Folks, Calgary Flames (and Wranglers) goaltender Dustin Wolf is no stranger to awards. Since his draft year, he’s received any number of honours for his strong play. But on Wednesday, he received a brand new honour: Wolf was named this year’s recipient of the Calgary Booster Club’s Scott-Mamini Memorial Award as the male athlete of the year.
Named after longtime local sports journalists Harry Scott and Bob Mamini, the award is given to the top male athlete in the city as selected by a media panel. Wolf joins a long list of Flames to receive the award, including the likes of Mark Giordano, Miikka Kiprusoff, Jarome Iginla, Mike Vernon and Joe Nieuwendyk – among others.
The 23-year-old Wolf has had an eventful 2023-24 campaign. He’s split time with the NHL’s Flames and AHL’s Wranglers and, heading into Thursday’s NHL finale, he’s appeared in 51 games between the two levels. He’s had to adapt to two very different roles with the two clubs. At the AHL level, he’s been the go-to guy and relied upon to play big minutes against the toughest opponents. At the NHL level, Wolf’s been eased into action – especially before the Flames were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs – and his usage has been a bit more sheltered and targeted (if a little sporadic).
Originally the 214th player selected in the 2019 NHL Draft – fourth-from-last in that draft – Wolf has become one of the most exciting young goaltenders in professional hockey, and certainly the most promising goaltending prospect in the Flames’ system in decades. He’s 6-7-1 with a 3.30 goals against average and .871 save percentage in the NHL, and 20-11-3 with a 2.43 goals against average and .923 save percentage in the AHL this season.
Since being drafted, Wolf has been named the WHL’s goaltender of the year (twice), the CHL goaltender of the year, USA Hockey’s junior goaltender of the year, the AHL goaltender of the year (twice) and the AHL’s most valuable player, been named to the AHL’s all-rookie team and the AHL’s first all-star team (twice), appeared at two AHL All-Star Classics and won a World Junior gold medal as Spencer Knight’s backup. The Calgary Booster Club honour is yet another addition to a really impressive trophy case, especially for a 23-year-old.
The Flames will conclude the 2023-24 season on Thursday night at home against the San Jose Sharks, Wolf’s hometown team.
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