Nler looking to QMJHL draft
Riley Mercer hoping to be selected today in QMJHL Entry Draft
For hours on end, not that long ago, Riley Mercer would don the goalie pads, head downstairs to the unfinished basement in his uncle’s house and face an assault of hockey pucks fired from his brother, Dawson, and cousin, Zack Bennett.
He didn’t know it at the time, but young Mercer was fashioning a hockey career between the pipes.
He’s never looked back. “They’d be shooting on me all the time,” Mercer said this week. “Even today, Dawson shoots on me.
“I’ve always had a passion for goaltending. When I first started watching hockey, I’d stare at the goalies.”
For three years, Mercer watched his older brother enjoy a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League career (Bennett also played a year in the Q), and now, he hopes, it’s his time to embark on a major junior journey.
It could very well start today with the QMJHL Entry Draft getting under way and held virtually. The first round of the draft will be shown on the QMJHL’S Youtube Channel starting 8 p.m. NL time today. Rounds 2-14 will be on
Youtube Saturday.
Riley Mercer, 16, is the topranked Newfoundland and Labrador prospect by QMJHL Central Scouting, ranked in the third round, 43rd overall.
The athletic 6-1, 185pound puckstop was 10-5-2 with a 2.33 goals against average and .930 save percentage for the Tri-pen Osprey in the Newfoundland and Labrador Major Midget Hockey League this season.
Three of the top four players from this province ranked by CSB are goalies. Cruz Loughlin is ranked in the fourth round, 67th overall, and Dekon Randall-snow in the fifth round, 85th overall. Loughlin played major midget for the East Coast Blizzard where was 10-3-2 (2.77 GAA and .919 save percentage) and Randall-snow played at the Ontario Hockey Academy in Cornwall, Ont.
The only non-goalie on the CSB ranking is forward Christian Reardon of Tripen, in the fifth round, 73rd overall. Reardon was sixth in major midget scoring, with 13 goals and 31 points in 31 games.
“Watching Dawson the past few years,” Riley Mercer said, “I know how well they treat you in that league, and I know what it means to have a major junior career and to play at that level.
“To play as a 16-year-old would be amazing and develop my game through the Q. There’s been so many goalies to come through that league and have successful careers.
“My main goal is play at 16 develop to be the best goalie I can.”
The QMJHL has long been known to be somewhat of a goalie factory, producing Hall of Famers such as Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy and current stars Marc-andre Fleury and Corey Crawford, to name but four.
Dawson Mercer has his own draft to look forward to, the NHL Entry Draft, in which he’s expected to be a first-round pick. He played on Canada’s world junior championship team this year, and was a finalist for the Michael Bossy Award as the best pro prospect in the QMJHL this season.
Alexis Lafreniere, who will be the top pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, won the Bossy award.
Dawson Mercer was drafted eighth overall by the Drummondville Voltigeurs in the 2017 QMJHL draft following one season at Bishops College prep school in Sherbrooke, Que.
Riley Mercer has spoken with a number of QMJHL teams, but says he has no preferences. That includes teams in predominantly French-speaking communities, vs cities in Atlantic Canada.
“Dawson’s in a French environment (with the Chicoutimi Sagueneens), he was in Drummondville and he’s had great experiences,” Riley said. “I’m not too particular where I go. I just want to play.”