon.
Dello was excited about joining Toledo. The 23-year-old had just finished a 154-game collegiate career and was the Irish's alternate captain this season. He moved into an apartment on Tuesday, March 10, and the next day participated in a morning skate ahead of the Walleye's game that night. He left to grab something to eat when he got a call from Walleye coach Dan Watson.
"He told me I had to come back and pick up my gear because they needed me in Grand Rapids," Dello said.
Simon called next, a few minutes later, around 11:30 a.m.
"He told to make sure I got something to eat because, like, you're playing," Dello said.
Gulp.
So, he hopped in his car, set his GPS and headed out.
In Grand Rapids, the Griffins' coaches arrived to work that morning to major issues with a game looming that night. Defenseman Dennis Cholowski was sick and was out. That dropped the Griffins to six available defensemen. Simon then walked by the training room and blueliner Alec McCrea had his shirt off with splotches all over his back and stomach. He was having an allergic reaction to something he ate and was experiencing slight trouble breathing. That put him on the shelf, too.
The loss of two defensemen in one morning was a big oh-oh.
"We didn't really know what we were going to do other than we needed to find a defenseman," Simon said.
The staff considered forward Dominik Shine, who had some experience at defense. Simon and his assistants scanned the Toledo roster, but found few options as injuries had also hit the Walleye.
"What about Dello?"
Simon recalled Watson had mentioned Dello's name, but there were concerns. Did they really want to send a rookie fresh off campus into the teeth of a playoff push against second-place Iowa, a team the Griffins were chasing?
Simon, who played at Notre Dame from 1996-2000, was intrigued the more he spoke with assistants, the brass in Detroit and finally with Notre Dame assistant coach Andy Slaggert, Simon's former coach. Slaggert assured him: Dello won't let you down.
"He gave him a solid recommendation," Simon said. "Tell him what you need out of him, lay it out and he won't let you down."
Meantime, Dello pushed on toward Grand Rapids. He arrived about 3 p.m. after a quick stop at Jimmy John's. He checked into an apartment and dropped off his gear that was jammed in the trunk.
By 4 p.m. he was taking a physical, signing forms, meeting as many players as he could and checking out a couple videos with Simon and staff. Meantime, the equipment managers found the letters to make a "Dello" on a number 20.
At 7:10 p.m., before a crowd just shy of 5,400, the puck dropped and Dello took to the ice minutes later for his first pro game. He was paired with Charle-Edouard D'Astous - coincidentally, his new apartment-mate who was playing in just his third pro game. Dello was filled with nerves at what was happening and determination to keep it simple.
"I really didn't have time to be nervous," he said with a laugh. "I got thrown in there. I go on the ice my first shift, get a puck and it bounces over my stick and I went, 'oh, no.' But I made a good recovery, got more comfortable and kept it simple from there."
The next two hours and 21 minutes were a blur for Dello as the Griffins defeated the Wild, 4-1 in a thriller decided in the final minute before a pair of empty-net goals. Dello survived. No big mistakes in about 15 minutes of ice time.
Three days after his final college game and just hours after going through pre-game skate with Toledo, Tory Dello makes his AHL debut with Griffins. (Mark Newman | Grand Rapids Griffins)
"After his first shift he settled in really, really nicely," Simon said. "All things considered with what he went through, he did well. You could tell he was a smart guy. He didn't put himself into binds and kept it simple. And, as a young defenseman, that's a good thing."
It was the last game the Griffins played. The next day, March 12, the league suspended the season amid the coronavirus.
Now, back in Crystal Lake, he's is like every other player - bored and waiting.
"I've been thinking about that game quite a bit. I was happy with the way I played under the circumstances," Dello said. "I feel fortunate that, before all this virus stuff happened, I was able to get at least one game of experience."
The Griffins announced March 23 he had been signed to a one-year contract for 2020-21.
“Obviously, I would have liked to have seen more of him; to see what he’s about after a few games,” Simon said. “But from the people I talk to and trust, he can be a really good defenseman. He left here making a good impression.”
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