It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to proclaim the 2008-09 season as the Year of the Goaltender. While gaudy statistics from netminders is nothing new, the number of backstops who played at All-American levels was quite impressive.

That said, there was really only one choice for INCH National Goaltender of the Year. Northeastern’s Brad Thiessen keyed the Huskies’ return to national prominence, guiding his team to within a whisker of the Hockey East regular-season title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament, the school’s first in 15 years.

The first Northeastern player to earn Hockey East Player of the Year honors, Thiessen’s .931 save percentage was tops in the league and fourth nationally and 2.12 goals against average was third in the conference and 12th in the country. No goalie in the country made more saves and only Minnesota Duluth’s Alex Stalock and Air Force’s Andrew Volkening played more minutes.

His importance to his team was heightened by a Huskies’ offense that was rather average — Northeastern ranked 24th in the nation in scoring offense at 2.95 goals per game, but Thiessen, who became just the third player in NU history to be named a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award allowed one or fewer goals in 16 of his starts. During his career, the Huskies improved from 13 wins in his freshman season to 16 wins during his sophomore campaign to 25 victories this past season.

Instead of returning to Northeastern for his senior season, Thiessen opted to embark on a professional career by signing with the Pittsburgh Penguins earlier this month. Still, the high spirits for hockey on Huntington Avenue will continue to grow thanks to what Thiessen and others started.

His runner-up: Zane Kalemba, Princeton

- Written by Mike Eidelbes