The Rapid City Rush have announced that they have re-signed goaltender Christian Propp for the 2024-25 ECHL season.
Collegiate Career
Christian Propp started his collegiate career in the 2020-21 season at Wilfrid Laurier University. Due to COVID, Propp and Wilfrid Laurier did not play in the 2020-21 season. Propp did play in games for Wilfrid Laurier in the other three seasons he spent at the collegiate level.
Propp played in 59 games, 3538 minutes on ice, at Wilfrid Laurier. He had a record of 28-30-1 with three shutouts. Propp had 161 goals against for a goals-against average of 2.73. Propp also played in nine postseason games with Wilfrid Laurier, where he had a record of 4-5-0 with 535 minutes on ice. He had 25 goals against for a goals-against average of 2.81.
Propp received many awards during his time at Wilfrid Laurier. He received Laurier Athlete of the Week twice, once in November of 2022 and once in February of 2023. Propp was also named the team’s Most Valuable Player in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, as well as the Teams Rookie of the Year in the 2021-22 season, as well as the Rich Newbrough Rookie of the Year Award. The Rich Newbrough Rookie of the Year Award is given out by Wilfrid Laurier to a male and female athlete at Wilfrid Laurier University who is considered to have the most outstanding athletic performance. Propp also was named to the USports Academic All-Canadian team in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons and he was the OUA Men’s Hockey Second Team All-Star.
Professional Career
After completing his collegiate career, Propp signed to play with the Wheeling Nailers in the ECHL. Propp played one game with the Nailers for a record of 0-1 with 59 minutes on ice. He faced 30 shots where he had 24 saves and six goals against for a save percentage of .800 and a goals-against average of 6.05.
Propp then signed with the Rapid City Rush, where he finished the 2023-24 season. He played in nine games, with a record of 5-3-1 and 537 minutes on ice. He faced 296 shots, with 30 goals against and 266 saves, for a save percentage of .899 and a goals-against average of 3.35.
Impact for the 2024-25 Season
Christian Propp did not spend a lot of time with the Rush, so the sample size of his play is extremely small. But from the little sample we got of him during the season, I think Propp will excel this season with the Rush. Propp came in to be the backup for Matt Radomsky but ended up taking more of a starter role early on due to an injury to Radomsky. Propp showed that even when there is a lot of pressure on, he can step up and make big saves and earn wins for the team. There were a few of the games that Propp played in that would not have been won by the Rush without him in net. For the 2024-25 season, Propp should make a large impact on the Rush as long as he continues to make his big saves to help keep the team in games and help be a solid last line of defense for the Rush.
