2024 Richter Award Trio Announced

The three finalists for the Mike Richter Award as the top goaltender in NCAA Division I men's ice hockey this year were announced last week:

Jacob Fowler, Fr., Boston College (29-5-1, 2.19, .925)

Kaidan Mbereko, So., Colorado College (21-15-1, 2.41, .905)

Kyle McClellan, Sr., Wisconsin (24-11-1, 1.92, .931)

(Stats indicate record, goals-against average, and save percentage for 2023-24, through March 27)

Fowler and McClelland will lead their respective schools into the 2024 NCAA regionals this weekend, while Mbereko's season ended with CC's 2-1 loss to Omaha in the NCHC tournament on March 17. The Tigers ultimately missed the NCAAs by just .0004 points in the Pairwise Rankings, which mimic the NCAA tournament selection process.

This year's winner will be announced during the NCAA Frozen Four in St. Paul next month. Current Buffalo Sabres netminder Devon Levi (Northeastern) was the recipient of the award the last two seasons, the first two-time winner since it was first handed out in 2014.

2024 Richter Award Semifinalists Named

The list of the 10 semifinalists for the 2024 Mike Richter Award as the top goaltender in NCAA Division I men's hockey was released last week (name, grade, school, and conference):

• Trey Augustine, Fr., Michigan State (Big Ten)

• Ryan Bischel, Grad., Notre Dame (Big Ten)

• Vinny Duplessis, Dr., Quinnipiac (ECAC Hockey)

• Jacob Fowler, Fr., Boston College (Hockey East)

• Kaidan Mbereko, So., Colorado College (NCHC)

• Kyle McClellan, Sr., Wisconsin (Big Ten)

• Tommy Scarfone, Jr., RIT (Atlantic Hockey)

• Ian Shane, Jr., Cornell (ECAC Hockey)

• Jake Sibell, Jr., St. Thomas (CCHA)

The award, which is named for former NHL and U.S. Olympic goaltender Mike Richter (Wisconsin), has been presented every year since its inception in 2014, and the winner will again be named at the NCAA Frozen Four. The winner in each of the last two seasons was current NHL goaltender Devon Levi (Northeastern), the first two-time recipient in the history of the award.

U.S. Eliminated at 2022 World Juniors

The United States will not repeat as IIHF World Junior champions. 

Following four wins in four preliminary group-play games, Team USA fell to the Czech Republic (Czechia), 4-2, in the quarterfinal round on Wednesday night in Edmonton, and was eliminated from medal contention.

Logan Cooley (Minnesota) and Carter Mazur (Denver) scored for the Americans, but three Czech goals in-between which spanned the first and second period proved to be the difference. The U.S. also had to kill off two five-minute power plays in the third period, while trailing by two goals at the time. 

Czechia finally iced the contest on an empty-net tally with 32 seconds remaining in regulation, after U.S. goaltender Kaidan Mbereko (Colorado College) had been pulled for an extra attacker. Mbereko finished with 20 saves on the night.

Team USA, which had outscored its opposition by a 22-4 margin through its first four games, was seeking to win consecutive WJC gold medals for the first time ever, having claimed gold in 2021 in Edmonton. The Czechs will now play host Canada, a 6-1 winner over Switzerland last night, in the semifinals.