Patrice Bergeron is one of the most complete centres in the NHL and someone every NHL team would love to have on its roster. Dawson Mercer wants to be the next Bergeron, and some scouts think he can do it.
Mercer took big strides in the QMJHL this season, both in his on-ice production and big-game experience. Now, the Newfoundlander is ready to bring his scoring touch and high hockey IQ to the next level.
Watch Round 1 of the NHL Draft on Sportsnet and SN NOW beginning at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on Tuesday, Oct. 6. Then catch Rounds 2-7 on SN1 and SN NOW starting at from 11:30 a.m. ET/8:30 a.m. PT on Wednesday, Oct. 7.
Here’s everything you need to know about the next hockey star from The Rock.
Age: 18 (Oct. 27, 2001) Height: Six-foot Weight: 179 pounds Position: C/RW Shoots: Right Current team: Chicoutimi Saguenéens (QMJHL)
Never takes a shift off
Mercer finished the season with 24 goals and 60 points in only 42 games — due to Team Canada commitments and a late-season injury — but he’s much more than just an offensive player. The 18-year-old can fill any role on his team, whether it be centre or right wing, and on the power play or penalty kill.
He credits his high hockey IQ and strong work ethic for allowing him to play that way. He can be the first player on the forecheck, wearing opponents down or he can create offence from the top of the circle with his hard shot and quick hands, depending on what his team needs.
In the first half of the season, as a member of the Drummondville Voltigeurs, Mercer was a top-line scorer on a rebuilding team. But after a trade to the championship-chasing Chicoutimi Saguenéens, Mercer joined stars like Raphaël Lavoie, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Félix Bibeau and was no longer relied on for his offence. While his production went down with the Saguenéens, he still found other ways to contribute by winning faceoffs and killing penalties.
“I’ve got a motor that I like to keep going,” Mercer said in an interview with NHL.com. “I don’t like to give anything up or give up on a play. I want to be at my best in all three zones. When you keep going to higher levels, there’s only a little difference between each player and you want to be on the right side of that. I feel like these little qualities I have will give me the extra boost, whether it’s having a positive attitude, giving 100 per cent and not taking a shift off, being hard on your checks. All those little things matter and I take pride in doing those things well.”
Models his game after Patrice Bergeron
As an average-sized right-shot centre, Mercer idolizes Bergeron and his ability to fill whatever role his team needs.
“He’s the type of guy that I’m sure every player would like to be like,” Mercer said on the BTS Hockey podcast.
NHL Central Scouting’s J-F Damphousse compared Mercer to Bergeron in an interview with the NHL Draft Class podcast, citing his reliability in all zones as the reasons.
“I really like Dawson’s game. He’s a true competitor, he’s passionate, he loves playing the game,” Damphousse said. “I don’t like comparing players but if I had to compare I think he could become a little bit like Patrice Bergeron. Someone that can bring a lot of offence but is also reliable in his own zone, winning faceoffs, battling down low for loose pucks.”
A magnetic personality
Mercer has shown this season that he can be a leader on his team and in the community. He was an assistant captain with the Voltigeurs and on Team Red at the CHL Top Prospects game and also a finalist for the QMJHL’s Personality of the Year award, which goes to “a player who had a positive media impact and helped improve the league’s image throughout the 2019-2020 season.”
Mercer had a busy year, playing games for two QMJHL teams as well as in the CHL Canada-Russia series, the World Juniors and the CHL Top Prospects game. But his coaches say he had no problem adjusting to any of his new situations.
“He jelled with the guys right away when he arrived,” Chicoutimi coach Yanick Jean told NHL.com. “He has a magnetic personality. Everybody likes to hang out with that kind of person. It is huge having a guy like him, for a coach. When you have a player who plays both ways like he does, when you can generate offence like he does, he plays extremely well on both special-teams units, as good on the wing as he does at centre, it’s huge for our team.”
With the NHL scouting combine cancelled, Mercer has been meeting with teams over video instead and making the most of the situation.
“Whether it’s FaceTime or Zoom, NHL teams are still getting a good insight into who I am,” he said in an interview with The Telegram. “I’m well-spoken and able to communicate with others, and I think that shows the qualities of maturity and leadership, on the ice and off the ice.”
From NL to the NHL
Mercer is proud of being from Newfoundland and is honoured to represent his province on the hockey stage.
He could be just the seventh player from Newfoundland selected in the first round of the NHL Draft and only 27 players from The Rock have skated in the NHL, the fewest of any Canadian province.
“I’m from a small town, Bay Roberts, just 7,000 people about. A small town (where) you’re very close with the community and my family and I’m proud to be from there,” Mercer said in an interview with Sportsnet earlier this season. “It’s a special moment for me to be one of the few Nefoundlanders away from the island playing and having an opportunity in the QMJHL.”
Newfoundlanders taken in first round of NHL Draft
Name
Year
Team
Pick
Alex Newhook
2019
Avalanche
16
Dan Cleary
1997
Blackhawks
13
Terry Ryan
1995
Canadiens
8
Brad Brown
1994
Canadiens
18
John Slaney
1990
Capitals
9
Keith Brown
1979
Blackhawks
7
Mercer grew up in a hockey-loving family. His brother, Riley, is a goalie who was selected by Drummondville in the QMJHL draft earlier this summer, while his sister Jessica plays triple-A bantam hockey in Newfoundland.
It’s clear from listening to him speak that hockey is more than just a job for him. It’s everything.
“We’ve been growing up and living it our whole life. It was something we were never forced to do but we just loved it,” he said on the BTS Hockey podcast. “We like to go put in the work and have fun because work and hockey don’t feel like actual work. It’s work that we love to do.”
When Mercer was 15 he moved away from home to Bishop’s College private school in Quebec to increase his level of competition and he’s been playing in that province for four seasons now. But during the pandemic, he’s gotten to spend an extended amount of time at home, where he’s using a Bowflex machine and a pair of Rollerblades to stay in shape.
Even though his season ended early and he can’t get on ice right now, his focus hasn’t wavered. He wants to get bigger and stronger so that he can challenge for an NHL roster spot next season.
“It is what it is. I can’t change it at all,” he told the Journal Pioneer. “You have to look at the positive side and one way of doing that is to realize I have a lot more time to get ready for the draft and what comes after that.
“For me, that’s working at getting stronger, getting even quicker. I want to be able to show up to my first NHL (training) camp being ready to play with these older, more experienced players. So I want to use this time wisely, and not worry about what I know isn’t going to happen this year, which is the playoffs, and concentrate on what I know is coming and that’s the draft and next season.”
NAPA, Calif. (AP) — David Lipsky shot a 7-under 65 on Thursday at Silverado Country Club to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Procore Championship.
Winless in 104 events since joining the PGA Tour in 2022, Lipsky went out with the early groups and had eight birdies with one bogey to kick off the FedEx Cup Fall series at the picturesque course in the heart of Napa Valley wine country.
After missing the cut in his three previous tournaments, Lipsky flew from Las Vegas to Arizona to reunite with his college coach at Northwestern to get his focus back. He also spent time playing with some of the Northwestern players, which helped him relax.
“Just being around those guys and seeing how carefree they are, not knowing what’s coming for them yet, it’s sort of nice to see that,” Lipsky said. “I was almost energized by their youthfulness.”
Patton Kizzire and Mark Hubbard were a stroke back. Kizzire started on the back nine and made a late run with three consecutive birdies to move into a tie for first. A bogey on No. 8 dropped him back.
“There was a lot of good stuff out there today,” Kizzire said. “I stayed patient and just went through my routines and played well, one shot at a time. I’ve really bee working hard on my mental game and I think that allowed me to rinse and repeat and reset and keep playing.”
Mark Hubbard was at 67. He had nine birdies but fell off the pace with a bogey and triple bogey on back-to-back holes.
Kevin Dougherty also was in the group at 67. He had two eagles and ended his afternoon by holing out from 41 yards on the 383-yard, par-4 18th.
Defending champion Sahith Theegala had to scramble for much of his round of 69.
Wyndham Clark, who won the U.S. Open in 2023 and the AT&T at Pebble Beach in February, had a 70.
Max Homa shot 71. The two-time tournament champion and a captain’s pick for the President’s Cup in two weeks had two birdies and overcame a bogey on the par-4 first.
Stewart Cink, the 2020 winner, also opened with a 71. He won The Ally Challenge last month for his first PGA Tour Champions title.
Three players from the Presidents Cup International team had mix results. Min Woo Lee shot 68, Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., 69 and Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., 73. International team captain Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., also had a 69.
Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., had a 68, Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., and Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., shot 70 and Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., had a 71.
Lipsky was a little shaky off the tee for much of the afternoon but made up for it with steady iron play that left him in great shape on the greens. He had one-putts on 11 holes and was in position for a bigger day but left five putts short.
Lipsky’s only real problem came on the par-4 ninth when his approach sailed into a bunker just shy of the green. He bounced back nicely with five birdies on his back nine. After missing a 19-foot putt for birdie on No. 17, Lipsky ended his day with a 12-foot par putt.
That was a big change from last year when Lipsky tied for 30th at Silverado when he drove the ball well but had uneven success on the greens.
“Sometimes you have to realize golf can be fun, and I think I sort of forgot that along the way as I’m grinding it out,” Lipsky said. “You’ve got to put things in perspective, take a step back. Sort of did that and it seems like it’s working out.”
Laird stayed close after beginning his day with a bogey on the par-4 10th. The Scot got out of the sand nicely but pushed his par putt past the hole.
Homa continued to have issues off the tee and missed birdie putts on his final four holes.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic is moving on to the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open.
The Mississauga, Ont., native defeated the tournament top seed, Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) in the round of 16 on Thursday.
Stakusic faced a 0-4 deficit in the third and final set before marching back into the match.
The 19-year-old won five of the next six games to even it up before exchanging games to force a tiebreaker, where Stakusic took complete control to win the match.
Stakusic had five aces with 17 double faults in the three-hour, four-minute match.
However, she converted eight of her 18 break-point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
PARIS (AP) — French judicial authorities are investigating the disappearance of two Paralympic athletes from Congo who recently competed in the Paris Games, the prosecutor’s office in the Paris suburb of Bobigny confirmed on Thursday.
Prosecutors opened the investigation on Sept. 7, after members of the athletes’ delegation warned authorities of their disappearance two days before.
Le Parisien newspaper reported that shot putter Mireille Nganga and Emmanuel Grace Mouambako, a visually impaired sprinter who was accompanied by a guide, went missing on Sept. 5, along with a third person.
The athletes’ suitcases were also gone but their passports remained with the Congolese delegation, according to an official with knowledge of the investigation, who asked to remain anonymous as they were not allowed to speak publicly about the case.
The Paralympic Committee of the Democratic Republic of Congo did not respond to requests for information from The Associated Press.
Nganga — who recorded no mark in the seated javelin and shot put competitions — and Mouambako were Congo’s flag bearers at the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, organizers said.
