Howard Named 2025 Hobey Baker Memorial Award Winner

East Lansing, Mich. -- Michigan State forward Isaac Howard (Hudson, Wisconsin) has been named the 2025 recipient of the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, as announced on Thursday evening in St. Louis, Mo.

Howard joins Kip Miller (1990) and Ryan Miller (2001) as the three Spartan Hobey Baker Memorial Award winners. He is the the 18^th Hobey Baker Memorial Award Top 10 selection from the program and first since Taro Hirose in 2019. Both Millers were two-time top 10 finalists.

It was a year that was incredibly tight atop the scoring charts with talented performers on highly successful teams. Howard delivered career bests of 26 goals and 52 points in MSU's 37 games. He ranks first nationally in points per game (1.42), third in goals per game (0.70) and 23^rd in assists per game (0.70). He ranks third in goals (26) and is fifth in points (52) among all Division I players.

Howard was big for the Spartans down the stretch, capturing Big Ten Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors. He not only scored the game-winning goal in double overtime against No. 9 Ohio State (March 22) but had two goals and two primary assists in MSU's 4-3 victory, settled in the 96^th minute of play. Howard had three goals and five points in the Big Ten tournament for MSU, with a hand in every goal the Spartans scored, including the game-winners in both the semifinals and finals. He compiled a 3-3-6 scoring line in MSU's postseason games.

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Howard was voted the Big Ten Player of the Year and earned First Team All-Big Ten honors. He finished the Big Ten Conference season as the scoring champion, leading all players with 33 points, 17 assists, and 1.38 points per game. Howard's 26 goals match Adam Hall's 26 in 1999-2000, which is the most goals for an MSU player since Sean Berens scored 36 in 1997-98; his 52 points (in 37 games) is the first 50-point season for a Spartan since Taro Hirose's in 2018-19 (50) and the most points for an MSU player since Shawn Horcoff had 65 (14g, 51a) in 1999-2000.

In Howard's two seasons at Michigan State, he has helped guide MSU to a monumental turnaround in the hockey program. Michigan State became the first team in conference history to win the regular-season and tournament titles in the same year in back-to-back seasons.   MSU has compiled a 51-17-7 record (.740) in those two seasons and earned back-to-back No. seeds in the NCAA Tournament; in 2023-24, MSU returned to NCAAs for the first time since 2012 and picked up its first NCAA win since 2008. During the 2024-25 season, MSU also won the Great Lakes Invitational as well as the Duel In the D, the annual trophy game between MSU and Michigan held at Little Caesars Arena.

Howard is a communication major with a 3.4 cumulative grade point average. He is an Academic All-Big Ten selection in addition to his hockey accolades.

Howard was joined in the Hat Trick by Denver defenseman Zeev Buium and Boston College forward Ryan Leonard. The three were teammates on USA Hockey's 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship gold-medal winning team as well as US National Team Development Program alumni.

Players Mentioned

Isaac Howard

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