Clarkson’s Gabel, Boston College’s Watts take home women’s HCA honors for January

Clarkson junior forward Loren Gabel, who currently leads ECAC Hockey in scoring with 58 points on 28 goals and 30 assists, has been named the Hockey Commissioners’ Association National Division I Player of the Month for January.In addition, Boston College freshman forward Daryl Watts earned her third AHCA National Rookie of the Month award on Monday, claiming the honor for January.A junior left wing from Kitchener, Ont., Gabel led ECAC Hockey in points (16), goals (11) and game-winning goals (4) in the opening month of 2018. Gabel scored at least one goal in each of the seven games of the month. She finished with a plus/minus rating of plus-15 in seven games during the month.Gabel was a two-time Player of the Week (Jan. 23, Jan. 30) and named once as NCAA 1st Star of the Week (Jan. 23) and once as NCAA 3rd Star (Jan. 30). She has been the league’s Player of the Week on five occasions this season and recorded a five-point night on Jan. 20 at Dartmouth, registering a hat trick and adding two helpers in the Golden Knights’ 8-1 road win.She was tabbed as ECAC Hockey Player of the Month for the third time this season and leads the conference in league scoring with 39 points and 21 goals in 18 conference contests.

Watts was the nation’s leading rookie scorer in January and also shared the national scoring lead.She posted 22 points from a nations-best 12 goals and 10 assists. She also led the nation with five power-play assists and three short-handed goals. Watts registered points in nine of 10 games in January, including seven multiple-point efforts. She also factored in seven of the team’s nine game-winning goals last month, with two game-winning goals and five game-winning assists.By the end of the month, the Toronto product pushed her Hockey East conference point total to 50 points with three games in the league season to play, posting just the third 50-point season in Hockey East history.Watts opened the month with back-to-back five-point days at Merrimack on Jan. 2 and against New Hampshire on Jan. 5. Against the Warriors, she netted two goals and added three assists and followed that with a career-high four goals (including two short-handed goals) and one assist against the Wildcats.Watts added one goal and one assist at New Hampshire on Jan. 6, before assisting on both BC goals against Northeastern on Nov. 12. The following day, she tallied the game-tying goal and also added an assist in the overtime victory at NU.After a two-point day against Harvard, Watts then closed the month with three goals in two games against No. 10 Providence to help the Eagles cap the sweep. She netted the game-winning goal in both contests, and in the road game on Jan. 27, she tallied a shorthanded goal and the game-winning power-play goal with under four minutes to play.This is Watts’ fourth AHCA monthly honor this year: October Player of the Month, October Rookie of the Month, November Rookie of the Month, January Rookie of the Month. She is also a four-time Hockey East monthly honoree, winning the same awards in the months above. She has also captured seven Hockey East weekly awards so far this year.