Colin Bilek (born June 4, 1997) is an American professional ice hockey right wing who is currently playing with the Indy Fuel in the ECHL. He previously played collegiate hockey with the United States Military Academy. He was an All-American for Army.

Playing career

Bilek began his college career in 2018 with little fanfare. The undrafted forward signed on with the

Army Black Knights The Army Black Knights are the athletic teams that represent the United States Military Academy, located in West Point, New York. In sports contexts, since 2015, the teams are commonly referred to as Army. The Black Knights compete at the Nation ...

, a program that typically serves as the last final chapter in a young player's career before moving on to a different professional career. Bilek spent his first two seasons providing moderate offensive numbers. He game showed a small improvement as a sophomore despite having his season cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was named team captain entering his junior season and Bilek responded with a tremendous offensive outburst. While playing eleven fewer games, he more than doubled his goal production, finishing among the national leaders with 18 markers in just 22 games. The stunning performance earned his a spot on the All-American team and put the Black Knights in a position to earn a NCAA Tournament bid for the first time. Unfortunately, Army fell in the conference semifinals and were ultimately left out of the bracket. On July 27, 2022, Bilek embarked on his professional career after signing a one-year AHL contract with the Manitoba Moose, the primary affiliate to the Winnipeg Jets. In the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season, Bilek was initially assigned to make his professional debut with ECHL club, Trois-Rivières Lions. He was later recalled to the Moose and featured in 2 games for the club before returning to the Lions. Bilek added 14 goals and 23 points in 45 games with Trois-Rivières before he was traded by the Moose to the Rockford IceHogs for future considerations and immediately assigned to continue in the ECHL with the Indy Fuel on February 27, 2023.

Career statistics

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bilek, Colin 1997 births Living people American men's ice hockey right wingers Ice hockey people from Michigan People from Brighton, Michigan Sportspeople from Livingston County, Michigan AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans Army Black Knights men's ice hockey players Indy Fuel players Manitoba Moose players Rockford IceHogs (AHL) players Trois-Rivières Lions players 21st-century American sportsmen