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In every sportswriter's career, there comes at least one time where a gut feeling overcomes their better judgement. Sometimes, it's a statistical mistake. Other times, it's analysis of a prospect that's about to bust. Generally, when things such as Most Valuable Players and other personal awards are concerned, there is no gut judgement involved. It's always just comparing stats and quantifiable data. Well, I'm here today to petition you to put away the fancy stats for a minute and understand why Cody Fletcher was the undeniable Most Valuable player, if not for the league, at least for the Halifax Raiders.

Fletcher started the season as a rookie, coming in to the SMJHL with virtually no prior professional hockey experience. The Quebec native put together a solid rookie campaign, accruing 129 shots and netting 12 of them. Additionally, the pass happy playmaker was tallied for 17 assists, totaling 29 points in 50 games for .58 PPG. He suffered a below-average shooting percentage of 9.3% but his tenacity and ability to get shots on net in every situation was invaluable to Halifax's limited success. The winger logged 21.21 average minutes per game, second most out of all Raider forwards. In addition to his second and fourth line 5-5 responsibilities, Fletcher played on both the first power play and penalty kill units. On the PP, Fletcher scored 11 points, 4 of which were goals. Additionally, in game Fletcher scored on the penalty kill on a tic-tac-toe passing play by Ted Glass and Trucker Grogan, tying him for first league-wide in short handed goals. He would end up playing a total of 164 minutes on the penalty kill over the season.

Off ice, Fletcher was a constant presence in the locker room. He provided positive motivation for his teammates, an important asset for a team going through a rebuilding phase with rough on-ice performance. He also spent a significant amount of his off-ice time giving back to the Halifax community, volunteering at local homeless shelter as well as a local orphanage.

Cody Fletcher was a locker room force, and a strong presence in all three zones on the ice. For this kind of rookie season tour-de-force, only the Raymond Lindsay could serve as an appropriate reward for the hard work and dedication that Fletcher showed.