Raaymakers picks up first OHL win (video)

In a similar fashion to his goaltending partner, Soo Greyhounds rookie netminder Joseph Raaymakers made his first OHL start a special one.

Along with his first career OHL start, Raaymakers recorded two more firsts on Sunday afternoon with his first win and shutout as the Greyhounds blanked the London Knights 5-0 at the Essar Centre.

“It felt really good,” Raaymakers said of leading the team out of the tunnel to start the game. “I was really excited for (the start). The boys really helped me out and it was an all-around good win.”

Raaymakers, who said he had a few jitters prior to puck drop, made 31 saves in the win.

“He looked calm and he looked confident right from the start,” Greyhounds Coach Sheldon Keefe said. “His puck handling, which for a young goaltender and particularly one that is a backup to Brandon Halverson, it’s a tall task to go in there and handle the puck and that really showed his confidence level. He didn’t get tested a lot so it was a good night to get eased into it.”

Among the 31 saves was a stop on a penalty shot by London forward Christian Dvorak after the sophomore forward was pulled down on a breakaway by Gabe Guertler.

“It was really big,” Keefe said of the penalty shot save. “That penalty shot opens the door for us to go back to what happened to us (Saturday). To get a save like that really kept things moving along and gave us a little chance to get the bench regrouped and playing well.”

The Greyhounds opened up a quick 2-0 lead in the game as forward Jean Dupuy and defenceman Colton White scored 24 seconds apart to give the Greyhounds the lead before the game was 90 seconds old.

“We had watched a couple of games and knew (the Greyhounds) were high-flying and talented,” said Knights Assistant Coach Dylan Hunter, who spoke to the media in lieu of Head Coach Dale Hunter. “We basically wanted to just hold out own for the first ten minutes and fight the wave. Obviously they came out hard on us and two quick ones put us right behind the eight-ball.”

Michael Bunting added a pair of second-period goals while Guertler also scored in the win. Blake Speers had two assists for the Greyhounds.

Michael Giugovaz got the start for the Knights, stopping 15 of 19 shots before being pulled after the Greyhounds fourth goal early in the second period.

“There were some tough chances that we gave up early,” said Hunter. “We didn’t let him feel the puck right away, there were some bang-bang plays right in front of him (Giugovaz). We have to play better in front of our guy to give him a better shot.”
Tyler Parsons stopped 25 of 26 shots in relief of Giugovaz.

“The last couple of years we’ve had a core of the team that has done well and now we’ve got a lot of young guys coming in and feeling their way out in the league,” said Hunter. “When you’re young you don’t exactly have the game plan down right away and it shows.”

For Keefe, the win was another step in the right direction after letting the Owen Sound Attack back into the game on Saturday night after building an early lead.

“I was really happy with how we handled it,” Keefe said of the big lead. “Looking at (Saturday) we said that going through that was probably a positive for our team and it showed today. If we don’t go through that (Saturday), we may have seen some of those issues creep up today. It shows some growth. We were better than we were yesterday in that regard.”

Sunday’s game came just over a year after Halverson recorded his first OHL win and shutout on Oct. 5, 2013 against the Belleville Bulls.

The Greyhounds now prepare for their first extended road trip of the season, which begins on Thursday night in North Bay. The team will also make stops in Belleville (Saturday) and Oshawa (Sunday).

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OTHER SCORES

The OHL saw three other games on Sunday.

In Kingston, Spencer Watson’s power play goal at 16:26 of the opening period was the game winner as the Kingston Frontenacs beat the Niagara IceDogs 1-0. Goaltender Lucas Peressini stopped 31 shots for the shutout.

In Ottawa, Jeremiah Addison and Dante Salituro had a goal and an assist each as the Ottawa 67’s beat the Oshawa Generals 4-1. Travis Barron chipped in with a pair of assists in the win.

In Saginaw, Jimmy Lodge scored a pair of goals as the Saginaw Spirit doubled up the Peterborough Petes 6-3. Nick Moutry added a goal and an assist while Dylan Sadowy set up two goals for the Spirit. Saginaw goaltender Nikita Serebryakov stopped 40 shots in the win.

To view SooToday's live blog of Sunday afternoon's game, click here

For full video highlights, click here