Inducted 2023
Don Howse enjoyed a remarkable hockey career, both provincially and nationally. Playing minor hockey with the Grand Falls Cataracts, he won four provincial titles which included two bantam and two midget in his last four years. During his last year in midget he joined the Junior B team and went on to win the Atlantic Junior B Championship. For two years he played with the Ottawa 67s in the Ontario Junior A Hockey Association. Returning home to play with his hometown Grand Falls Cataracts in 1971, he was selected as the League’s Rookie of the Year and won his first Herder Memorial Trophy Championship. He would win four Herder trophies during his provincial career.
In 1972, he played in the Eastern Hockey League with the Greensboro Generals where he was a top scorer for the team. Catching the interest of the Montreal Canadians organization he played with their top farm team, the Nova Scotia Voyageurs in the American Hockey League (AHL) from 1973-1979. As a very valuable member of the Voyageurs, Howse played the second most games in franchise history playing 340 games is the team’s all-time leading scorer with 251 points while winning the AHL’s ultimate prize, the Calder Cup twice. Other achievements include setting the AHL all-time record for most short-handed goals in a season for a total of eight, and in his 1977-78 season moving from center to defense for the playoffs, he won the Team MVP. He eventually moved on to the Los Angeles Kings and was called midway through the 1979-80 season to the National Hockey League where he played 33 games for the Kings as a checking centerman to check players such as Wayne Gretzky, Brian Trottier, Darryl Sitter, and Guy LaFleur.
Retiring from his NHL professional hockey career in 1980 and after competing in the AHL and the Central League for the 1980-81 season, Don decided to move back to Newfoundland and Labrador, taking his talents to the West Coast of the province to sign on as the playing-coach with the Stephenville Jets for seven seasons. He played one season in 1988–89 with the Port aux Basques Mariners winning the National Hardy Cup Title, and one season with the St. John’s Capitals. He finished his Newfoundland Senior Hockey career as the 25th all-time leading scorer in league history, and completed his career by taking the position of Bench Coach with the Mount Pearl Blades of the St. John’s Junior A Hockey League from 1989-1991.