• He was the first overall selection at the 2007 WHL Bantam Draft, becoming the first Manitoba-born player to be selected number one overall since Chicago captain Jonathan Toews in 2003.

• Howden joined an organized hockey league at the age of seven just a year after he spent two months in a chest-to-toe cast that forced him to learn how to walk again. He broke his femur so badly in a bicycle accident that the doctor’s had doubts that he would be much of an athlete, let alone an elite hockey player.

• He was a member of the gold medal-winning Team Canada at the 2009 Ivan Hlinka Tournament and at the 2010 Under-18 World Championship he tied for the team lead in goals (4) finishing with six points in as many games.

• The 6’2” center was also a member of Team Orr at the 2010 Canadian Hockey League Top Prospects Game where he won the accuracy shooting competition – he went four-for-six in the first round and eventually beat out Devante Smith-Pelley (No. 76 ranked) and Steven Shipley (No. 43 ranked) in a showdown.

• A recipient of the 2008-2009 Moose Jaw Rookie of the Year Award, he patterns his game after Patrick Marleau of the San Jose Sharks whom he says is "a great leader on and off the ice, he's a big physical guy and he works hard every day and night."

FAVORITES

NHL Team: Calgary Flames
NHL Player: Jarome Iginla; Sidney Crosby
Shootout move: “It’s top secret”
Goal celebration: “Fist pump to the ice”
Video Game: NHL ‘10
Movie: Bad Boys II, Never Back Down
TV Show: Friends
Actor: Martin Lawrence
Cartoon: Family Guy
Website: NHL.com
Book: Mind Gym
Pump-up song: “I Gotta Feeling” by Black Eyed Peas
Restaurant: Red Lobster; The Keg
Sport (other than hockey): Volleyball, Golf
Activity away from the rink: Water sports and hanging out with friends