With immediate openings between the pipes in the Border City, goaltender Michael Merk of Calgary thought it was an opportune time to check out the junior A Lloydminster Bobcats.
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Merk, who played with the U17 AAA provincial silver-medallist Calgary Royals this past season, contacted the Bobcats and eventually earned an invitation to the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s 80-man prospects camp last weekend.
For goaltenders, this year is an ideal time to make an impression with the Bobcats, who brought 14 netminders to camp to try to gain depth in goal for next season and beyond.
“It’s kind of crazy,” a smiling Merk said about the abundance of puck-stoppers in camp. “The goalie skate wasn’t that bad. We got a lot of work in. It’s very good. It broke it up. We got to show our skills (in those sessions) and in the games.”
Lloydminster graduated both of its 20-year-old goaltenders after a season that saw the Bobcats go through 10 netminders, including three who dressed but didn’t see regular-season game action.
Promotions to major junior, departures to other junior teams and multiple injuries caused a revolving door in the Lloyd cage for much of the 2025-26 season, still a productive 75-point campaign for the Bobcats.
That backdrop of a respectable maiden season in the Cenovus Energy Hub made Lloydminster an attractive camp destination for prospects like Merk, who witnessed some of that atmosphere first-hand in December.
“I would love to play at Lloyd,” he said. “That’s one of my main (potential) spots, is to play at Lloyd, because it’s so sick and everything, the environment.
“I went to a (Bobcats) game this year, because we had a (U17 AAA) showcase in Lloyd, and the environment was just crazy. So, I was, like, ‘Yeah, I want to play here.’ Very cool.”
Merk also was familiar with Lloydminster through talks with former Bobcats defenceman Quinn Keeler, whose sister is one of Merk’s close friends and high school classmates in Calgary.
Merk plans to attend at least two other junior identification camps this spring, with the AJHL’s Drayton Valley Thunder and the BCHL’s Okotoks Oilers.
As for his Lloyd audition, he believes he performed well during the intrasquad games and gave his team a boost on and off the ice.
“I feel my strength is being vocal, and then my puck-handling skills have been pretty good this weekend,” said Merk, who turned 17 in February.
“I just try to keep it all level, even keel. I stay composed during all tough games. I’ve played in three gold-medal games (in elite hockey), so it’s going well.”
That string of big games includes this year’s Alberta U17 AAA final, in which his Royals lost 3-2 to the mighty CAC Canadians of Edmonton.
The six-foot-one, 180-pound Merk’s goaltending role model is Carey Price, the former Montreal Canadiens’ star.
“He battled back through his injuries, and he almost won a Stanley Cup through it,” said Merk, likening Price to his own goaltending evolution from a “rough” start to coming close to winning a championship.
Merk, who helped Team Black post a 4-0 record during Lloyd’s prospects showcase, knows a few other Calgarians who also attended the Bobcats’ camp.
Those connections include goaltender Nixon Mah, who doesn’t turn 17 until this summer but already has two years of U18 AAA experience with the Calgary Northwest Flames.
The large group of goalies at the Bobcats’ camp included Evan Fedor and Brayden Gramlich from the U17 AAA Lloydminster Lancers, along with the U16 AA Lloydminster Blazers’ Jack Godin and Cooper Neurauter.
Part of the unbeaten Team Black, the 15-year-old Neurauter was among the youngest players in the entire 80-man camp, if not the youngest. He doesn’t turn 16 until November.
The Bobcats will introduce more young prospects to their organization this weekend at the Hub during a 30-man futures camp for U15 players.
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