Women's Hockey | 1/8/2018 10:03:00 PM
PITTSBURGH -- The
Robert Morris women's hockey team has not seen one of its own nominated for the Dapper Dan Charities Sportswoman of the Year award since two of its own received that honor in Jan. 2012, and now it wants fans to help put its top player over the top.
Recently the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announced assistant captain
Brittany Howard as a nominee for this year's award, the only nominee ever to come from RMU women's hockey aside from Brianna Delaney and Kristen DiCiocco, two members of head coach
Paul Colontino's first Robert Morris squad who got simultaneous nods.
Howard joins a field that also includes Linnea Faccenda of Duquesne women's soccer, former Hopewell High School basketball star Shatori Walker-Kimbrough, now with the WNBA's Washington Mystics, and the 2017 volleyball teams from both Penn State and the University of Pittsburgh.
You can "#VoteBrit" until 11:59 p.m. Wednesday night at
promo.post-gazette.com/dapperdan.
"I know where my vote's going," Colontino said prior to the team's series versus College Hockey America (CHA) rival Syracuse. "She's worked incredibly hard over what will be, now, her five years, as a redshirt, to either get herself healthy or get herself going, or to be a leading scorer and a big contributor to our team. For her to get that recognition city-wide is really cool, and we're really happy for her."
For Howard, who enjoyed a number of signature moments in 2017, her most memorable one was her critical goal in the middle of the CHA Tournament Final Mar. 4 that insured a Colonials victory over the Orange for their first postseason conference crown since the one earned by that 2011-12 team. The win also gave RMU its first-ever NCAA Tournament berth.
"I think, winning CHA's and moving on to the Elite 8, it was such a special week," Howard recalled. "We had a great group of girls in the changing room that has moved on to this year. We're lucky to have that, one of the few in the country. It was definitely a fun year."
The first-line center and St. Thomas, Ontario native scored 24 goals and registered 43 points over the past calendar year. Her 2016-17 campaign, the most prolific in program history, ended with her setting the Robert Morris single-season assist record (30) and becoming the first RMU player to win both the CHA scoring title, with 50 points, and its Player of the Year award.
The start of the 2017-18 season saw Howard overtake former teammate Rebecca Vint as the Colonials' career points leader in a win at Mankato Oct. 8 and join Vint as the only other RMU player to score 70 all-time goals while leading an upset of then-No. 5 Ohio State Nov. 25.
Howard ended 2017 just three goals away from breaking Vint's career record (73) and began 2018 with an empty-netter that further closed the gap--and all after being drafted tenth overall by Vint's current team, the Isobel Cup champion Buffalo Beauts of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), back on Aug. 17.
To the surprise of few, she was named CHA Player of the Month for October and November, having also earned that distinction last February.
"She knows she's as good as her teammates. So many of those teammates have helped her achieve some of the things she's achieved," Colontino said. "This year, being a senior, she continues to raise the bar for herself. She's so self-driven and self-motivated.
"In terms of being nominated for that kind of award, it's extremely fitting and very deserving."
Official announcement of the 2017 Dapper Dan Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year will appear in the Post-Gazette later this month. They will be celebrated at the 82nd annual Dapper Dan Dinner & Sports Auction Wed., Feb. 21 at 6:00 p.m. at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center downtown.
Call 412-263-3850 for additional event information.
Follow the Colonials: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
