University of Maine senior defenseman and co-captain Brandon Holt and senior left wing Owen Fowler earned prestigious awards from Hockey East on Wednesday.
Holt was named the league’s best defensive defenseman and also shared the league’s sportsmanship award with Boston College junior right wing Will Vote.
Fowler was chosen the co-best defensive forward, sharing the honor with UConn senior center Tabor Heaslip.
Holt was a third team All-Hockey East selection a year ago and was the runner-up to Boston College’s Eamon Powell for the league’s best defensive defenseman award.
The 5-foot-11, 181-pound native of Grand Forks, North Dakota, has been stout on defense, registering a plus-15 rating in plus-minus with 13 games in the plus column and only seven in the minus column. He is tied for second on the team in plus-minus.
Players receive a plus-one if their team scores an even-strength goal or a shorthanded goal and a minus-one if the opponent scores one.
In addition, Holt leads the team in scoring and is the top point-producing defenseman in Hockey East with 32 points on six goals and a team-high 26 assists in 34 games. He has had 10 multi-point games.
He is the league’s third-leading point-producer among all skaters in conference games only with five goals and 18 assists in 24 contests.
And he has been assessed just four minor penalties for eight minutes this season. For his 125-game career, Holt has been assessed only 20 penalties for 40 minutes.
“He is as good as any player in our league at any position,” said UMaine head coach Ben Barr. “Not only is he the league’s best defensive defenseman, he is also the best offensive defenseman this year.”
Holt, who makes smart decisions with the puck and is an exceptional one-on-one defender who plays much bigger than his size, is a workhorse who averages over 22 minutes of playing time per game.
UMass Lowell transfer Fowler leads the Black Bears in plus-minus at plus-19. He has had 15 games in the plus category and only six in the minus column.
The gritty 5-foot-9, 190-pound native of Tewksbury, Massachusetts, has a career-high 22 points on 12 goals and 10 assists and two of his goals have come while the Black Bears were shorthanded.
He has three game-winning goals and has blocked 22 shots.
Like Holt, he is also a workhorse averaging over 20 minutes per game.
“He has had a breakout year for us,” Barr said. “He has been awesome.”
Holt has 18 goals and 60 assists in 125 career games and is a plus-37 while Fowler has 27 goals and 27 assists in 104 games and is a plus-28.
UMaine will travel to Boston College for a Hockey East quarterfinal game at 7 p.m. Friday.
