Pittsburgh, Pa. – Following a sweep of Vermont this past weekend, Robert Morris University women's hockey freshman forward Brittany Howard (St. Thomas, Ontario / Burlington Jr. Barracudas) was honored by College Hockey America (CHA) as their Rookie of the Week.

This is the second time Howard has won Rookie of the Week, as she previously was honored on Oct. 14 following a three-point weekend in a sweep of Bemidji State.

Howard started this past weekend off with two assists in the first period of Friday's 4-3 victory over the Catamounts. The forward then assisted on two more goals in the second period of Saturday's contest before providing the most exciting highlight of the series, as she gathered a pass and deked two Vermont defenders before beating the off-balance goaltender for her third goal of the season.

The forward has not only seen her name up near the top of CHA leaderboards, but national leaderboards as well. In addition to leading the CHA in assists (9) and ranking second in points (12), Howard also is tied for the national lead in helpers and tied for sixth in points.

This marks the fourth time a RMU student-athlete has won a weekly award from the CHA this season. Freshman goaltender Jessica Dodds (London, Ontario / London Jr. Devilettes) has also been honored twice by the conference, sharing Goaltender of the Week on Oct. 14 and serving as last week's Rookie of the Week.

With her second honor, Howard becomes the first Colonial to win CHA Rookie of the Week more than once since Rebecca Vint (Caldeon, Ontario / Brampton Junior Thunder) did it in 2011-12. Vint would go on to win the award six times, which tied Thea Imbrogno (Etobicoke, Ontario / Mississauga Jr. Chiefs) in 2010-11 for the most in school history.

RMU takes to the road this week to open CHA play at Penn State. Thursday's contest from Pegula Ice Arena will start at 7:00 p.m., and Friday is slated to have a 4:00 p.m. start.