Another milestone for Austin Lotz

I missed this on Sunday, but it still deserves its own headline.

Everett goaltender Austin Lotz moved into rare air Sunday when he won his 72nd career game for the Tips, moving him in second all-time in Everett history.

Lotz, a 19-year-old from St. Adolphe, Manitoba, who is in his fourth season with the Tips, passed Kent Simpson for second-place on Everett’s all-time wins list. Lotz reached 72 wins in his 160th appearance, and in his career he has a 72-59-7-8 record with a 2.93 goals against average, .903 save percentage and 10 shutouts.

Lotz passed the total of the player who was the Tips’ No. 1 netminder when Lotz was a 16-year-old rookie in 2011-12. Simpson, who played four seasons in Everett from 2007-12, had 71 wins in 175 career appearances.

While Lotz now holds down second place alone, he has a long way to go if he wants to take the top spot. Leland Irving had 107 wins from 2003-08, meaning Lotz would need to be back next season as an overager to have a chance of passing Irving. That’s a tricky proposition. On the one hand, Lotz certainly is a good enough goaltender to play in the WHL as an overager. On the other, he’s been to two NHL training camps, and in his perfect world I suspect he’d be playing professionally at 20. So I’m sure there’s some mixed feelings about going for the No. 1 spot.

But getting into second position is quite the accomplishment, and it’s an indication of a lengthy span of quality goaltending, so congratulations to him.