
Rudolph and Hildebrand up for multiple league awards
The WHL announced their nominees for league awards last week as the playoffs began, and two Prince Albert Raiders are up for five of the nine awards. Raiders rookie Daxon Rudolph is up for two awards this season, and 20-year-old goaltender Max Hildebrand is in the running for three.
Starting with Hildebrand, the Raiders goaltender led the league in games played, minutes played, shots faced, and saves made and on top of that, he managed the second-best save percentage in the league at 0.918 behind a goaltender who played 32 fewer games. Earlier this postseason, he was named as an Eastern Conference first-team All-Star in the WHL.
As a result, Hildebrand has been named as one of the finalists for the Del Wilson Memorial Trophy for Goaltender of the Year in the WHL. In net, Hildebrand posted career highs in wins (33), goals against average (2.87), save percentage (0.918), and shutouts (3) during his final year. Hildbrand was also named WHL Goaltender of the Week three separate times during the regular season.
Also nominated for Goaltender of the Year are Daniel Hauser of the Calgary Hitmen, Carson Bjarnason of the Brandon Wheat Kings, Scott Razlaff of the Seattle Thunderbirds, Joshua Ravensbergen of the Prince George Cougars, and Dawson Cowan of the Spokane Chiefs.