What a Knight for Raaymakers
It was a Knight to remember for former Soo Greyhounds goalie Joseph Raaymakers in his Ontario Hockey League debut with London.
Raaymakers made 35 saves, including 16 in the first period, as the Knights snapped an eight-game losing skid with a 5-1 road win over the Kitchener Rangers.
London had entered Friday’s game with a 1-8-1 record, a stumble of mammoth proportions for a team that has been an OHL powerhouse over 14 straight seasons prior to this one.
Not only was the game his first with the Knights but it was the first action of the 2017-2018 season for Raaymakers, who had asked the Greyhounds to trade him prior to the start of training camp and had been at home in Chatham waiting to be dealt.
“I wasn’t very nervous,” the 19-year-old Raaymakers told Postmedia about making his first start of the season. “I told myself go out there and have fun. Don’t overthink. You want to make those timely saves and that’s what I’m going to try to do consistently.
“The guys were jumping, playing fast and I felt comfortable,” he added.
The Knights had acquired the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Raaymakers from the Greyhounds earlier this week for fellow 1998 birth-year net minder Tyler Johnson, two second-round draft picks and a conditional fourth.
PHOTO: Goalie Joseph Raaymakers, now of the London Knights. (Photo by Postmedia.)