During a ceremony in St. Louis, Missouri on Friday evening, Michigan State forward Isaac Howard was named the winner of the Hobey Baker Award, the most prestigious individual award in college hockey.
Howard — also known as “Ike” or “Ice Man” — becomes the third Michigan State player ever to win the award since it was first handed out in 1981, joining cousins Kip and Ryan Miller, who won in 1990 and 2001, respectively. MSU is now one of just seven programs to have at least three Hobey Baker recipients, joining Minnesota-Duluth (6), Harvard (4), Minnesota (4), Boston University (4), Boston College and Michigan.
The other two finalists of the “Hobey Hat Trick” that Howard beat out were Denver defenseman Zeev Buium and Boston College forward Ryan Leonard, who are Minnesota Wild and Washington Capitals prospects, respectively.
Howard earned the award by leading the country in points per game (1.41), scoring 26 goals and dishing out the same number of assists. He ended the season fifth in total points (52), tied for third in goals and tied for 22nd in assists. Boston College’s Leonard finished with 30 goals and 19 assists for 49 points and Denver’s Buium had 13 goals and 35 assists for 48 points.
The junior that began his career at Minnesota-Duluth was also named Big Ten Player of the Year, leading the conference in goals scored and finishing just one point behind Penn State’s Aiden Fink in points. During conference play, Howard was third in the Big Ten in goals (16) and led in points (33) while leading the Spartans to becoming the first team to win back-to-back Big Ten regular season and tournament championships.
In addition, Howard is planning on returning to Michigan State for his senior year instead of making the leap to the Tampa Bay Lightning of the NHL. Tampa Bay drafted Howard with the 31st overall pick of the first round of the 2022 NHL Draft.
Howard provided several signature moments during his campaign for the Hobey Baker. Some highlights include him having four points against Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament championship game, including the game-winner in double overtime; scoring the only goal of the Big Ten Tournament semifinal versus Notre Dame, and a four-goal, five-point performance at Penn State on Jan. 10.
He was also named the Most Outstanding Player of the Big Ten Tournament and was a Big Ten First Star of the Week three times, for good measure.
In total, Howard had 14 multi-point performances and never had more than two consecutive performances without at least one point.
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