REGINA - The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League has announced the finalists for its individual player awards, and a member of the Estevan Bruins is among the candidates.
Cam Hrdlicka is up for the goaltender of the year award. He leads the league in games played with 42 and shutouts with five, and is second in minutes played with 2,304, despite missing five games due to injury in January.
Hrdlicka has a 21-15-0-2 record with a 2.92 goals against average and a .914 save percentage.
He also posted a shutout during the Showcase series between the SJHL and the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.
The other finalists are Josh Kotai of the Battlefords North Stars and Dawson Smith of the La Ronge Ice Wolves.
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The Bruins lost 3-2 to the Notre Dame Hounds Thursday night in Wilcox.
Cyprus Smith-Davis opened the scoring with a power-play goal for the Hounds less than five minutes into the first period. Daniel O’Neill tied the game for the Bruins with 1:56 to play in the opening frame with a power-play marker of his own.
Neither team scored in the second period, but the Bruins ran into penalty problems late in the frame and started the third period two men short. Jaryd Sych and Carson Baylis scored 24 seconds apart in the first two minutes of the third to give the Hounds a two-goal advantage. Sych’s goal came on a two-man advantage.
Gabriel Filion had a power-play goal to pull the Bruins to within one. Estevan had a number of chances to pull even, but couldn’t convert. The Bruins outshot Notre Dame 16-5 in the third.
Estevan went 2-for-5 on the power play, while Notre Dame was 3-for-6.
Tucker Inabinet made 40 saves for Notre Dame. Cam Hrdlicka stopped 26 shots for Estevan.
The two teams will meet again Saturday night at Affinity Place. The game will start at 7 p.m.
