BUFFALO – Canisius senior goaltender Charles Williams has been named a semifinalist for the Mike Richter Award, Let’s Play Hockey and the Herb Brooks Foundation announced Thursday.
Given annually to the most outstanding goaltender in NCAA men’ hockey, candidates for the Mike Richter Award were determined by nominations from all 60 NCAA Division I men’s hockey head coaches. The semifinalists, finalists and winner are selected by a committee of coaches, scouts and members of the media.
Candidates for the Mike Richter Award must display outstanding skills on the ice. They should be in good academic standing at an NCAA college or university and must have appeared in 50 percent or more of his team’s contests that season. Consideration should be given to academic achievement and sportsmanship while the candidate’s activities in the community should also factored into the nomination.
A native of Canton, Mich., Williams led the nation with a .944 save percentage and ranked second amongst all goaltenders with a 1.83 goals against average and five shutouts during the regular season. He has set school marks for wins (19) and shutouts (5) in a single season and is on pace to establish program records for goals against average and save percentage in a season.
Williams made 30 or more saves in 14 of 31 games played, and allowed one goal or fewer in 14 contests. Since the start of the 2017 calendar year, Williams has posted a 12-1-3 record with .951 save percentage and .155 goals against average. His lone loss in that span came in a 2-1 setback to then-No. 16 St. Lawrence on Jan. 7.
The five finalists for the fourth annual award will be announced on Thursday, March 23, with the winner presented on Friday, April 7 at the 2017 NCAA Men’s Frozen Four in Chicago.