To the surprise of no one who has followed Air Force hockey over the past year, senior goaltender Billy Christopoulos was selected to the Mike Richter Award watch list on Thursday.
Billy Christopoulos
The Richter is given to the top goaltender in college hockey. Christopoulos is the second Falcons goaltender to be the watch list in the six years the award has existed. Shane Starrett not only was on the watch list but was a semifinalist in 2017, when Denver’s Tanner Jaillet won the Richter.
Christopoulos is coming off a banner junior season, his first as the Falcons’ full-time starter. He played more minutes than any goalie in the nation (2,534) and his 23 wins led Atlantic Hockey and were the third most in Division I.
His overall goals-against average (2.06) led AHC and was 11th in D-I, while his save percentage (.922) was second in AHC and 12th in the nation. He made 1,026 saves, the fourth most in Air Force history and the most in 45 years.
Christopoulos saved his best for last. He fashioned a 214-minute shutout streak in the Falcons’ final four games of the AHC tournament, which he was named the MVP of. That was the second-longest in program history to Andrew Volkening’s 262-minute streak during the 2008-09 campaign. In the NCAA West Regional, he made 39 saves in the Falcons’ victory over top-seeded St. Cloud State. He made the West Regional all-tournament team as well.
Two other Atlantic Hockey goalies are on the watch list: Francis Marrotte of Robert Morris and Daniel Urbani of Canisius.
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