Oilers fan keeps promise to late father, takes his seat in the stands

Lynn Mercereau won't be joining the onslaught of Oilers fans threatening to cancel their season tickets out of frustration with another failed season.

In 2011, Mercereau made a pact with her dying father to always "stick it out" through the team's troubles, and keep his seat warm in the stands.

"There are certain things that, as he was coming to terms with the end of his life, that I promised to do for him," Mercereau said in an interview Monday with CBC Radio's Edmonton AM.

"And one of them was to keep going."

I still think of it as him and me.- Lynn Mercereau

For more than 30 years, Mercereau went to Oilers games with her father, Bill Decoste, sitting on her left side.

"My dad starting taking me to the games when I was eight and I (acquired) his seats when he passed away," Mercereau said.

"I gave up my seat because I wanted to sit in his."

Mercereau's father was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer after suffering a stroke. The cancer was so advanced, he declined treatment, opting to spend the time he had left with his family.

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Decoste died only four weeks after he was first diagnosed.

During his final days in hospice, Mercereau decorated his room in Oilers regalia and sat vigil at his bedside.

"When something like that happens, you have to unfortunately take a quick stock of things," she recalled.  "I was exceptionally close with my dad throughout my childhood and right up until the end.

"(He) and I had to have some tough conversations."

'It's not about the hockey for me. It's about memories.' - Lynn Mercereau

Mercereau said her father was going through of a checklist in his mind of things he "didn't want to be let go" after he was gone.

He was adamant that she continue their tradition of attending every Oilers home game, along with keeping up with other tasks —  like paying the Epcor bill, keeping the oil changed in the car, and taking care of her mother.

"And he said, 'But you have to try and spend that time with other people that matter to you … You just have to embrace it in a different way.' "

Even in those final days, both father and daughter had a dark sense of humour about the team's prospects. 

"I jokingly said to my dad, 'It looks like it's going to be bad for a long time.'

"And little did we know the decade of darkness was upon us." 

Mercereau has kept her promise, faithfully watching 35 home games a season from Section 212, Row 4. 

Just like any seasoned Oilers fan, she is used to disappointment. And she's willing to deal with some hand-wringing frustration in the stands to keeping her father's memory alive. 

She even brought his ashes to a game last year, smuggling the urn past security inside her purse.