New Brunswicker makes NHL debut, fulfilling lifelong dream

It's every little minor-hockey kid's dream — and 21-year-old Lukas Cormier is living it.

On the weekend, the Sainte-Marie-de-Kent player made his NHL debut, which resulted in a 5-2 win with an assist by Cormier.

"I've been kind of dreaming of that day to play my first NHL game ... since I first put on skates, probably like two or three years old," said Cormier, who debuted with the Vegas Golden Knights, the 2023 Stanley Cup winners, on Saturday.

Cormier plays professionally with the American Hockey League's Henderson Silver Knights, the Vegas affiliate team.

That made the transition easier, said Cormier, because he already knew some of the Golden Knights through training camps and pre-season games.

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Cormier said after a Silver Knights game in San Diego on Wednesday night, he was doing his post-game routine in the gym when his coach came to find him.

"He said he wants to talk to me and then he just told me, 'Congrats, you've just been called up,' so then I was with Vegas the next day."

Cormier's parents even made it to the game.

"It's a special moment that we didn't want to miss. We were really excited, especially, to see Lukas having fun," said his father, Mario Cormier, in French.

Cormier said it was great having his family there, as they have supported his hockey goals since he was young. 

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