Toronto’s Daryl Watts claimed the 2018 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award as the NCAA’s top women’s hockey player, the organization announced Saturday.
Watts became the only first-year women’s college player to ever win the award, and only the third first-year women’s player to ever earn a spot among the three finalists (joining eventual Olympians Meghan Agosta and Noora Räty in that regard).
Fresh off her first season with Boston College, Watts dominated the NCAA scoring race, posting 42 goals and 82 points in just 38 games with the Eagles — the second-highest sum by a first-year women’s skater since Harvard’s Julie Chu put up 93 points in 2002-03.
Leading the country in points, goals, power-play points, power-play goals, power-play assists, and short-handed points, Watts is the seventh Canadian to claim the top NCAA honour, and only the second from the Boston College program.
“I’ve been fortunate to coach some very elite players in my career at BC,” said Eagles head coach Katie Crowley, according to NCAA.com. “Daryl Watts has put herself in that category after just one year. Her statistics prove she’s the most dynamic player in the country and rank her with the best players in NCAA history. Daryl has set a new standard, not just for young players, but all players.”
Prior to her college-level breakout, Watts spent three seasons in the Provincial Women’s Hockey League, splitting time between the Toronto Aeros and the Mississauga Chiefs. She amassed 95 goals and 165 points through 103 total games for in the PWHL, serving as Mississauga’s captain in her final year.
Watts has twice suited up for the Canadian U-18 team, posting a combined six points through nine games with the national squad.
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