Jake Hildebrand (born June 19, 1993) is an American

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as goalie or netminder) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their own team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays ...

who is currently playing for the

Eisbären Berlin The Eisbären Berlin (; English: ''Berlin Polar Bears'') is a professional ice hockey team based in Berlin, Germany. The team competes in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), the highest level of play in professional German ice hockey, and is also ...

of the

Deutsche Eishockey Liga The Deutsche Eishockey Liga (for sponsorship reasons called Penny (supermarket), PENNY Deutsche Eishockey Liga) (; English: ''German Ice Hockey League'') or DEL, is a professional ice hockey league in Germany and the highest division in German i ...

(DEL).

Playing career

In 2012, Hildebrand enrolled at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

to play NCAA Men's Division I college hockey with the

Michigan State Spartans The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 23 Varsity team, varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan Army, Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the sc ...

of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

. In his

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

year, Hildebrand's outstanding play was recognized when he was selected the 2014–15 Big Ten Best Goaltender and Big Ten Player of the Year. He was also named to the NCAA (West) First All-American Team. At the end of his 2015–16 season with the Spartans, he signed with the

Allen Americans The Allen Americans are a professional ice hockey team headquartered at the Allen Event Center, Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, Texas, which currently plays in the ECHL. The team was founded in 2009–10 CHL season, 2009 in the Centr ...

of the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

. As a free agent embarking on his professional career, Hildebrand agreed to a one-year contract with the

Rockford IceHogs The Rockford IceHogs are a professional ice hockey team based in Rockford, Illinois. They are members of the American Hockey League (AHL), having begun play in the League starting in the 2007–08 season. The team plays their home games at the ...

of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

on June 15, 2016. In the 2016–17 season, Hildebrand appeared in just 3 games with the IceHogs as a depth goaltender, appearing primarily with the ECHL affiliate

Indy Fuel The Indy Fuel are a minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL that began play in the 2014–15 season. Based in Fishers, Indiana, the Fuel play their home games at the Fishers Event Center, after having started play at the Indiana Farmers ...

. Unable to mark an impression with the IceHogs, Hildebrand left as a free agent and signed a one-year deal to continue in the ECHL with the

Tulsa Oilers The Tulsa Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and play in the ECHL. The Oilers played their home games at the Tulsa Convention Center until 2008 when they moved into the new BOK Center. For many years, the Tulsa ...

on August 3, 2017. In the 2017–18 season, Hildebrand assumed starting goaltender duties, appearing in 44 games with the Oilers and posting a .901 save percentage. In the off-season, Hildebrand was traded by the Oilers to the

Kalamazoo Wings The Kalamazoo Wings, nicknamed the K-Wings, are a mid-level professional ice hockey team in Kalamazoo, Michigan. A member of the ECHL's Western Conference, Central Division, they play in the 5,113-seat Wings Event Center. They are the affiliate ...

in exchange for Scott Henegar on July 24, 2018. With the Wings going on hiatus for the pandemic-affected

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season, Hildebrand was signed as a free agent by the

Florida Everblades The Florida Everblades are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Estero, Florida, in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, Cape Coral-Fort Myers metropolitan area. They play in the ECHL and are affiliat ...

of the ECHL on January 12, 2021. In the delayed 2020-21 season, Hildebrand established career highs and was the standout goaltender in the league, posting 23 wins and a 2.40 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage to be named the ECHL Goaltender of the Year. After six seasons within the ECHL, Hildebrand opted to pursue a career abroad, agreeing to a one-year contract with German club Löwen Frankfurt of the

DEL2 DEL2 (also known as Deutsche Eishockey Liga 2 or DEL II) is the second tier ice hockey league in Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Se ...

, on July 23, 2021. Helping Frankfurt gain promotion to the DEL for the following

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season, Hildebrand posted 22 wins through 50 regular season games with Frankfurt in their first season in the top tier. After their defeat in the playoff qualifiers to

Düsseldorfer EG Düsseldorfer Eislauf-Gemeinschaft or Düsseldorfer EG (short DEG) is a German professional ice hockey team in Düsseldorf. It was Germany's most successful hockey club for a long time and had many international players. The famous Eisstadion at th ...

, Hildebrand left Löwen Frankfurt at the end of his contract on March 19, 2023. On June 13, 2023, Hildebrand opted to remain in the DEL, signing a one-year contract with Eisbären Berlin for the 2023–24 season.

Career statistics

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hildebrand, Jake 1993 births AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans Allen Americans players American men's ice hockey goaltenders American people of German descent Cedar Rapids RoughRiders players Eisbären Berlin players Florida Everblades players Ice hockey players from Pennsylvania Indy Fuel players Kalamazoo Wings (ECHL) players Living people Löwen Frankfurt players Michigan State Spartans men's ice hockey players Sportspeople from Butler, Pennsylvania Rockford IceHogs (AHL) players Sioux City Musketeers players Tulsa Oilers (1992–present) players 21st-century American sportsmen