Trey Augustine named semifinalist for Mike Richter Award

Trey Augustine has been one of the best goalies in college hockey and everyone is starting to take notice.

On Wednesday, the semifinalists for the Mike Richter Award were announced and Michigan State was represented on the list. Freshman goaltender Trey Augustine was named as one of the semifinalists up for the nation’s top goaltender award.

Congrats to our freshman netminder Trey Augustine, one of the semifinalists for the Mike Richter Award as the nation's top goaltender!#GoGreen pic.twitter.com/nFcYYHkSAN

— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) February 14, 2024

The award has been given out to the best goaltender in college hockey during the regular season since 2014 when Connor Hellebuyck won it. The award is named after former Wisconsin goaltender Mike Richter who is widely considered as one of the greatest American-born players in NHL history. He played in 666 games at the NHL level and in 32 games internationally competing for Team USA. Richter was a three-time All-Star for the New York Rangers and won them a Stanley Cup in 1994. Internationally, he won bronze in the 1986 World Junior Championships, Gold at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, and Silver at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic games.

In total there are 10 semifinalists.

The entire list is as followed:

• Trey Augustine, freshman, Michigan State
• Ryan Bischel, grad transfer, Notre Dame
• Justen Close, grad transfer, Minnesota
• Vinny Duplessis, senior, Quinnipiac
• Jacob Fowler, freshman, Boston College
• Kaidan Mbereko, sophomore, Colorado College
• Kyle McClellan, senior, Wisconsin
• Tommy Scarfone, junior, RIT
• Ian Shane, junior, Cornell
• Jake Sibell, junior, St. Thomas

As you can see, Trey Augustine is just one of two freshmen to be named as a semifinalist. So far this season. he ranks fourth in college hockey with three shutouts and 18 wins. He is 13th nationally with a .917 save percentage. He has 844 saves in total season, which is fourth nationally. As far as overall time played, his 1,587 minutes ranks him 10th nationally and is the most for any freshman.

Augustine has been a crucial part of the Spartans’ resurgence this year. He has played in all but two games for MSU this season. During those two games, he was still overseas finishing up competing in the World Junior Championships, where he lead Team USA to a Gold Medal going a perfect 4-0 in games played there.

Trey is also the only player on the list who is from the state of Michigan. He becomes the second-ever MSU goaltender to be named a semifinalist for the award. Jake Hildebrand in 2015 was the other.

The finalists will be trimmed down to three and will be named sometime in March. The winner will be named at the Frozen Four in St Paul, Minn., on April 12.

Congratulations to Trey. Go Green.