Jon Bendorf battles for the puck during a game against St. Joseph’s at Iceland on Jan. 17, 2014. (Staff photo by Samantha Sciarrotta.)
When looking at the eye-popping statistics that Jonathan Bendorf has amassed during his freshman year with The Hun School ice hockey team, images are conjured of a player gliding up and down the ice with blazing speed, and getting off rapid-fire slap shots from the blue line that might blast right through the net.
In the Raiders’ 11-5 start, the Hamilton Township native led the team in goals (24) and points (42) and was second in assists with 18.
Those numbers are impressive for a senior, let alone a ninth-grader. But according to Hun coach Ian McNally, they are more a product of wisdom and efficiency rather than spectacular exploits.
“He doesn’t wow you with his speed or unbelievable quick release,” McNally said. “But he’s very clutch as a goal scorer, something only a few guys possess. I played hockey for a bunch of years at a pretty good level, and I only scored on rebounds or pucks that hit me in the butt and went in.
“But Jon, from any radius within 10 feet away, it’s going in. When he sees a chance to shoot, he’s going to shoot it and score. He’s just a goal scorer.”
At 5-foot-10, 170 pounds, he is also very hard to take off the puck.
“He’s very poised with the puck,” McNally continued. “He has good size, which always helps as a freshman. When he first gets out there he’s not like ‘Oh God these guys are so big.’
“Jon has size to mix it up with these guys and bump with them and not get hurt. He has the poise to not throw it away or just get rid of it because he doesn’t want to make a mistake. He’ll hold the puck, not in a selfish way, but a poised, confident way. He doesn’t fly around the ice but everyone has to respect them.”
Bendorf doesn’t try to analyze his scoring knack. He just goes with it.
“I guess it’s something I’ve always had,” he said. “I don’t always think about it. I just do it.”
Jon has hockey in his blood. His father Mike is a long-time travel coach and the former Nottingham High coach. His brother Brenden graduated from Nottingham in 2011 as the school’s all-time scorer with 133 points.
“My dad really just tries to help me every way possible, he wants what’s best for me,” Jon said. “My brother loves coming to my games and giving me pointers.”
Bendorf began skating with stick in hand before age three. At age five he joined the Grundy Senators travel program. After several years he moved on to the Mercer Chiefs and usually played in older age brackets. He’s currently with the Chiefs Bantam Majors team.
“Playing club is a lot different from high school,” he said. “In club, the competition with each team is all around the same level. In high school it varies, so sometimes you’re playing good teams and other times bad teams.
“That helps when you get to high school. When we do play the better teams you’re able to live up to the moment.”
Bendorf has more than lived up to the moments. He has created them. The winger had scored at least one point in 14 of Hun’s first 16 games, and had goals in 11 of them.
McNally seen Jon play, since the Raiders and the Chiefs both use Ice Land in Hamilton as their home base. Working in the admissions office, he was happy to see Bendorf’s name on the list of applicants, particularly since he graduated nine of 15 players from last year and lost two others who transferred.
There were tons of openings and Bendorf wasted little time grabbing one.
“We’d only practiced a week and we played a scrimmage against Holy Ghost and he scored two very nice goals and we ended up tying the game 4-4,” the coach said. “One of his goals was a late one to tie it up. It had only been a couple of weeks up to that point, so that was kind of a big statement by him.”
Bendorf said it was a huge boost.
“Definitely,” he said. “I know around the school people heard I’m a good player or whatever, but nobody knew if I was really good until after that game, and then maybe they thought I could be good.”
In the season opener he had two goals and two assists in a win over Episcopal, and followed with three goals and four assists in another victory over Chestnut Hill. He was on his way.
Hun went to the Purple Puck Tournament in Washington, D.C. over the holidays and finished second as Bendorf had eight goals and two assists to earn team MVP honors.
“That was definitely exciting,” he said. “I didn’t expect it. The level down there is a lot different than from up here. There were a lot of good teams. Our first game I had five goals and just took off.”
“It was funny,” McNally said. “I don’t know what they intended, but they announced the tournament MVP from the winning team and I think they almost felt obligated to honor Jon, and I’m glad they did. Without him in that tournament we wouldn’t have done as well.”
One of the worries any coach has is that when a freshman comes in and gets all the glory, upperclassmen could become angry and jealous. That has not been the case this year.
“We had so much turnover,” McNally said. “If only two or three freshmen were coming in and one was a star there is potential for stuff like that. The seniors think this is supposed to be their show and here’s this kid.
“But we have a small junior class and our seniors were eager to help the freshmen out. They had the whole fall together in the dining hall and hanging out. They embraced him, to Jon’s credit. It’s no secret how good he is. If you’re a senior watching what he’s done so far, you’re not gonna say ‘It’s not fair he’s getting that.’ He deserves the accolades.”
Player and coach both thought that Bendorf would contribute immediately, but are still getting more than they hoped for.
“He was expected to be a big offensive contributor, but maybe not to this extent,” McNally said. “How quickly he was able to do it is a little bit of a surprise.”
“I guess I kind of really didn’t expect this,” Bendorf said. “I just went out there and played my game and stuck to it. In the beginning of the season I was kind of nervous playing my first high school games and after that got used to it and just started playing my game, that’s about it.”
And what is his game?
“I just try to make the people around me better and move the puck around,” Bendorf said. “I just try to make things happen out of nothing.
He credits much of his game to Chiefs coach Chris Barcless, who he has had for the past four years.
“He taught me to understand the whole game and see what’s going on and react to what’s happening around you,” he said. “He said don’t just do one thing all the time. If you’re going one on one take what defenseman gives you.”
McNally pointed out one goal Jon scored recently, where he intercepted a clearing pass near the blue line. He walked past a sliding defender and, after the goalie came out, deked past him and tapped the puck in.
“Anybody else on our team or in our league would have shot at the empty net from the blue line and hope for the best,” the coach said. “The panic factor with him was non-existent. He just knew he could do it.”
Despite being a great scorer, Bendorf doesn’t mind playing physical at times.
“I’m physical when I need to be,” he said. “If our team’s down and need a boost, I try to go out and make a big hit, and then try to make a big play.
“It’s great when you line someone up perfectly and absolutely flatten them. It’s the best feeling in the world.”
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