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The legend of Jon McCauley
Bomber ice hockey try-outs, September 13, 2001: a tall, lanky player dashes out on the frozen surface and takes a few laps around the rink. He shakes out his nerves with some wrist shots at the net, and gets a few comments about the Merritt Sentential jersey he’s donning. He makes an immediate impression with the coaching staff, leaving them with no choice but to inject his young blood into a Bombers squad filled with savvy veterans. The young blood that was injected into that lineup nearly five years ago was a 19-year-old freshman whose life was about to change–a man by the name of Jon McCauley.
As I sit down with the man who invited Jon to that Bomber hockey try-out, we discuss the man who changed Bomber hockey forever. Ben Kotanen, the founder of the Bombers hockey team, was the first person at Trinity Western University to talk to Jon. He starts to reminisce about the 19-year-old Jon, joking that “he was a man, not yet in a man’s body.” Jon played with an edge, and playing forward on the team meant that he was presented with many opportunities to chat it up in the corners and have the odd tussle here and there.
“He was a player who fired the guys up on the bench with his work ethic on the ice, but let me state that he wasn’t winning any Lady Byng Awards either,” remarked Ben (an award given for sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct).
“He eventually learned that he could hurt teams with his stick rather than his tongue,” Ben laughs, almost blowing coffee through his nostrils.
Playing on the Bombers gave Jon his identity at TWU. Going from not knowing anyone on campus, to playing on a hockey team where everyone knew his name and included him gave Jon a major reason to feel passion for his school. For Jon, playing with the Bombers meant more than just playing hockey; it was a way of life. He loved being involved with the Bombers; he talked Bombers, thought Bombers, played Bombers, supported Bombers, and preached Bombers. Jon continued his involvement with the Bombers in the seasons to come; he designed the Bombers’ jerseys, spent two seasons as captain of the team, and spent time as general manager of the team that eventually went on to win the Cross Mainland Church Hockey League championship (the league the Bombers currently play in). Those who have come to know Jon over the years have nothing but good things to say about him. Jon is known as a very enjoyable person to be around, a godly man who puts others before himself, and a man who takes the time to listen to others.
Sadly, Jon underwent season-ending knee surgery this past January. He was crushed, knowing that Bomber hockey was being taken from him. Jon knew he would be involved with the Bombers somehow down the road, but he knew it was going to an uphill battle with his knee surgery. Jon played his last game on January 14, 2006, against the Renegades, and scored a dazzling goal to once again lead the Bombers to victory. After the game, in the bowels of the Langley Sportsplex, Jon took off his equipment for the last time as a Bomber. The room was absolutely silent as Jon’s emotions got the best of him. With tears welling up in his eyes, Jon quietly said, “Just talk to a freshman, you guys. Talk to someone who, you know, knows no one on campus. You will never know how it will affect them. Look how it affected me.”
These days, you can find Jon in the Mattson Centre working as an Admissions Recruiter for TWU, still talking about the Bombers and how it has affected him. He brings his Bomber pride on the road with him into BC’s interior and Alberta, sometimes using the Bombers as a tool of conversation to get potential students interested in coming to TWU.
With his work ethic, intensity, and overall persona, Jon has become the definition of a Bomber hockey player. A man who did it all for the Bombers, he will be remembered for his pre-game speeches and his touch around the net. It goes without saying that no Bomber will don #16 again, out of respect for a man who holds the Bombers so closely to his heart. The Bombers, once again, will do their best to capture a CMCHL championship, not for themselves, but for Jon and the Bombers team that he helped to shape.
Jon’s words ” Just talk to a freshman, you guys” are utterly powerful. That is what the mark of Christian community, sports community, and University community is in actuality. Each of us needs–and desperately yearns for a sense of belonging. If you look at the Gospels and at the witness of Jesus, it was highly relational–making people belong. Jesus welcomed us into his family; God wanted us to be a part of his family so much that he sent his one and only Son to make that happen.
For Trinity Western University, its sports teams and its campus life to be different from UBC, U Vic, Simon Fraser, Seattle Pacific University, George Fox University, and the hosts of others, the message of community must always be clear and strong. It must say “You can find here a community that accepts and a place to belong.”
David