March 3, 2014
Minneapolis, Minn. – Notre Dame senior goaltender Steven Summerhays (Anchorage, Alaska) has been selected as one of 18 candidates for the inaugural Mike Richter Award that will honor the top goaltender in NCAA hockey. The award, sponsored by Let’s Play Hockey and the Herb Brooks Foundation, will be presented at the 2014 NCAA Frozen Four in Philadelphia, Pa.
Candidates for the award were determined by nominations from the 59 Division I NCAA men’s hockey head coaches. A committee of coaches, scouts and members of the media will select the finalists and award winner.
The criteria for the Mike Richter Award includes: outstanding skill on the ice; being in good academic standing at an NCAA college or university; consideration given for academic achievement and sportsmanship; candidates must comply with all NCAA rules; be full-time students and compete in 50% or more of their team’s games and should be active in the community.
Summerhays closed out the 2013-14 regular season last Saturday with a 2-1 overtime win at Boston College. That extended his current unbeaten streak to six games (5-0-1). During that streak, Summerhays owns a 0.82 goals-against average and a .970 save percentage while being a part of three consecutive Irish shutouts. During that span, he set a Notre Dame record, going 231:50 without giving up a goal.
For the season, Summerhays is 18-11-2 with a 1.87 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage. He leads the nation with seven shutouts and has been a part of eight whitewashings this year with the Irish. Nationally, he is sixth in goals-against average, 10th in save percentage, tied for fifth in wins and leads the nation with seven shutouts. As a team, Notre Dame is fourth nationally, giving up 2.00 goals per game and has eight shutouts.
Joining Summerhays among the 18 candidates are five others from Hockey East – Thatcher Demko (Fr., Boston College), Jon Gillies (So., Providence), Connor Hellebucyk (So., UMass-Lowell), Martin Ouellette (Sr., Maine) and Clay Witt (Jr., Northeastern).
The other goaltenders among the 18 candidates are: Sam Brittian (Sr., Denver), Aaron Crandall (Sr., Minnesota-Duluth), Ryan Faragher (Jr., St. Cloud State), Jake Hildebrand (So., Michigan State), Andy Illes (Sr., Cornell), C.J. Motte (Jr., Ferris State), Zach Nagelvoort (Fr., Michigan), Joel Rumpel (Jr., Wisconsin), Jimmy Sarjeant (Jr., Mercyhurst), Colin Stevens (Jr., Union), Jason Torf (Sr., Air Force) and Adam Wilcox (So., Minnesota).
The award is named after Mike Richter who grew up playing youth hockey in Pennsylvania and New York before attending the University of Wisconsin for two seasons where he was the WCHA Freshman of the Year in 1986 and a second team all-WCHA selection in 1987.
He went on to play 14 years in the National Hockey League with the New York Rangers, helping the Rangers to the 1994 Stanley Cup, beating Vancouver in seven games.
Richter’s jersey (#35) was retired by the Rangers and his 301 wins are more than any other Ranger goaltender. He also played in three Olympic games (1988, 1998 and 2002), capturing the silver medal in 2002. In 1996, he led Team USA to the World Cup of Hockey championship in 1996 and was the tournament’s most valuable player.
He was inducted into the University of Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005 and the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2008.