The blueliner - selected in the third round, 72nd overall in the 2020 draft - is relishing his time in Penticton at the Young Stars Classic tournament, where he and his teammates will finish off the event against the Winnipeg Jets today at noon MTN (Head to CalgaryFlames.com for the livestream).
The Flames brass are all here to watch, including GM Brad Treliving and head coach Darryl Sutter, while the Calgary Wranglers coaching staff, led by Mitch Love, is on the ice along with members of the organization's player development crew, including Martin Gelinas and Ray Edwards.
It's an impressive cornucopia of hockey knowledge and experience surrounding the young charges, imparting wisdom and guidance during the four-day event through one-on-one time, on-ice practices, video sessions and, of course, three games against Canadian counterparts.
"It's a good chance to compete and to have fun out there - I think hockey is a fun game," said Poirier. "So just to go out there, work hard and have fun and also learn a lot from everyone that's around. We have a lot of great people giving us tips so I think for us, it's just to be sponges and just go out there and perform."
Poirier will be playing his first year of professional hockey this upcoming season with the newly-relocated and renamed Wranglers, competing in the same city as the big club.
"It's exciting coming to Calgary," he said. "They have a really good fan base here. So I think it's really special for us."
Poirier had an impressive major junior career with the QMJHL's Saint John Sea Dogs, playing 225 games over four years and racking up 51 goals and 148 points.
"I think I'm a player that can create a lot of offence from the back end and get a good first pass up to my forwards and also getting involved in the the rush," he explained of his game. "I've also been improving a lot and working on my defensive side of my game to just become more reliable.
"So I think, yeah, just a two-way guy that loves to create offence and make plays."
Like all junior players, that jump to the professional level, playing against men, is a challenging transition but Poirier has been focusing on what he needs to do to excel at the next stage of his career.
"I think for the whole last year, my main focus just every day, every time I step on the ice, is to work on little details on my defensive game and just try and get better," said Poirier. "Because, like you said, there are big, heavy, fast guys at the pro level. So I think for me, it's just gonna be important for me to get stronger, faster and just more focused on details on the defensive side of the game."
Along the way, he is trying to relish every step of a journey that is the dream of most kids when they lace up their first set of skates - playing the game they love full time as a professional.
"I think it's a dream come true," he said with a smile. "You dream of that since you're a little kid playing mini sticks in your basement. So yeah, I think for me to get to that point right now is just a big accomplishment actually, but the works not over yet. Far from it."
