Lacrosse has a long history as a sport of spiritual healing, and the Rockyview Silvertips hope the game can help heal their own broken hearts after a devastating loss last fall of one of their most dedicated players.
“It’s really sad,” said coach Cameron Foss of the death of Jordan McKinnon last September. “He was a really great kid, really hard working. He was the most team-oriented – always there to lift kids up. It’s really tough.”
McKinnon – a star on the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League’s Junior B Silvertips – played the game for about 10 years on several different teams around the province and was a member of the bronze medal-winning Team Alberta at the Field Lacrosse Nationals last summer. The 18-year-old planned to attend the University of Montana after he graduated high school in June 2017.
McKinnon died after suffering a massive, unrecoverable seizure sometime in the early morning hours of Sept. 10.
“It’s still pretty fresh for us,” mom Allison said this week. “We miss him terribly.”
Allison’s son fell in love with lacrosse after watching the Calgary Roughnecks National Lacrosse League team play when he was a boy. He found a place to belong on the pitch, she said, and poured his heart and soul into the sport.
“It was where he felt the most accepted and successful,” she recalled. “That’s where he truly found his acceptance and his major group of friends – Jordan’s friends were his mentors on the floor. (In lacrosse), the kids can grow and learn, be part of a team … be part of a community. Jordan was provided that opportunity to grow and learn.”
McKinnon exuded enthusiasm for the sport, and it earned him a reputation as one of the most popular players in the league, said Silvertips manager Todd Halladay.
“He was definitely one of the hardest working guys, most passionate,” Halladay remembered. “He beat on the guys and … at the end of the game, it was all done and over with, and he’d be hugging the guys on the other team.
“He was good friends with everybody on the floor and he was well-liked throughout the lacrosse community.”
Halladay said one of the things that stood out the most about McKinnon was his commitment to volunteering.
“He would drive all the way in from Strathmore (to Cochrane) … He was always one of the first ones there and one of the last to leave,” said Halladay. “He would be helping with the little kids … they loved him.”
Allison said she tried to instill a sense of responsibility in her son, and is proud that part of his personality is now part of his legacy.
“You give to the community,” she said, “and the community will give back to you.”
McKinnon’s kind and enduring spirit is also what the Silvertips will carry forward this season in his memory.
Players will wear JM3 stickers on their helmets in honour of their fallen teammate, and a legacy MVP award – made from a piece of one of McKinnon’s wooden lacrosse sticks – will also be handed out every game to a Silvertip who shines with McKinnon’s bright light.
“We’ve got one of his very first wooden sticks that he ever played with when he was a younger player,” Halladay said. “It will be our MVP award for every game – in recognition of what Jordan brought to our game.”
The family is also finding solace in the Silvertips, who plan to present a jersey to the McKinnons once the season starts in April – and also invited McKinnon’s father, Wayne, out to the team’s recent draft.
“He was really honoured to be asked to come and watch the tryouts,” Allison said. “It was really cool. (He) can see the potential in the kids … the kids with the heart, the kids that wanted to be there. You can just see that there is something more in them.”
Halladay said bringing Wayne on board last month is just part of what they hope he will contribute to the team – they will be offering him a recruiting and scouting position for the upcoming season.
“He can go around and watch the minor level lacrosse and give us the heads up,” said Halladay. “The McKinnon family is huge, huge supporters of lacrosse … we want to keep the open door.”
