Moose Jaw’s Olivia Howe is settling into a Christmas at home after a record smashing start to her fourth Sask Female Midget AAA Hockey League season.

The Notre Dame Hounds forward has broken the career marks for goals, assists and points so far this season and sits second on in the league with 36 points in 2011.  Howe says the records were an unexpected bonus, “I didn’t really know it existed, so the day it was written up there, it was kind of news to me too.”

Howe is tied first in the league in goals with 19 and has continued to find the back of the net while trying to concentrate more on the defensive side of her game after moving back to centre this season.

“I’m playing a different role now, so being a centreman makes me have stronger defensive play and pucks out to my wingers, so that’s just how we’ve been rolling this year,” said Howe.

While Howe’s had a successful first half, so has her team, despite losing their first league game in almost two years.  The Hounds sit in second place with a 13-2-1-0 and head into the break riding a ten-game winning streak.

Howe says the early struggles have been corrected, “The beginning of the year started out a little rusty and with half our team playing soccer, that’s where we got a few of those rougher games in, so we’ve really picked up since then, done really well in a few tournaments and ended up winning our own.”

The Hounds’ Christmas break will extend into the new year.  They return to the ice on January 7th and 8th with a pair of games against the Prince Albert A&W Bears at the Duncan McNeill Arena in Wilcox.