(Article courtesy Nick Rappuhn, Augustana Athletic Communications)
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Josh Kotai of Augustana men’s hockey has been named a semifinalist for the 2025 Mike Richter Award, the Hockey Commissioners Association announced Thursday afternoon.
Kotai is one of 10 semifinalists for the award, awarded annually since 2014 to the top goaltender in men’s Division I hockey. The 10 semifinalists were selected from the watch list of 35 goaltenders released on Jan. 15 and were singled out by a panel of voters from across the hockey community.
Three finalists will be selected and announced in early March, setting up the announcement of this year’s Mike Richter Award winner during the weekend of the Men’s Frozen Four in St. Louis, Missouri, in April.
This season, Kotai holds a record of 15-7-3 with a goals-against average of 1.76 and a save percentage of .943. He ranks in the top 10 nationally in goals-against average, save percentage and shutouts. Kotai has garnered two HCA Co-National Goalie of the Month awards (October and January).
The sophomore goaltender hails from Abbotsford, British Columbia where he played junior hockey for the Battleford North Stars in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. In his final season of junior hockey, Kotai recorded a 32-4-3 record for the North Stars.
2025 Mike Richter Award Semifinalists
Trey Augustine, Michigan State (Big Ten)*
Albin Boija, Maine (Hockey East)
Matt Davis, Denver (NCHC)
Jacob Fowler, Boston College (Hockey East)*
Thomas Gale, Holy Cross (Atlantic Hockey)
Josh Kotai, Augustana (CCHA)
Simon Latkoczy, Omaha (NCHC)
Cameron Rowe, Western Michigan (NCHC)
Alex Tracy, Minnesota State (CCHA)
Lawton Zacher, Brown (ECAC Hockey)
*2024 Semifinalist
Alex Tracy (Minnesota State) joins Kotai as a semifinalist as they both represent the CCHA.
Five goalies come from the United States, three from Canada, and one from Slovakia and Sweden. Two of the U.S. goalies come from Illinois. One is a graduate student, one is a senior, four are juniors, and four are sophomores. Two were semi-finalists last year: Trey Augustine (Michigan State) and Jacob Fowler (Boston College).
The six NCAA Division I conferences are all represented among the semifinalists with the NCHC boasting three goalies, the CCHA and Hockey East each with two, and the Big Ten, Atlantic Hockey, and ECAC Hockey each with one.
Past Richter Award Recipients: 2014 – Connor Hellebuyck, UMass Lowell; 2015 – Zane McIntyre, North Dakota; 2016 – Thatcher Demko, Boston College; 2017 – Tanner Jaillet, Denver; 2018 – Cale Morris, Notre Dame; 2019 – Cayden Primeau, Northeastern; 2020 – Jeremy Swayman, Maine; 2021 – Jack LaFontaine, Minnesota; 2022 – Devon Levi, Northeastern; 2023 – Devon Levi, Northeastern; 2024 – Kyle McClellan, Wisconsin.
Augustana hockey returns to home ice this weekend. It will host Michigan Tech in its final CCHA contests of the season. The action will begin at 7:07 p.m. on Friday and the series concludes with a 6:07 p.m. pick drop on Saturday.
