After Cameron Whitehead signed with the Vegas Golden Knights, there was speculation as to how Northeastern would fill that spot on their roster and in net. We now know that the Huskies will be bringing in Lawton Zacher out of the transfer portal. Zacher played at Brown for two years where he was the full time starter both seasons.
Zacher is a 6-foot-2, 180 pound goaltender who catches with his left hand, the traditional way. In two years at Brown, he played 54 games, totaled over 3000 minutes in net and made over 1400 saves, backstopping Brown to 20 wins. He improved his save percentage and goals-against-average in his sophomore year, going from .909/2.91 as a freshman to .917/2.48 as a sophomore, including his first two collegiate shutouts. Zacher was one of the hottest goalies to start the season in 2024, saving the puck at nearly a .930 clip for the first four months of the season. Advanced analytics further endorse growth from Zacher year over year, going from a .919 even strength save percentage as a freshman to an excellent .933 mark as a sophomore.
He was one of the ten semifinalists for the Mike Richter Award, given to the nation’s best Division 1 goaltender. He was named to the All-ECAC Second Team, First Team All-Ivy Selection, a semifinalist for the Walter Brown Award, and was a nominee by Brown for the Hobey Baker Award. By College Hockey News’ new CHIP statistics (College Hockey Individual Point value), Zacher was the highest-rated goalie in the transfer portal this year, and has the 10th-best CHIP value among goaltenders returning to college next year. From College Hockey Insider’s Mike McMahon: “He saved 0.3 GSAx per 60 minutes last season, which is tied for second-best in the portal with Gibson Homer (ASU to North Dakota) and Cameron Korpi (Michigan to Union).”
We expect Zacher to step into the hole left by Whitehead and consume the majority of goaltender minutes for the Huskies next season. He has two years of eligibility. He completes Coach Mahoney-Wilson’s goaltending room, with returnee Quentin Sigurdson and incoming freshman Matthew DellaRusso.
Welcome Lawton to Northeastern! As always, go Huskies!