NEWS

Former Kingston Voyageurs netminder Charlie Finn (photo credit - Jim Riswold/Colgate Athletics), now with the Colgate University Raiders, capped off an impressive month with another award, taking home the Hockey Commissioners' Association National Division I Player of the Month Award.

Born on January 16, 1993 and growing up in North Vancouver, B.C., Charlie Finn joined the Kingston Voyageurs in 2010 after playing his major midget season with the Vancouver NW Giants ‘AAA’ organization. Finn helped lead the Giants to the Mac’s Midget championship, earning 1st Team All-Star and Top Goaltender honours, as well as the BC Major Midget League title before falling to Red Deer two games to one in the Pacific Regional Championship. With his father’s family native to the Kingston-area (Napanee) and his brother’s attending Queen’s University, Finn moved-in with his aunt when he got the call from the Vees and after appealing to Hockey Canada to play out of province (due to his being under the age of 18), quickly proved his worth to the club and has been nothing short of sensational ever since.

During his rookie OJHL season in 2010-11, Finn would lead all netminder with a 1.92 goals against average, also the sixth best average in league history (dating back to 1992-93), to cop Top Goaltenders honour in the league and be named a South-East Conference 1st Team All-Prospect. Finn finished with a 23-4-3 record, 4 shutouts and a scintillating .937 save percentage. After facing injury disappointment early in 2011-12, he returned and would lead the sixth place Vees on a remarkable playoff run that saw them knock off both the heavily favoured Wellington Dukes and Trenton Golden Hawks before finally running out of steam in the East Division Final versus Whitby.

The 2012-13 season saw nothing but the same from the netminder. Finn was named the runner-up for Goaltender-of-the-Month in October and February, while winning the award in January.  He once again dominated the league statistically, topping many of the goaltending categories, including his 2.15 goals against average, .941 save percentage and eight shutouts.  He was awarded his second OJHL Top Goaltender Award for leading the league in goals against average, won the first-ever Best Goaltender Award and was named the 1st Team All-Star, Finn was instrumental in the club's second half surge that saw them break into the CJHL's Top 20 rankings after going 17-2 from mid-December until the end of the year.  His final record on the season was 25-10-4, the OJHL's fourth best win total, compiled in 39 games played, while his 1,348 saves was also fourth most and he played the seventh most minutes at 2,374:04.  Finn's efforts backstopped the Vees to the fifth best penalty-killing unit, allowing just 33 goals while shorthanded for an 85.53% efficiency.  The club would post a league-high 10 game winning streak on the season, as well as a nine game winning streak on the road, helping them finish second in the East Division to the regular season champion Trenton Golden Hawks.  Finn was the starting goalie for Team Canada East at the 2012 World Junior 'A' Challenge held in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and was selected to play for the OJHL East Division All-Stars at the 2012 Central Canada Cup, but would miss the event.  After marching the Vees to the North-East Conference Championship Series, Finn's OJHL career ended following a game seven overtime loss to Newmarket.

Below is the official press release from the Colgate Athletics website (www.gocolgateraiders.com):

Colgate's sophomore goaltender Charlie Finn, who helped get the Raiders off to their best start since the 2004-05 season, has been named the Hockey Commissioners' Association National Division 1 Player of the Month for October.

The 5-11, 165-pound netminder from North Vancouver, British Columbia was named the HCA Player of the Month for the first time in his career. He registered six wins in seven contests in October (6-1-0 overall mark), which was tops in the nation, allowing just eight goals while recording a nation-best three shutouts.   

Finn began the month with a 33-save effort in a 3-1 victory at then No. 6/7 St. Cloud State on Oct. 10. The performance marked the ninth time in his career that he recorded 30 or more saves in a contest.

He also stopped all 75 shots faced in three home contests at Starr Rink in October blanking Northeastern twice (Oct. 17 & 18) and Mercyhurst (Oct. 31) once, while allowing more than than two goals in a single game on just one occasion. In addition, Finn picked up a pair of road victories in a weekend sweep at Sacred Heart (Oct. 24 & 25) which helped the Raiders to a No. 4/4 national ranking.

Logging 417:16 minutes in net, Finn finished the month with a 1.15 goals-against average and a .952 save percentage mark, as he turned away 152 of 160 shots faced.

Finn was tabbed as ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week and NCAA.com First Star of the Week for his two shutout performance against Northeastern. In addition he was voted as ECAC Hockey Goaltender for the Month in October.