Boston College goaltender Thatcher Demko has won the Mike Richter Award, honoring the best goaltender in collegiate hockey.
Demko finished the 2015-16 season with a .935 save percentage, just a fraction away from Parker Gahagen’s .937, which was the best mark in the nation. He received the award on the same day that he was named an AHCA/CCM Division I Second Team All-American in the East Region, with Yale’s Alex Lyon taking the First-Team honor.
Demko played 39 games — all but two Boston College games — and finished with a nation-leading 10 shutouts. That ties the second most ever in a single season by any college goaltender and leaves Demko just two shy of Cory Schneider’s 15 career shutouts at Boston College.
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A part of Demko’s national rankings being so impressive was that his Boston College Eagles played in Hockey East, one of the nation’s deepest conferences, year after year.
Demko, a Vancouver Canucks draft pick, stood tall against difficult competition and helped Boston College gain a berth in the Frozen Four tournament over the weekend, where they were eliminated in the semifinal by the No. 1 ranked Quinnipiac.
He not only backstopped the Eagles to the Frozen Four, he helped lead them to a Hockey East Regular Season Championship and a Beanpot Championship.
Demko is the third-ever winner of the Mike Richter Award, following Connor Hellebuyck and Zane McIntyre.
Canucks' GM Jim Benning will meet with Thatcher Demko, family and rep, tomorrow at noon in Tampa.
— John Shannon (@JShannonhl) April 8, 2016