An historic season with an original six National Hockey League franchise.
Okotoks minor hockey alumnae Laurenne Mercier’s first year as manager of team services and hockey administration for the Boston Bruins packed just about everything imaginable in the hockey operations department.
“It was an amazing experience and definitely the hardest job I’ve ever had, both from an emotional and mental perspective and also it never stops,” Mercier said. “I was told from the beginning, it’s not a job, it’s a lifestyle and that couldn’t be more true.
“We had an amazing group in Boston, the players outstanding, they were so good to me, so welcoming because I had never been to Boston before.”
Mercier joined the Bruins during what was a remarkable season on and off the ice with the team running away with the Presidents’ Trophy with 135 points in the regular season, while establishing NHL records for wins and points.
Following the 2022-23 campaign, captain Patrice Bergeron and stalwart centre David Krejci both announced their retirements.
“Transitioning to a brand new city, to a brand new job and even to a brand new country were all things that made it so I started in a challenging position and then it was just like drinking from a fire hose,” she said. “Going into this second year, I’m now almost at a full year of having done it and I’ve met so many awesome people, the group of team ops across the league, is amazing, everybody is supportive and we all meet as the 32 of us every summer.
“I do have to remind myself how cool it is too, I got to have a year with Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, who were amazing, and Brad Marchand is one of the best guys out there, and I know that’s hard to believe for some people, but he is the best and his family is amazing.”
Mercier’s chief duties are to manage the players and their families as well as organizing all of the team travel, from immigration, registry, licensing, vehicles and housing to dinner recommendations, ticketing and hotels, flights, buses, meals and everything that encompasses a road trip.
Summers are a busy time as well. Mercier explained the team should have its entire season booked by the start of September.
“Boston has a very different roster this year,” she said. “We have a lot of new guys coming in and needing to find places, schools for their kids, doctors and so it’s making sure they’re all comfortable when we get back.”
The journey to the NHL hockey operations world was one borne out of making connections.
Mercier graduated from St. FX University and was writing her honours thesis on the stereotypes behind the male hockey player in Canada and did a great deal of research on all facets at the time.
Growing up in Okotoks, Mercier and her brother Josh played the game, her father Robert was the president of the Okotoks Minor Hockey Association with her mother also involved in establishing tournaments in the community.
“We were super involved,” she said. “We loved the Flames, we loved hockey, so it’s always been a sport that I’ve enjoyed.
“Going into university, I didn’t really realize that path of career travel. When I graduated, I started reaching out to people that were in the field and found the best way going into it was to get an internship.”
Mercier landed with the Nashville Predators at an opportune time, the 2016-17 season in which the Tennessee team made its first trip to the Stanley Cup finals.
“That was my first experience in sports,” she said. “At that time, I knew because I was a Canadian that I wasn’t going to be able to stay, so I was making a point to go around to every single department and trying to figure out where I wanted to be in sports and what side of the organization I was most interested in.
“Even at that time, in 2017, I knew I wanted to be in hockey-ops and specifically team services.”
She then worked in Edmonton for the Oilers Entertainment Group as a programs and alumni relations co-ordinator before setting up her own shop.
Mercier founded the Treadstone Sports Agency, a marketing firm for NHL athletes to assist them in building their personal brands.
It was making connections with visiting NHL clubs in Calgary that set her on the path to ship up to Boston.
“Because there is only one person per team, it’s quite a hard gig to come by, there’s not a lot of turnover, there’s only 32,” Mercier said. “At that time, I started reaching out to every team that was coming through to play the Flames. I would ask them how they got into it? Any advice they had to try and network and get my foot in the door.
“Boston was coming through, the girl and I got coffee and we just became instantly friends and her and I stayed in touch. She reached out let me know she was leaving, so I sent a cold email to the general manager, got an interview and the rest is history.”
And for those looking to carve a similar path to working in professional sports, Mercier emphasized there’s no substitute for networking.
“It’s just so important to connect with people and to do it in a genuine way, in the sense that you never know where these connections are going to go and where they’re going to come back,” she said. “It’s also that give and take piece, I always try and make time for people asking me questions because I have been so helped along the way and couldn’t have got where I was without the help of other sports professionals.”
