Howard Advances To Hobey Hat Trick

East Lansing, Mich. - Michigan State forward Isaac Howard (Hudson, Wisconsin) has been named one of the three Division I hockey players to advance into the "Hat Trick" (three finalists) for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, as announced on Thursday afternoon by the Hobey Baker Foundation.

Howard is the 18^th Hobey Baker Memorial Award Top 10 selection and first since Taro Hirose in 2019. MSU has had two Hobey Baker Memorial Award winners in its history – Kip Miller in 1990, and Ryan Miller in 2001. Both were two-time finalists for the award.

Howard is 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. All three are US National Team Development Program alumni.   The winner will be announced in St. Louis on Friday, April 11 at the Stifel Theatre, in an evening that will also present the Richter Award (nation's top goaltender), Tim Taylor Award (best first-year player) and the Hockey Humanitarian Award. The ceremony will also be aired live on the NHL Network.

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.

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.

Players Mentioned

Isaac Howard

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