Wisconsin senior forward Daryl Watts has been named the 2020-21 WCHA Player of the Year.
Watts, who was named the WCHA Forward of the Year on Thursday, was chosen for the top overall honor by league head coaches and assistant coaches from among the All-WCHA First Team selections that included Wisconsin junior forward Sophie Shirley, Minnesota senior forward Grace Zumwinkle, Minnesota Duluth senior defenseman Ashton Bell Wisconsin senior defenseman Grace Bowlby and Minnesota Duluth junior goaltender Emma Söderberg.
“Congratulations to Daryl Watts on her selection as our 2020-21 WCHA Player of the Year,” WCHA commissioner Jennifer Flowers said in a statement. “Daryl has had another outstanding season and this award is well-deserved. The WCHA is home to many of the nation’s best collegiate women’s hockey players, which makes this award all the more impressive.”
A 2021 top-10 finalist and the 2018 winner of the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, Watts has potted 15 goals and 16 assists for 31 points in 2020-21. She ranks second nationally in point scoring and is one of only 16 skaters to record a hat trick this season.
The Toronto native boasts the best points per game (1.94) and goals per game averages (0.94) of any player who has played more than two games.
Watts headlines a Badgers offense that ranks fourth in the nation and has tallied two crucial game-winning overtime goals for Wisconsin, including the Julianne Bye Cup clincher against Minnesota Duluth in the final game of the regular season.
Watts secured the WCHA scoring championship for the second straight year with her 31 points, becoming only the third player in league history to earn the title in back-to-back years.
She recorded points in 15 of the Badgers’ 16 games and registered a seven-game goal-scoring streak during the season.
Watts is the third Badger to win the award in as many years and the eighth in school history, joining two-time winner Sara Bauer (2005-06, 2006-07), Hilary Knight (2008-09), Meghan Duggan (2010-11), Brianna Decker (2011-12), Ann-Renée Desbiens (2015-16), Annie Pankowski (2018-19) and Abby Roque (2019-20).
