Cody McCormick (born April 18, 1983) is a Canadian former

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

player and coach. He is of European and

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

descent, with both

Oneida Oneida may refer to: Native American/First Nations * Oneida people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy * Oneida language * Oneida Indian Nation, based in New York * Oneida ...

and Chippewa/

Ojibway The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

ancestors. Cody McCormick is from

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximat ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

and has played for

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (N ...

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, alon ...

, and

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and play their home games at the Xcel Ener ...

. He was also the head coach of the

Buffalo Beauts The Buffalo Beauts are a professional ice hockey team based in Amherst, New York, United States. The team was established in 2015 as one of the four founding franchises of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), originally named the National Women ...

of the

National Women's Hockey League The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), formerly the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), is a women's professional ice hockey league located in the United States and Canada. The league was established in 2015 with four league-owned teams and ha ...

from December 2018 to May 2019.

Playing career

Ontario Hockey League

McCormick was selected 37th overall by the Belleville Bulls junior hockey team, of the OHL. He played as a left winger for the

Belleville, Ontario Belleville is a city in Ontario, Canada situated on the eastern end of Lake Ontario, located at the mouth of the Moira River and on the Bay of Quinte. Belleville is between Ottawa and Toronto, along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Its populat ...

based team for all four years of his junior career, from 1990-2000 to 2002-2003. During McCormick's four-year stint as a Bull, he accumulated a total of 56 goals, where 36 of them came from his 2002-2003 season.

National Hockey League

McCormick was drafted 144th overall by the Colorado Avalanche in the

2001 NHL Entry Draft __NOTOC__ The 2001 NHL Entry Draft was the 39th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 23 and 24, 2001 at the National Car Rental Center in Sunrise, Florida. As of 2022, the only remaining active players in the NHL from the 2001 draft class are ...

from the Belleville Bulls of the OHL. In his last junior year 2002–03, and as Captain, McCormick had a breakout year offensively with the Bulls, posting 36 goals and 69 points in 61 games. He was selected to the OHL First All-Star Team and named the Best Checker in the OHL. McCormick turned professional in 2003–04 and made his NHL debut with the Avalanche and split the year between the Avs and AHL affiliate the

Hershey Bears The Hershey Bears are a professional ice hockey team based in Hershey, Pennsylvania, a town located 14 miles east of the state capital of Harrisburg. The current Bears club has played in the American Hockey League since the 1938–39 season maki ...

. McCormick spent the next four seasons between the Avalanche and the AHL before he found a full-time role with Colorado in 2008–09 playing in a NHL high 55 games and contributing 12 points. On August 1, 2009, McCormick signed a one-year contract with the Buffalo Sabres. He was then assigned to AHL affiliate, the

Portland Pirates The Portland Pirates were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). Their home arena was the Cross Insurance Arena in downtown Portland, Maine. The franchise was previously known as the Baltimore Skipjacks fr ...

for the 2009–10 season, posting professional career highs with 17 goals and 29 points in 66 games. During the playoffs with the Pirates McCormick was recalled to Buffalo as an injury replacement for additional toughness. On April 21, 2010, McCormick made his debut with the Sabres in Game 4 of the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs against the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making ...

recording an assist on a goal by Tim Kennedy. Contributing with 2 assists in his brief showing with Buffalo, he was then re-signed to a one-year, one-way contract with the Sabres on July 2, 2010. During his time with the Sabres Cody McCormick garnered the most penalty minutes at 142 minutes total. playing primarily on the fourth line with

Patrick Kaleta Patrick Kaleta (born June 8, 1986) is an American former professional ice hockey right winger who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Buffalo Sabres from 2006 until 2015. He was drafted by the Sabres in the sixth round, 176th overal ...

. During the shortened 2012–13 season, his fourth with the Sabres organization, McCormick was placed on waivers on February 20, 2013. With appearing in only 8 scoreless games he passed through unclaimed the following day and was immediately reassigned to AHL affiliate, the

Rochester Americans The Rochester Americans (colloquially known as the Amerks) are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League; the team is an owned and operated affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. The team plays its home games in Rochester, New York, a ...

. After returning from a lengthy injury with the Sabres during the 2013–14 season, McCormick was included in a trade by Buffalo along with Matt Moulson to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for

Torrey Mitchell Torrey Charles Mitchell (born January 30, 1985) is a former Canadian professional ice hockey centerman. He spent 12 years playing professional hockey with the San Jose Sharks, the Minnesota Wild, the Buffalo Sabres, the Montreal Canadiens and th ...

and draft picks on March 5, 2014. At the conclusion of the season, McCormick ended his brief stint with the Wild to return to the Sabres as a free agent on a three-year contract on July 1, 2014. In January 2015, McCormick experienced blood clots that prevented him from playing the rest of the season and the entire 2015–16 campaign. Similar to Pascal Dupuis, despite efforts to medicate and become healthier the complications of the blood clots spreading to McCormick's lungs lead to him retiring at 32 years of age.

Personal life

McCormick is married with two daughters and resides in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

during the off-season.Hoppe, Bill (July 8, 2014)
Sabres’ Cody McCormick thrilled to be back in Buffalo: ‘It’s home’
''Olean Times Herald''. Retrieved January 8, 2014. His wife is Alyssa Paiement, the daughter of former NHLer

Wilf Paiement Wilfrid Paiement, Jr. (; born October 16, 1955) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey right wing who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1974 through 1988, for seven different NHL teams. He is the younger brother of former NHL ...

. McCormick is from

Chippewa of the Thames First Nation Chippewas of the Thames First Nation ( oj, Deshkaan-ziibing Aniishinaabeg) is an Anishinaabe (Ojibway) First Nations band government located west of St. Thomas, in southwest Ontario, Canada. Their land base is the Chippewas of the Thames First ...

, located in

Southwestern Ontario Southwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula bounded by Lake Huron, including Georgian Bay, to the north and northwest; the St. Clair River, Lake ...

, near

. The Thames First Nations can also be referred to as Anishinaabeg, meaning the original people. They are from the territory of Deshkaan Ziibing. McCormick's ancestors originally arrived from north-eastern region of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

, where they then settled in the area of the Great Lakes.

Career statistics

Awards and honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McCormick, Cody 1983 births Albany River Rats players Belleville Bulls players Buffalo Sabres players Canadian ice hockey centres Colorado Avalanche draft picks Colorado Avalanche players First Nations sportspeople Hershey Bears players Premier Hockey Federation coaches Ice hockey people from Ontario Lake Erie Monsters players Living people Lowell Lock Monsters players Minnesota Wild players Portland Pirates players Rochester Americans players Sportspeople from London, Ontario Canadian ice hockey coaches