The Outdoor Rats: The Rise of March & Mill Co.

Credit: Kevan Miller and Brad Marchand (photo: Credit: https://marchandmillco.com)

This article was written by Frank Zawrazky, who is part of the Professional Hockey Writers Association x To Hockey With Love Mentorship Program. This program pairs aspiring writers with established members of the association across North America to create opportunities for marginalized people that do not traditionally get published on larger platforms covering hockey.

To Hockey With Love is a weekly newsletter covering a range of topics in hockey – from the scandals of the week to providing a critical analysis of the sport.

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Every good hockey player has an activity they do away from the rink to clear their head. Brad Marchand and Kevan Miller are bringing others to their home away from the rink: the great outdoors. March & Mill Co. was launched on July 2, 2019 as a multi purpose outdoor life company based in New Brunswick, Canada. Marchand and Miller came up with the idea for March & Mill on the team bus. They thought it would be fun for them to share both their passions for the outdoors and allow people to see a different side of the guys on the ice.

The first part of March and Mill are isolated weeklong expeditions all over North America including Yukon Territory, Alaska, and Colorado. Primarily, these take place in Newfoundland and involve being immersed in nature while hunting, fishing and exploring.

“We fly in, a lot of times we take a chopper, or floatplane into the lodge,” Marchand said. “They’re typically very remote, so you don’t have cell service or anything like that. You leave all day, bring lunch with you and, you’re kind of out there exploring the wilderness and hopefully seeing some animals. Then you typically get back to the lodge late at night and kind of do the same thing all over again.”

Marchand has started expanding these voyages to include a charity veteran hunt. This hunt takes place exclusively in Newfoundland with a member of a branch of the armed forces as a way of thanking the veteran for their service.

The March after their launch, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and halted company growth around the world. However, for the duo of March & Mill Co, the pandemic allowed them more time to focus on their company and expand their multimedia presence. During the season’s pause, Marchand and Miller started “playing around on YouTube.” This tinkering turned into a TV show which was picked up by New England Sports Network (NESN) and is now on its third season. In fact, one of the goals down the road for the duo is to have their own hunting show.

Marchand explained that there was a lot that went into the business side of March & Mill, as they also sell a variety of outdoor gear from their website. The website exploded in popularity shortly after their launch. Marchand however, leaves it to Miller who has a degree in business from the University of Vermont and had a lot of connections.

“There was one point, [Miller] was shipping, uh, all the boxes in the orders out of his living room,” Marchand said. “Then it just blew up to the point where that wasn’t possible. We were able to get the right connections where we don’t have to do too much work where it’s all kind of set up and, and like a well-oiled machine, I guess you’d say.”

Miller retired after the 2020-21 season, but always had the fire for hunting and the great outdoors. Growing up in Santa Clarita, California, a rural city north of Los Angeles, Miller was always outside. Him and his brothers had their Red Ryder BB guns shooting, in his words “anything that moved.” Miller explained his backstory with Ike Eastman on his Eastman’s Hunting Journals Podcast on Mar. 2 of this year.

It wasn’t just the hunting that Miller loves. Miller was “the weird kid” growing up who was always outside playing with different types of animals such as snakes, ferrets and other creatures. His parents originally thought he would become a vet if hockey didn’t work out. Miller’s love for animals was conveyed throughout the process of hunting.

“For me, hunting is a chance to be around those animals in their natural habitat and celebrate over the meat afterwards,” Miller said.

However, being undrafted going into University of Vermont for the 2007-08 season, he didn’t have the time to focus on being outside until later in his career with the Bruins. Marchand later on, showed Miller the biggest leap of his hunting career: bow hunting. Miller was always hesitant to transition to bow hunting, as he preferred shooting. Marchand was consistently pushing him to try the bow, saying Miller would love it. The push-pull cycle stopped one day as he told Eastman.

“[Marchand] told me, ‘I bought this bow on eBay and it showed up lefty. You can have it.’ I’m like yeah, ok. It’s this nice Matthews [bow], brand new,” Miller said. “Take it to the bow shop, get it all set up, start shooting I can see the discipline of it. This is really cool. I like this.”

The bow hunting actually helped Miller through an injury. He broke his left hand at the start of season, right as he was getting immersed in bow hunting. However, his fingers were still able to be used as they were outside of the cast. He spent the next four weeks unable to stickhandle. Which sent him into his tree stand. For the next 21 days in a row, six hours a day, he went without seeing, let alone shooting a deer. On the 22nd day, he finally used his bow, the tool he didn’t want to start, and he caught the deer he had waited for so long to see.

Miller was eventually forced to step away from the NHL in 2021 due to injury. Throughout his career he had four knee surgeries on the same knee. His doctor told him that hiking, hunting, and fishing are a great help to his knee. For Marchand, the biggest thing for the duo is having fun with March and Mill Co.

“We have big plans for [March and Mill Co] down the road. Just trying to make it grow,” Marchand said. “The biggest [plan], we just wanna have fun with it, so, we’ll just take it day by day.

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The Outdoor Rats: The Rise of March & Mill Co.

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