Why the Mike Richter Award May Not be Much of a Race This Season: Puck Drop

The best goaltender honor in college hockey is the Mike Richter Award, given annually since 2014, named in honor of the Wisconsin great who also got a degree for Yale, and had a Hall of Fame career with the New York Rangers. The selection process begins with a watch list of 32 candidates, is narrowed to 10, and then four finalists after the regular season ends.

As we near the one-third point of the regular season for most programs outside of the Ivy League, not only is there already a clear leader, but Michigan State junior Trey Augustine might be the equivalent to when golf fans used to ask "Who do you have, the field or Tiger Woods?"

Last season, the finalists were Augustine, Maine sophomore Albin Boija, Boston College sophomore Jacob Fowler, and Minnesota State junior Alex Tracy. Fowler ended up winning, the fifth Hockey East player in seven years to take home the trophy.

Here's what it took: In 2024-25, the Melbourne, Fla. product finished with a 1.63 goals against average, a .940 save percentage, and seven shutouts, which were all in the top three of the nation. The goals against average was the lowest ever by a Boston College goaltender who had played a minimum of 15 games. Fowler was also a finalist for the award after his freshman year, which is the kind of thing that can sway a lot of voters.

The key, though, was his record of 25-7-2, including 14-1-1 against ranked opponents. He posted shutouts against two of the teams who had finalists, plus he had a season-high 43 saves in a 5-1 victory against Michigan State.

With that in mind, consider Augustine's season thus far in the Big Ten:

• While No. 1 Michigan State has played 10 games, he's started nine of them and is 8-1. The wins last weekend during the sweep of Notre Dame gave him 50 for his career. Only three other active goaltenders have reached that milestone. He's 4-0 against ranked teams this season, which at the time were No. 1 and No. 3.

• The only goaltenders with more wins this season are UMD sophomore Adam Gajan and Michigan freshman Jack Ivankovic, who are both 11-3, and RIT sophomore Jakub Krbecek (9-1), who is the only goalie with five or more starts with a better winning percentage.

• Goals against average: His 1.322 average is third in the nation, and while Augustine has played 544 minutes this season no one else in the top five has more than 296. Among top-10 teams the only goaltender near him is Denver freshman Quentin Miller, seventh at 1.577. Boija's 2.203 is 28th. North Dakota freshman Jan Špunar is second at 1,260, but he has half the minutes of teammate Gibson Homer, a senior.

• Augustine's .948 save percentage is third in the nation. First is Emmett Croteau of Dartmouth (.960) and Cornerll's Alexis Cournoyer (.953), but they combined have seven wins. Right behind him are Northeastern junior goaltender Lawton Zacher (.943), with Miller and Krbecek both at .942). Boija's .912 is 43rd.

Note: Zacher, who transferred from Brown, may be the challenger to watch. He posted a 1-0 shutout against Denver last month and has a 1.80 GAA (11th). However, he's 7-3 after the back-to-back comeback losses against Connecticut last weekend, dropping him to 4-2 against ranked opponents.

Here's the kicker: Last year, Augustine had a 2.08 GAA and .924 save percentage, with a 19-7-4 record and three shutouts. Not only is he on pace to top those numbers, but Fowler's from his award-winning season as well.

50 wins to his name and he's not done yet!

Trey Augustine is one of just four active DI goaltenders to reach the 50 career victory milestone pic.twitter.com/iCP5SsQW15
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) November 18, 2025

Puck Drop: Thursday, November 20, 2025

• The International Ice Hockey Federation made neck guards mandatory for hockey players participating in the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. NHL players will be required to wear them beginning next season.

• The Boston Bruins announced that former Boston University defenseman Charlie McAvoy will be out indefinitely after having facial surgery, He was struck by a slapshot against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.

• Recruiting news: center Zach Wooten (Green Bay Gamblers) committed to Wisconsin for 2026-27, center Sebastien Gervais (Saginaw Spirit) has committed to Clarkson, while his OHL teammate James Gou, a defenseman, committed to RPI. Meanwhile,

• Sharks' Macklin Celebrini Ignites New Tradition

Wednesday's Scores

MEN
Non-Conference
Brown 5, Alaska-Anchorage 2

Off the draw #EverTrue pic.twitter.com/aWl38IPWYu
— Brown Men's Hockey (@BrownU_MHockey) November 20, 2025

Games between ranked opponents are bolded. All times are local to where the game is being played.

Thursday's Schedule

MEN
Hockey East
No. 17 Massachusetts at No. 16 Providence, 7 p.m. ET

Non-Conference
Alaska-Anchorage at Holy Cross, 7 p.m. ET

WOMEN
ECAC
No. 7 Quinnipiac at Princeton, 6 p.m. ET

WCHA
No. 15 St. Thomas at No. 1 Wisconsin, 7 p.m. CT

This Date in Hockey History:

November 20, 1900: Hall of Fame forward Billy Burch was born in Yonkers, N.Y.

November 20, 1928: The Boston Bruins played their first game in Boston Garden, but lost 1-0 to rival Montreal.

November 20, 1966: Vermont goaltender Tom Draper was born in Outremont, Quebec.

November 20, 1979: Former Penn left wing Paul Stewart, who went on to officiate more than 1,000 NHL games and be inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, made his debut with the Quebec Nordiques. He got into a fight with Terry O’Reilly, Stan Jonathan, and Al Secord of the Boston Bruins, all in the first period.

November 20, 1987: The New York Rangers traded former UMD defenseman Curt Giles to the Minnesota North Stars minor-league center Byron Lomow and future consideration.

November 20, 1988: Former Michigan left wing Max Pacioretty was born in New Canaan, Conn.

November 20, 1997: The Minnesota NHL expansion franchise announced its six finalists names for the team nickname, the Blue Ox, Freeze, Northern Lights, Voyageurs, White Bears, and Wild.

November 20, 1988: The Chicago Blackhawks retired the No. 1 of Glenn Hall and No. 35 of former Michigan Tech goaltender Tony Esposito on the same night at Chicago Stadium. However, the Blackhawks lost 7-4 to Vancouver.

November 20, 2001: Former Minnesota defenseman Ben Clymer scored his second straight game-winning-goal as the Tampa Bay Lightning came back from a two-goal deficit to defeat Anaheim 3-2.

November 20, 2003: Dan Fritsche became the first Ohio-born player to score a goal for the Columbus Blue Jackets during in a 3-0 win over Detroit.

November 20, 2014: In a swap of former Lake Superior State teammates the Edmonton Oilers acquired center Kellan Lain from the Vancouver Canucks for Will Acton.

November 20, 2018: Benilde-St. Margaret's High School in St. Louis Park, Minn., retired the No. 19 of former player and USA Gold Medal Olympian Kelly Pannek.

Hockey Quote of the Day

“I was realizing how often the puck just barely misses you, or all these goalies that go into desperation, and they might make the save, but they didn’t need to go into desperation — or, at least, I didn’t think they needed to. I started morphing my game into staying calm and trying to get ahead of it and trusting you’re going to get there. I was watching a lot of goals go in and analyzing what the goalies did for them, and started to realize that you can just move and stay in position and still give yourself the best chance of making saves."
Connor Hellebuyck (UMass Lowell)

We'll Leave You With This ...

2026 Winter Classic uniform matchup is set. pic.twitter.com/9J65FMqXh3
— NFL Fashion Advice (@fashion_nfl) November 19, 2025