MERSCH LEADING BY EXAMPLE ON AND OFF THE ICE
Jan 26, 2022By Suzie Cool
“As a coach, to put your head on the pillow at night knowing that Mike Mersch is your captain is a very comforting feeling,” stated Rochester Americans head coach Seth Appert when asked how beneficial it’s been to have captain Michael Mersch on his team helping him navigate another unusual season in the American Hockey League.
It’s not every day that you see a player and a coach get along as well as Appert and Mersch do. Their friendship, and yes, it’s safe to say friendship, is one that truly goes back and forth. Neither of them takes credit for the team’s successes, navigating depleted rosters or keeping their heads on straight when lineup changes are made literally hours before a game.
Instead, Appert knows that no matter what happens or what his lineup is going to look like, he has Mersch captaining his team. As level-headed as Appert is, Mersch has helped keep him even more even-keel as he knows whatever message the team needs at any given moment, the Amerks captain will be sending it along.
“I think that when your coaching staff and your management and your captain aligns so well from a core value perspective, from what you stand for as human beings, from what you stand for as a team, what you want to be about as a group of men, you know that message is being sent down the line.”
WATCH: SETH APPERT FOLLOWING MONDAY'S PRACTICE
This season with Rochester, Mersch has truly come back to form. The captain is the lone Amerk to appear in all 35 games with the team this season. As Mersch has went on to notch 36 points, which is tied for fourth in the entire league, his 18 goals are tied for second alongside fellow forward Jack Quinn.
With an assist on Jan. 7 against the Hartford Wolf Pack, Mersch became the first Amerk this season and just the fourth player in the AHL to reach the 30-point mark. He’s now reached that same mark six times in his eight-year pro career and is on pace to reach the 20-goal mark for the fifth time in eight years, the first time since the 2018-19 season when he was a member of the Texas Stars.
It should come as no surprise that someone with Mersch’s accolades has set the highest of standards that Appert has ever been around in his coaching career.
“He has as high of a daily standard for himself that I’ve ever been around. That’s not just in hockey, it’s everywhere in his life.”
Appert then continued on, “He has really good relationships throughout the group but his daily approach, his daily work ethic, his daily competitiveness is so incredibly high that you see players following him. We have a lot of guys on our team that do these things and have really bought into owning their own development, but he’s at the top of the list.”
With the way that Mersch has seamlessly fit into the Amerks and Buffalo Sabres organizations over the last two years, it’s shocking to look back and see where he was at this time last season.
What a lot of people don’t realize is at this exact time last year, Mersch was still looking for employment to continue playing the game he loves. The Amerks captain wasn’t signed anywhere, hoping to get picked up, and with the clock ticking away to the start of the 2020-21 shortened campaign, it came down to the very last second.
The exact day the Amerks opened their truncated season, and Appert’s first in the league, the team would make a move that helped shape the organization for years to come. On Feb. 5, 2020, Mersch was signed a professional tryout with Rochester and never looked back.
It still shocks Appert that Mersch was available on Opening Night of the 2020-21 season.
“Yes, it shocks you really when you look at it. Mersch, a player like that, sometimes scouts might not like because it doesn’t always pass the eye test and it’s easy to discredit a player like Mersch because it’s not pretty or he doesn’t skate good enough or whatever it is, but coaches love Mike Mersch.”
But no matter where Mersch has been over his career, every coach has thought the world of him and he continues that legacy here in the Flower City with Appert.
“Every coach I’ve talked to that’s ever coached him, loves him. He’s one of their favorite players. He helps drive culture. He helps drive identity. He helps you win. Players like him, help you win and help you grow as an organization.”