2014 Chatham-Kent Male Athlete of the Year: Joseph Raaymakers

After more than two weeks of voting, the Chatham-Kent Sports Network readers have selected Chatham’s Joseph Raaymakers as the 2014 Chatham-Kent Male Athlete of the Year.

Raaymakers played at multiple levels in 2014, beginning the year as the netminder for the Chatham-Kent Cyclones Minor Midget ‘AAA’ team, and ending the year between the pipes for the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

In the first half of 2014, Raaymakers was a star with the Chatham-Kent Cyclones. One of the top netminders in the Alliance Hockey loop during the regular season, Raaymakers stepped up his game in the post season, recording a sparkling 1.72 goals against average and 0.947 save percentage, helping his team advance to the OHL Cup. In the OHL Cup, Raaymakers was again tough to beat, backstopping the Cyclones to the semi-finals.

Raaymakers used his season to earn a spot in the Alliance All-Star Game, OHL Gold Cup, and U17 Development Camp.

At the completion of his minor hockey season, the Ecole Secondaire de Pain Court student was selected in the second round, 37th overall in the OHL Priority Selection Draft by the Soo Greyhounds.

The Greyhounds wasted no time after the draft signing Raaymakers, and proclaiming him their new backup netminder. Throughout the first half of the OHL season however, Raaymakers outperformed his veteran counterpart, Brandon Halverson, a second round NHL draft pick, and had a goals against average under three, and a save percentage well exceeding 0.900.

With more than 3000 votes cast, Raaymakers took an impressive 40% of the vote.

The runner-up for Chatham-Kent’s Male Athlete of the Year, TJ Brodie, received 22% of the vote, after taking the NHL by storm early in 2014, solidifying his spot on the Calgary Flames’ top defensive pair, and earning him consideration for the Norris Trophy.

Congratulations to all of the nominees, including runner up TJ Brodie, and CKSN’s 2014 Chatham-Kent Male Athlete of the Year, Joseph Raaymakers.