'Love and passion for sports': Lifelong N.W.T. athlete Robin Mercer-Sproule remembered

If you scroll through Robin Mercer-Sproule's page on Sport North's website, you are going to be there for a while.

Mercer-Sproule had a hand in advancing nearly every sport in the North, whether it was on the court or ice or as a coach or volunteer. Since her first Arctic Winter Games in 1976, she would go on to attend every subsequent games for the next 22 years.

"I never met anyone who loved the game and loved sports more than Robin Mercer-Sproule," Yellowknife hockey player Allison Kincaid said during an interview on CBC Radio's The Trailbreaker on Tuesday.

Mercer-Sproule died May 16, after her second fight with cancer. She was 56.

In a short obituary she prepared for herself before she died, Mercer-Sproule wrote, "I stayed as positive as I could, but whatever the outcome was, I can honestly say 'I AM A WINNER even if I lost the battle I won because I never gave up.'"

Mercer-Sproule's first love was figure skating, which brought her to her first Arctic Winter Games in 1976 at the age of 11. From there, she fell in love with almost every sport she tried. Over the next 12 games, she would go on to compete in volleyball, basketball, hockey and broomball. She also attended four Canada Winter Games.

"Whatever came about, I would try it. And I think anybody who gets an opportunity to do it, go for it, 'cause you never know you might just like it," Mercer-Sproule said during an interview with Sportsnet for the 2019 Hockey Day in Canada. 

But the sport that captured Mercer-Sproule's heart and became her lifelong passion was hockey.

In 1990, she traveled to Hawaii with Shorty's Selects to play in the Royal Hawaiian Cup. She was the only female playing, and went on to win the top goaltender and MVP awards at the tournament.

She was also scouted for Team Canada in 1994.

"I've had five knee surgeries and they couldn't really take a chance on having me on their team but it was an honour to even be asked or scouted or looked at," Mercer-Sproule told Sportsnet last year.

'Role model on and off the ice'

People in Yellowknife and beyond are responding to the news of Mercer Sproule's death with sadness, but also gratitude.

"She was a woman who went and played hockey when it wasn't easy for women to play hockey," Kincaid said.

"I saw a woman who had achieved the level that she had, coming from the same place I'd come from. She was just a complete role model on and off the ice."

Even after Mercer-Sproule was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011, Kincaid says she still spent a lot of her time at the ice.

"Whether she could play or not she was at the rink supporting, on the bench cheering and delivering her message of positivity," Kincaid said.

"I think that's what people loved about her and why people gravitated to her was just her love and passion for sports."

When he heard of her passing, well-known hockey broadcaster Ron MacLean sent Mercer-Sproule's wife, Traci, a message of condolence calling Mercer-Sproule a "wonderful person."

Friends of Mercer-Sproule have organized a fundraiser in her honour for the Stanton Foundation. It has raised over $56,000 for the organization with hopes of raising a total of $200,000.

A vehicle parade is being organized in remembrance of Mercer-Sproule on Saturday, May 23, in Yellowknife. Vehicles will meet at the Yellowknife Multiplex at 12:30 p.m. and drive around the city, passing by former hockey rinks where Mercer-Sproule played during her 38-year career.