“Vancouver Warriors forward Payton Cormier” has a nice ring to it.
The former University of Virginia standout agreed to terms with the club on a one-year deal on Friday, pending NLL approval.
The 24-year-old had an illustrious NCAA career – setting the all-time NCAA Division I career goal record with 224 through his five-year stint at Virginia – and he’s ready to make the jump to the NLL and be a part of the Warriors team.
“I’m super excited to be a part of it and the direction that they’re heading in,” said Cormier. “The guys in the locker room, the competitive nature of it and the coaching staff being world class is something that I’m super excited for.”
Warriors General Manager and Head Coach Curt Malawsky says there’s unlimited potential for the 6-foot-2, 230-pound Cormier to make an impact on the team this season.
“Payton was our fourth overall draft pick from last season that we have been waiting for,” said Malawsky. “He is a big body that is very hard to move. He is a natural scorer that has a real nose for the net. He will be a major piece to the ‘offence by committee’ puzzle, with his ability to create space for his teammates and grind opposing defenders down.”
One of Malawsky’s mantras is to “be where your feet are” and that’s the approach Cormier is taking into his rookie NLL season. He’s going to take everything as it comes day by day and wants to do whatever the team needs.
“I’m hoping to fit into the system and make sure my transition goes smoothly for the team. I’m hoping my skill set helps everybody around me become better, and in return I pick up some new things and I’m able to be pretty successful myself with how talented our offence is and the mindset our coaching staff has. Hopefully everything can click and come together and be pretty exciting for my first year,” Cormier shared.
After finishing his last season at UVA, Cormier got his first taste of professional lacrosse, in the Premier Lacrosse League with the New York Atlas. He had a couple of breakout games for the Atlas in August and in his second PLL game, Cormier put up six points (5-1-6) for the Atlas, earning the Champion Player of the Week.
“It was good, it was a fun first experience in pro lacrosse world,” Cormier said.
The 24-year-old played alongside Ottawa Black Bears’ forward Jeff Teat and was able to ask questions about the NLL season and learn what has made Teat successful.
“Obviously we’re different players, but just figuring out those patterns that could help me be a little successful,” he said.
Cormier has crossed paths with several Warriors from his Junior A days playing for the Mimico Mountaineers. He played for Mimico with Warriors defenceman Jackson Suboch and played against defenceman Owen Grant who played for the Toronto Beaches.
Cormier played in the Minto Cup with Suboch in 2017 and against defenceman Reid Bowering that same year.
Matching up against each other through their junior careers, Cormier has a lot of respect for OG’s competitive nature and their mutual mindset of hating to lose over loving to win. The two will still be battling against each other in practice, but Cormier likes that they’ve now joined forces.
“It was always competitive between us, I think you can ask him too, we’re both super, super competitive people it’s almost like we hated each other on the floor, sort of that rip-each-others-heads-off mentality,” Cormier said. “Playing competitive high-level lacrosse, we were just making each other better every time we stepped on the floor, he wanted to go against me, and I wanted to go against him.”
“It was definitely fun, it was definitely a little aggressive, but talking with him now, we’re super excited to be on the same team and play together instead of against each other for the first time in our careers.”
An Oakville, Ont. native, Cormier has some family in Vancouver but hasn’t been out this way since he was younger so he’s looking forward to rediscovering the city and enjoying the West Coast.
He’s gearing up for training camp and is ready to get to work with the Warriors.
