Williams Drafted By Islanders
NEWARK, NJ -- Former Sioux Falls Stampede goaltender Stephon Williams was selected by the New York Islanders in the fourth round (106th overall) of the 2013 NHL Draft Sunday night.
Williams becomes the 27th former Stampede player to be drafted by a National Hockey League team, but just the second goaltender. Alex Kangas (2005-06) was selected in the fifth round of the 2006 NHL Draft by the Atlanta Thrashers.
The Fairbanks, AK native spent the entire 2010-11 season with the Herd, posting a 20-7-6 record along with a 2.59 Goals Against Average (GAA) and a .909 save percentage. He helped guide the Herd to the Western Conference Finals that season. In 2011-12, he appeared in 21 games, going 6-9-2 with a 2.70 GAA and a .913 save percentage with the Stampede before heading to Waterloo where he helped lead the Hawks to the Clark Cup Finals.
Most recently, Williams completed his freshman season at Minnesota State-Mankato where he helped lead the Mavericks to the NCAA Hockey Tournament and took home several awards. He was named All-WCHA First Team, WCHA All-Rookie Team, WCHA Rookie of the Year and, by virtue of his league-low goals against average (1.93), WCHA Goaltending Champion. Williams, a two-time WCHA Rookie of the Week this year, stands 19-9-2 overall (t-11th in the country in winning percentage - .667) with a 1.83 goals against average (sixth in the country) and a .929 save percentage (14th in the country).
In WCHA games, he finished the WCHA regular season leading league in goals against average (1.93), ranking second in save percentage (.927) and third in wins (15). Williams has four shut-outs this year, which stands tied for third on MSU’s single-season list. Including the last 27 in a row, Williams has started 29 of MSU’s 36 games in 2012-13.
Courtesy: Sioux Falls Stampede