As a kid, Wyatt Viste’s father built him a place to train in the backyard that included a net, some plywood, and enough room for his young son to practice outside their Calgary area home. A young Viste would spend hours repping his shot in that backyard, building accuracy and confidence.
“I was five (years old), and my dad built this big wall out of plywood for me. We threw that in the backyard as a wall. And it was just off the wall and into the net,” said Viste.
Fast forward a few years, and the Raiders Lacrosse Club forward has translated those skills from the backyard to the bright lights of Jr. A, and the sharpshooting righty is dominating the summer circuit in the RMLL. After a gap year, he is headed to the New Jersey Institute of Technology to play his college lacrosse.
That shot, honed through hours in the backyard, has proven to be an incredible weapon in Jr. A. This video, captured by videographer Garrett Eddy, is a good example of how Viste has been dominating this summer.
Viste is having one of the better seasons in recent RMLL history. With 36 goals in his first 13 games, he is on an elite pace. Stat-keeping in the RMLL can be a little bit inconsistent, but Viste’s 2.8 goals per game is the most per game since Brett McIntyre in 2018. He is currently outscoring the next closest player by 8 goals, and his next closest teammate by 17 goals.
One reason for the success has been the mentorship of Assistant Coach and former NLL star Brett Hickey, who himself was one of the great outside shooters in the sport. Hickey coaches with both the Raiders and the Elev8 lacrosse program, where Viste competes as well. He said the success this summer is no surprise.
“(Viste) is tremendously dialed in to being a lacrosse player,” said Hickey. “His work ethic is through the roof, and his lacrosse IQ has grown tremendously over the last two seasons.”
Hickey and Viste have proven to be an effective combination together. Every Friday, Hickey holds shooting practice for his offensive players, which is always attended by Viste. Hickey doesn’t allow goaltenders to attend, as he wants his players to work on different shots and not simply rely on exploiting the specific weakness of any given goaltender.
The focus is on building confidence and deception, the latter of which is drilled through forcing players to hit multiple corners with the same release. Viste excels in this category.
“Overhand post-and-in, is kind of the adage that he has,” said Hickey through a laugh.
It’s been a successful one for Viste thus far.
For his side, Viste credits Hickey and those sessions for helping him develop more of an inside game. The result has been balance, both individually and collectively. Individually, Viste now has the ability to adapt to defenders who overplay his outside shot. Collectively, he joins a talented Raiders offence that includes Cash Frijters, Carson Bowley, Dylan Belliveau and others.
But just like that kid in the backyard, Viste has his sights set on loftier goals.
The Raiders entered the 2024 Minto Cup as sizeable underdogs and with the primary goal of gaining experience for the young core. They kept things competitive, including a very tight 10-8 loss to the eventual champion Coquitlam Adanacs in the first game of the tournament.
“I think it was a good experience for us to see that level of competition and where we have to be at,” said Viste. “But this year, it’s been ‘we have experience, we have been there.’ The goal is not just to get there, it’s to be competitive in the Minto.”
That goal started earlier this summer, when the Raiders took a team trip to the west coast to play against some of British Columbia’s best teams.
The Raiders swept that road trip against Coquitlam, Delta and New Westminster, albeit with all teams missing some players to American commitments. But going to BC and winning was a valuable experience for the players.
Back in Alberta, the Raiders know there is a long way to go, as winning the RMLL is no easy feat.
“The message is, we know the level we need to play at,” said Viste. “And we need to match that standard.”
That adversity finally hit this weekend, with the Miners handing the Raiders their first loss of the season on Saturday. They responded resoundingly with a 14-4 victory on Sunday, a game that Viste sat out while the Raiders cycled some younger players in.
Despite the special season thus far, Viste is comfortable sacrificing for the greater good, especially in pursuit of the Raiders’ greater goals this summer.
“When you get into the personal accolades, it takes away from the team stuff,” said Viste. “I’m not too worried about keeping the points up or keeping the goals up, if I have to drop down for our team to win, no big deal.”
Well said, but if he continues to score at this pace and the Raiders make some noise in August, it will certainly be a very big deal.