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Merica · 11-30-2021, 11:18 AM

--It’s been anything but a normal journey through the SMHL for St. Louis Scarecrows forward Daniel Merica Jr. As it currently stands, between the SMJHL and SHL, Merica Jr. has seen four general manager changes. From Anaheim, to St. Louis, to Winnipeg and finally to Buffalo, it’s safe to say he hasn’t even had time to unpack his bags. ”It’s definitely been an interesting couple of years, but I have to say, each change of scenery was definitely for the best.” said Daniel.

Coming into the league, Merica was heralded as an offensive specimen who didn’t much care to get in the trenches and play physically. For the first three seasons, this was the case, except he wasn’t very good offensively. With only 74 points in 198 games, it was safe to say that he needed to make some adjustments if he wanted to be seen as anything more than a garbage time collector in the SHL. ”I took a real hard look at myself at the end of last season, and realized I needed to adjust some things. With how much I was struggling to score, I realized that I was pretty useless out there and it was time to start playing both side of the puck.”

During the S61 off-season, Merica linked up with Anaheim Outlaws star Eddie Creller,( @Mook ) who has burst onto the scene from day one as a legitimate franchise cornerstone in the future for the Calgary Dragons. Creller comes from legacy stock, sharing the same bloodline as Manhattan Rage legend Tommy Creller, and someone who also grew up as one of Daniel’s closest friends. ”With how close our fathers are, and their success on the ice together, it was kinda natural for us to become friends. I noticed how much success Eddie was having last season as a rookie, sat my ego aside, and asked him to look at my tape and held me figure out how I could improve and become a better all around player.”

This decision to seek out constructive criticism, and then apply that to his game, has seen an entirely new Daniel Merica Jr. on the ice. ”He looks like a completely different player out there. The guy we saw struggle for three seasons to find his identity morphed into a hard hitting, smart, viable two-way player.” said one SHL scout.

The guy who shied away from contact like it was the plague was a figment of the past. Merica has tallied 144 hits this season in 52 games. And it only took him 35 games to match his hit tally from the past three seasons combined. During the beginning of the season, it was more of the same offensively, where Daniel simply couldn’t find the back of the net, but this time around he was making his presence felt by beating the shit out of opponents on the ice. ”I just started channeling my frustration offensively into aggression defensively, and found that I really enjoy hitting opponents. Early on it came as a surprise to some of the guys I’ve played against the last few seasons. After I leveled Jonathan Hagan, he got up and said “Where is the real Daniel and what did you to do him?”. All the credit belongs to Eddie though, he put me on a program this off-season to bulk up and become physical presence.”

The change in play style has also improved his game offensively. After a rough first half of the season, Daniel is scoring at nearly a point-per-game clip over the last 30 games, a nice addition for the offensively starved Scarecrows.”The more I played both sides, the more I went after my opponents, the more scoring opportunities began to come about. Where as before my opponents knew they just had to play me physically and keep me off the puck and out of the zone, which I’ll admit was fairly easy, now that isn’t an option for them because I’ll stand my ground, take that hit, and keep going.”

As it stands now, Merica is sitting at third in the SMJHL In hits. Quite the feat when you consider the last couple of seasons. With this being his final hoorah in the minors, you have to imagine the Buffalo Stampede are ecstatic to see him develop into more of a pro-style player.