It’s the end of the hockey season for Riley Mercer. The 20-year-old Bay Roberts native, and younger brother of New Jersey Devils forward Dawson Mercer, has just concluded a very successful season in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) as the Drummondville Voltigeurs’ starting goaltender.

The Voltigeurs were the QMJHL champions, with Mercer backstopping the club all the way. He was the winning goalie of record in 31 regular season wins and all 16 of the team’s playoff wins, clinching not just a league title, but a berth in the 2024 Memorial Cup with a chance at a national championship.

“I certainly knew his potential but along with that, he’s a great person who just works so hard,” Voltigeurs’ Head Coach Sylvain Favreau said in an interview with the QMJHL website. “We knew from the start; he was our guy.”

Things did not go the Voltigeurs’ way at the Memorial Cup. The team went 0-3 in the round robin against the champions from the Ontario Hockey League, the Western Hockey League, and the host team, bringing an abrupt end to the season for Mercer, who will now set his eyes on the future.

In the past two years, Mercer has attended offseason development and fall training camps with the Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, and New Jersey Devils. Those experiences have followed him going unselected in the NHL Entry Draft in his first two years of eligibility.

Mercer is still eligible to be drafted this year and after such a successful season, he will likely garner interest from at least one NHL club when the draft takes place in Las Vegas later this month. He may have already been offered a spot at the Minnesota Wild’s summer development camp, if a report during the Memorial Cup broadcast is accurate.

Barring the opportunity to join an NHL organization this fall and begin his professional career, Mercer is eligible to play one final season with Drummondville before he ages out of the major junior league system.