The CP has handed out a number of coveted titles, as voted on by sports journalists and broadcasters from coast to coast – the 2010 gold medal-winning men’s hockey team has taken the “Team of the Year” spot, while Canadian tennis player Milos Raonic is the male athlete of the year.
“The Olympic men’s hockey team was the best Canada has ever fielded,” said Sean Rooney, sports editor at the Medicine Hat News (The Canadian Press). “It wasn’t that they had more talent, it’s that they played a disciplined style of game that took advantage of the talent they had.”
While tennis star Raonic won for male athlete, another tennis star whose 2014 rise to fame made her a household name was named the female athlete of the year: Eugenie Bouchard. It’s her second consecutive honour.
Raonic was the first Canadian to win a Grand Slam men’s singles semifinal open, coming in eighth in the world by the end of the season. “It’s hard as an athlete to really be playing your best throughout the whole year and I was able to consistently play well in the big tournaments,” he said – Raonic finished with 29 of the 82 votes (35 per cent) in balloting of sports editors and broadcasters across the country. Los Angeles Kings defenceman Drew Doughty was second with 19 votes (23 per cent), according to The Canadian Press.
Photo: Milos Raonic
