NCDC 2024-25 Awards: Mercer’s Broderick Named Atlantic Division Ryan Frew Memorial Coach Of The Year
By Joshua Boyd / USPHL.com
The National Collegiate Development Conference congratulates Mercer Chiefs Head Coach and General Manager Rob Broderick for being named the 2024-25 Atlantic Division Ryan Frew Memorial Coach Of The Year. This is Broderick’s second straight season winning this award. The award is named in memory of the late Ryan Frew (1980-2020), the former NCDC Head Coach of the New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs, for whom he coached teams at different levels over almost two decades.
“This is an unbelievable honor. First off, Ryan was a really good person and I love that the award is in his honor. But to be named by the coaches again, especially the guys in our division, is special,” said Broderick. “We have guys like Toby Harris, who really helped put Tier 2 junior hockey in this area on the map. Also, Mike Marcou is a great coach and an amazing guy. And I could go down the line with Matt Morrow, R.C. Lyke, Andy Scott and Jim Henkel. It’s just a real honor.”
Mercer went 38-15-1-0, finishing second to P.A.L. in the Atlantic Division in the regular season. After being down 2-0 in their Atlantic Division Championship series against the Jr. Islanders, Mercer rebounded to win three straight, including the winner-take-all Game 5.
That win not only gave Mercer their first Atlantic Division title, but also put them into the Dineen Cup Championship Series in Wayne, N.J. To battle back from the brink of elimination and the end of your season to win the division title and make it to the “big dance” as one of the final four teams standing takes a lot of gumption. Broderick sees his team as being chock-full of character as well as skill.
“I feel the most important thing any coach has to do is to be authentic. Once you try to be someone who you are not, players sniff that out. Then you have to hope those qualities you have within yourself are the right ones to coach. Obviously, X’s and O’s are important, but they are secondary to building an environment where players can thrive and have the freedom and trust to work hard, and to make some mistakes along the line, sure, but knowing and trusting that making honest mistakes is part of the process in developing to being a better player and a better team,” said Broderick.
“I also think the execution of ‘systems’ is more important than what those X’s and O’s really are. You can have all the fancy systems in place, but if the team is not executing them, they can actually be a detriment to becoming a better team,” added Broderick.
When he looks back on the season, he not only sees the big wins and highlight moments, but what is even more clear is how his players improved as individuals and as a group from Day 1.
“It is really unbelievable. We started 0-4 and we not only lost, we were outplayed and outscored by a wide margin. You can take it two ways. We took it as a good thing. We used this ‘kick in the teeth’ to work harder and to get better every week, and we truly did that,” added Broderick. “I could mention every player on the team – but Easton Swift and Casey Johnson are two prime examples of getting better every week. They started as good players; they finished as special players. Every day, I watched these young men work hard and bond, pushing themselves to be better – and having fun doing it (which I think goes hand in hand).
“Obviously, beating the Hitmen and P.A.L. in the playoffs was amazing, especially in the fashion that we won, being down in both series and coming back,” said Broderick. “I am still trying to get over not winning the finals – I thought we played really well and carried a lot of the play and couldn’t find a way to score, but that is hockey and it was some great hockey. The league should be proud of the level played down the stretch.”
Even being a Head Coach and General Manager, there is no one-man band in the NCDC. Broderick has the support of a fantastic group of assistant coaches and additional hockey operations staff that help make Mercer a sought-after program by players all over the world.
“I’ve mentioned Kevin St. Jacques and J.T. Tarantino, and add to them Oktay Armagan (skills coach), Terry Jarkowski (goaltending) and Kirill Vacs (off-ice training). These guys are all top-notch guys that I trust,” Broderick said. “Heather O’Connell, Greta Brandecker, Morgan Moser and Jared Romanski have helped with all of the off-ice stuff associated with junior hockey. I am blessed to work with great hockey guys who are also friends, including Sean Prevost, Jason Deskins, Ryan Kosecki, Jeff Cox, Clint Mylymok, and many more within this first class organization.”
The 2024-25 season is over, and with the NCDC Draft already in the books, preparation for 2025-26 is well underway. Broderick will again keep his eye on putting the best team possible for both on-ice success as well as development towards college hockey opportunities.
“I am so proud of the way our guys played all season, especially the second half of the year. In the beginning of the season when things went wrong, as they always do in the course of a hockey game and season, we often lost our focus. We continuously preached “controlling what we can control” – effort and discipline – and to focus entirely on that, and for most of the second half of the season, we were on point,” said Broderick. “If we had a bad call against us, our mindset was we have no control over that, let’s kill the penalty. If we were down by a goal in the third period, let’s stay focused and not quit. At the end of the day, you only are successful as a coach if players completely buy in and are honest hockey players. Our Chief players, this year and the last few years, have been incredible.”