Brayden Tracey and Justin Almeida shared a special season on the ice together playing on a line with Tristin Langan and the duo added to that on Wednesday.

Tracey took home the Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy as the WHL Rookie of the Year, while Almeida won the Brad Horung Trophy as the WHL's Most Sportsmanlike Player of the Year at the 2019 WHL Awards in Red Deer.

Having the opportunity to share the experience together was something that wasn't lost on both players.

"It's pretty special, being here with [Justin] is something cool, he helped me out a lot this year and hopefully I helped him out a little bit, so it's pretty fun," said Tracey.

"We're really great friends, and me, him and Tristin Langan had great chemistry all year and we were the top line in the CHL, so it's great when you're getting recognized," added Almeida. "Brayden definitely deserved Rookie of the Year, he had a great season."

Moose Jaw just missed out on making it three-for-three on awards as Warriors captain Josh Brook lost out on the Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy for Defenceman of the Year to Ty Smith of the Spokane Chiefs.

Tracey led the entire Canadian Hockey League with 36 goals and 81 points in 66 games during his first major junior season, which allowed him to edge out Kelowna Rockets import forward Lassi Thomson for the award. He should be a front-runner for the CHL Rookie of the Year honour during Memorial Cup week.

"It's obviously something special to be recognized by the league in your first season, but it doesn't come without your family, your linemates, your teammates, the coaching staff, it was a pretty special year for me," said Tracey on the honour.

Tracey finished in the top-20 in the league in scoring as a rookie, which means expectations will be high heading into next season. The 2019 NHL Draft prospect said he's ready.

"Every year it's about getting better so learning this year and going into next year, I've just got to keep on rolling," said Tracey.

After a breakout 98-point season in 2017-18, Almeida found a way to top that this year with 111 points but it was also his discipline that got him recognized by the WHL as he took just 14 penalty minutes over 64 games.

Almeida said the points and discipline go hand-in-hand, "Any time I'm on the ice I can help my team and when I'm in the box, you get a nervous feeling that you're going to hurt the team," he said. "When I'm on the ice, I can do what I can do, so I want to be on the ice as much as possible."

The Pittsburgh Penguins prospect beat Portland Winterhawks forward Cody Glass for the award. 

Almeida said it added to the honour to be presented the award by Brad Horung, "Everything that he's been through and being recognized for playing the right way -- being respectful to opponents, officials -- it's something you look to do on the ice, you want to be known around the league as a good person, so it's nice being recognized," he said.

There's still a possibility that Almeida returns to Moose Jaw for his 20-year-old season, but if he moves onto professional hockey next season, he said that this was a good way to go out.

"Being to traded to Moose Jaw and learning from Brett Howden, Brayden Burke, Tanner Jeannot and Jayden Halbgewachs, guys like that, it was huge and then coming in this year and being looked at as more of a leader and winning an award like this makes you think back on your WHL career and everything that you've done," said Almeida.

Winterhawks forward Joachim Blichfeld was the big winner on the day, taking home the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as WHL Player of the Year. He also won the Bob Clarke Trophy as the top scorer, edging out Langan by one point.

Click here for the full list of award winners.