The College Hockey America regular-season award winners were announced Wednesday night during the league’s annual tournament banquet.
The CHA All-Rookie and All-Conference teams were also announced.
Taking home Player of the Year honors for the 2016-17 season was redshirt junior Brittany Howard from Robert Morris. Howard led the conference with 48 points on 18 goals and 30 assists, capturing the Scoring Trophy. Howard also led the CHA in scoring in conference play, scoring seven goals while assisting on 18. This was her third full season eclipsing the 40-point mark, setting a new personal best of 48 points. Howard had four multi-goal games, including one hat trick, and also put up 15 multi-point games, which was tied for the most in the CHA.
Securing Rookie of the Year honors was Robert Morris standout freshman Jaycee Gebhard, who not only led all CHA freshmen skaters in both goals (13) and assists (10) in conference play, she but those numbers also led the CHA. The rookie enters the conference tournament second in overall point scoring with 44 points on 22 goals and 22 helpers. Her 22 overall goals were the most in the conference.
The Coach of the Year is Robert Morris’ Paul Colontino. The Colonials got off to a hot start and never looked back, finishing with an impressive 22-4-6 overall record, including a 15-3-2 mark against CHA opponents. Colontino played a huge role in securing Robert Morris’ first-ever regular-season title, along with the No. 1 seed in the CHA tournament. The sixth-year head coach eclipsed the 100 career-win milestone during the season and finished with his highest winning percentage of his career with a .781 mark.
The CHA Top Defenseman is Syracuse’s Allie Munroe. She anchored the Orange defense, a corps that ranked first in scoring defense at 1.78 goals per game. She also showcased her offensive abilities throughout the CHA schedule, totaling 16 points on five goals and 11 helpers in league play. She finished third in the league in defenseman scoring and was tied for third in assists.
RIT’s Mackenzie Stone was named CHA Best Defensive Forward. Stone showed that she does all the little things for the Tigers, exemplifying the gritty and unselfish play that comes with the position. Six of Stone’s seven points came in conference play, lighting the lamp three times while assisting on three goals.
The Individual Sportsmanship Award went to RIT senior forward Caitlin Wallace, Goaltending Trophy to Syracuse junior Abbey Miller and Penn State took home the Team Sportsmanship Award.
First Team All-CHA
| Player's Name | Position | Class | School |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brittany Howard | F | RS-Jr. | Robert Morris |
| Laura Bowman | F | Sr. | Penn State |
| Stephanie Grossi | F | Jr. | Syracuse |
| Allie Munroe | D | So. | Syracuse |
| Kirsten Welsh | D | So. | Robert Morris |
| Jessica Dodds | G | Sr. | Robert Morris |
Second Team All-CHA
| Player's Name | Position | Class | School |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amy Petersen | F | Sr. | Penn State |
| Brooke Hartwick | F | Jr. | Mercyhurst |
| Jaycee Gebhard | F | Fr. | Robert Morris |
| Jillian Skinner | D | Jr. | Mercyhurst |
| Bella Sutton | D | Jr. | Penn State |
| Abbey Miller | G | Jr. | Syracuse |
CHA All-Rookie Team
| Player's Name | Position | School |
|---|---|---|
| Jaycee Gebhard | F | Robert Morris |
| Maggie Knott | F | Mercyhurst |
| Brooke Madsen | F | Penn State |
| Savannah Rennie | F | Syracuse |
| Lindsay Eastwood | D | Syracuse |
| Courtney Ganske | D | Lindenwood |
| Katie McMillen | D | Penn State |
| Terra Lanteigne | G | RIT |
