Jimmy Howard

Jimmy Howard (born James Russell Howard III on March 26, 1984) is an American professional ice hockey goaltender for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL).

He was runner up in voting for the Calder Memorial Trophy following the 2009–10 NHL season as the NHL's rookie of the year.

Junior Playing Career
Jimmy began his junior career playing for the Westport Rideaus of the Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League where he played from ages 14–16 before joining the U.S. National Team Development Program.

He played with the U.S. National Under-17 and U.S. National Under-18 teams during the 2001–02 season, playing 9 games with the Under-17 team and 26 games with the Under-18 team for a total record of 22–11–1 with four shutouts.

In April of 2002, Jimmy played for the United States in the 2002 IIHF World U18 Championships in Slovakia.

Playing in six tournament games, he led his team to a Gold Medal and was subsequently named USA goaltender of the year.

Then, Jimmy attended the University of Maine and played for their men's ice hockey team, the Maine Black Bears, for three seasons.

While at UMaine, he led the Black Bears to the 2003–2004 Frozen Four championship game, losing 1–0 to the University of Denver.

While Jimmy was playing for the Black Bears, he was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by the Detroit Red Wings.

During his three seasons with the Black Bears, he set team and league records.

Professional\NHL Career
Beginning with the 2005–06 season, Jimmy began his career in the AHL with the Grand Rapids Griffins where he was occasionally called up to play for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League.

His inaugural season in the AHL became what is still one of his best in professional ice hockey.

During this season, Jimmy set many personal records as well as franchise records, including being the first Griffin named to the AHL's All-Rookie Team and helping establish the Griffins franchise win streak record of 12.

He was in net for the Red Wings four times in the 2005–06 season posting a 1–2–0 record, a GAA of 2.99 and a save percentage of .904.

In the 2007–08 season during the month of February, Jimmy was in net for the Red Wings an additional four times, and called up once during the 2008–09 season, bringing his total NHL games played to 9.

Jimmy only played four games in the 2007–08 regular season and therefore did not qualify to have his name engraved on the cup, however, he was included in the 2008 Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup picture, given the Cup for a day and awarded a Stanley Cup ring by the Red Wings' management.

With the retirement of Red Wings goaltender Dominik Hasek in June 2008, Jimmy was expected to compete with Ty Conklin for the position beside Chris Osgood for the 2008–09 NHL season despite Conklin's noticeable advantages in terms of experience and contract.

Although Jimmy did not earn a permanent spot on the Red Wings roster for the 2008–09 season, he was expected to make the roster in the near future.

Jimmy's roster spot turned official during the 2009 off-season when Detroit did not offer Conklin a new contract instead electing to promote Jimmy to Osgood's full-time backup.

On October 27, 2009, he recorded his first win of the 2009-10 NHL season in relief of Chris Osgood against the Vancouver Canucks, making 20 saves.

On December 17, 2009, Jimmy recorded his first career shutout in a 3–0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. He won the starting position in mid-season and kept the role until the end of the season.

He finished the 2009–10 season with excellent stats, ranking him in the top 5 in GAA and Save %, and finishing with a 37–15–10 record and a nomination for the Calder Trophy for Rookie of the Year.

Jimmy gained more fame in the March 22, 2010 game against the Pittsburgh Penguins when he grabbed Sidney Crosby from behind and put his glove in Crosby's face, after Crosby repeatedly cross-checked Howard's teammate Henrik Zetterberg.

On April 14, 2010, he played in his first NHL playoff game, a 3–2 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes.

On April 20, 2010, Jimmy recorded his first career playoff shutout, making 29 saves in a 3–0 win over the Coyotes.

The Coyotes were eliminated by the Red Wings when his first NHL playoff series went to seven games. The Detroit Red Wings were then eliminated by the San Jose Sharks in five games.

Jimmy recorded a 2.75 goals against average with a .915 save percentage during the postseason.

He was also a 2010 Calder Trophy finalist, but he was runner-up to Buffalo's Tyler Myers.

Jimmy won the 2010 Detroit Red Wings-Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association Rookie of the Year Award.

He recorded a 21 save shutout in Detroit's season opener against the Anaheim Ducks to kick off the 2010–11 NHL season.

On February 28, 2011, Jimmy signed a 2-year contract extension with the Red Wings worth $2.25 million per season.

The Red Wings lost in seven games to the San Jose Sharks in the 2nd round of the playoffs.

On January 23, 2012, in the Red Wings 49th game, Jimmy recorded his 30th win of the season, before the All-Star break.

The win was Detroit's 17th consecutive home victory and kept them in first place in the standings.

Jimmy would win only five more games after the All-Star break, because of a broken finger on his stick hand suffered on February 3, 2012 that made him miss eight games and a re-occcuring groin injury later in the season that scratched him in seven other games.

During the lockout-shortened 2012-13 NHL season, Jimmy recorded a 21-13-7 record as the Red Wings eventually clinched their 22nd consecutive playoff berth.

During the season, he signed a six year, $31.8 million extension with the Red Wings.

Awards & Achievements

 * All-Hockey East Rookie Team (2002–03)
 * All-Hockey East First Team (2003–04)
 * Holds University of Maine school record for shutouts, goals against average and save percentage. (holds all three records for both single season and career.)
 * Was awarded a Legislative Sentiment by former Maine State Representative Chris Greeley in July 2011, for his success as both a college and professional hockey player, and his work with kid's hockey programs.
 * Holds NCAA records for GAA(1.19) and save percentage(.954) (2003–04)
 * Only NHL goalie to face a penalty shot in each of his first two games.
 * Named to the 2005–06 AHL All-Rookie team.
 * Named the 2009–2010 Detroit Red Wings Rookie of the Year in voting by the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association.
 * Runner-up for the 2010 Calder Memorial Trophy
 * Named to the 2012 NHL All-Star team
 * Named to the United States men's national ice hockey team squad for the 2014 Winter Olympics

Personal Life
Jimmy is married to Rachel Howard. On October 23, 2011, Rachel gave birth to the couple's first son, James Russell Howard IV.