Boston College freshman forward Daryl Watts was named the National Rookie of the Year on Wednesday in an announcement made by the Women’s Hockey Commissioners Association.
Watts, who already won the 2018 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award as the national player of the year, adds the national rookie award to her resume that also includes First-Team CCM/AHCA All-America honors, the Hockey East Player of the Year, the unanimous selection as the league’s Rookie of the Year, the New England Hockey Writers New England Player of the Year, as well as unanimous selections to both the Hockey East First Team All-Stars and Hockey East All-Rookie Team, and a spot on the All-New England Team.
She was also a nine-time Hockey East weekly award winner and four-time conference monthly award honoree, and she was recognized with a national monthly honor from the American Hockey Coaches Association four times in her debut season.
The Toronto native was the nation’s leading scorer this season, her first in collegiate hockey. She posted 82 points in 38 games and also led the country in points per game (2.16), goals (42) and power-play goals (10). She was second goals per game (1.11), power-play points (24), power-play assists (tied, 14) and shots per game (5.66). Watts also ranked third nationally in assists (40), assists per game (1.05), shorthanded goals (tied, 3), shots (215) and hat tricks (tied, 3) and she was seventh in plus/minus (+43).
The ballot for the National Rookie of the Year award consists of the four Division I conference’s rookie of the year selections. Each program playing Division I women’s hockey receives one ballot with assistant coaches submitting their teams’ selections ranked in order (first, second, third, etc.).
Watts is the first Boston College player to win the National Rookie of the Year award. Rising senior Makenna Newkirk was the 2016 runner-up.
This year’s runner-up was Clarkson forward Elizabeth Giguere.
The National Rookie of the Year award was established in 2014, and previous winners include Minnesota’s Dani Cameranesi (2014), Wisconsin’s Annie Pankowski (2015), Minnesota’s Sarah Potomak (2016) and Robert Morris’ Jaycee Gebhard (2017).
