New pups in the Hound pound
Soo Greyhounds have inked three 1998 birth-year players who they selected at the 2014 Ontario Hockey League draft.
Hounds general manager Kyle Dubas has confirmed that goalie Joseph Raaymakers and forwards Boris Katchouk and Tim Gettinger have been signed to standard OHL player contracts.
Raaymakers and Katchouk were both second-round picks of the Hounds at this year’s draft while Gettinger was a third-round selection.
“It’s in my hands to make the most of this,” said Raaymakers, who the Hounds hope is ready to assume the backup goaltending job behind holdover Brandon Halverson in 2014-2015.
Halverson, a 1996 birth-year, is coming off a 2013-2014 rookie season with the Hounds in which he had a 12-6-1 record to go with a 2.96 goals-against-average and .904 save percentage as the understudy to since-graduated starter Matt Murray.
Halverson was taken by the New York Rangers in the second round of this year’s National Hockey League draft.
As for the Hounds other two rookie signees, Katchouk noted that inking an OHL card “means a lot because it gives me more motivation to pursue my hockey dream and keep playing at the highest level possible.”
Gettinger called it an honour to play for “such a great organization. When I attended rookie camp, met everyone and saw the community, I knew that this would be a perfect fit for me.”