Mander making NLL dream a reality
Mar 13, 2024
Austin Owens I Halifax Thunderbirds
Earlier this year, Caelan Mander wouldn’t have imagined he’d be a professional lacrosse player, but after being drafted by the Halifax Thunderbirds this past fall, the defender is quickly making a name for himself as a player to watch for the future.
The 19-year-old vaulted himself into the conversation as one of the best defensive prospects hailing from the West Coast with his strong play this past summer. The Surrey, BC native bounced around during the 2023 summer campaign, playing most of his ball with the BCJALL’s Port Coquitlam Saints.
In his first full season of Junior A lacrosse, Mander was one of the best transition threats in the league, posting 14 goals and 23 points in 19 contests. After the Saints were eliminated from the playoffs, Mander was reclassified and played for the PoCo Junior B squad that was hosting the Founder’s Cup – the Junior B National Championship. In that abbreviated tournament, Mander proved himself by posting a goal per game and 13 points in six outings.
In the middle of all that lacrosse, Mander also found time to jump to the Senior A ranks, playing in two games with the Victoria Shamrocks of the WLA. He managed a goal and three points in those showings against NLL competition.
He was also able to play with future Thunderbirds teammate Max Wilson with the Shamrocks.
“Obviously, this summer was really big for me. When I was in junior, I did well, and then when I got that call up to play senior, I got to see what the competition was like playing at that next level,” Mander said. “Playing alongside Max and some of those other NLL guys really helped me get an idea of what (the NLL) would be like. And I felt comfortable up there with Victoria.”
Before the age of 20, Mander had appeared in both a Minto Cup – he played for the Edmonton Miners in 2022 – and Founder’s Cup and started to play against pros. The next step for him was the 2023 NLL Draft.
Mander explained that the NCAA was never something he looked hard into. He always wanted to stay in Canada and pursue an engineering degree close to home. That made it easier to forego his collegiate eligibility south of the border to enter his name into the draft pool.
“Coming off the Minto in 2022, I thought I played well, and then with the confidence I gained this summer, people were talking to me about going into the NLL Draft. And I played with the idea,” Mander said. “I declared just based off what people were telling me and that I had a good shot (to get drafted).”
Going through the draft process for the first time, Mander said that he was in contact with four teams, with the Thunderbirds reaching out. Going into draft day, Mander was back home in British Columbia, waiting to see where he would be heading to start his NLL career.
He woke up that morning, and the draft was underway. He went out to grab breakfast with his girlfriend and kept his phone handy to keep an eye on the draft board.
“I hadn’t seen my name yet, so we hopped in the car to go back to my house to watch the draft with my parents. My girlfriend was on my phone, and all of a sudden, it just started buzzing and going crazy with text messages and phone calls, and she just said, ‘What’s this?’ And she looked it up and saw that I’d been drafted to Halifax,” Mander said. “I was driving, so there wasn’t much I could do at that moment, but I was so excited.”
He got a call shortly after from the Thunderbirds’ staff, welcoming him to the team and running through the next steps heading into training camp.
“I was so excited to go to Halifax. Obviously, I’d heard good things, and everyone made me feel welcome. I definitely did my own research and was pumped to come here to a great organization with great ownership and staff,” Mander said.
Heading into training camp, Mander knew that he was joining a team riddled with veterans and top-tier talent at every position. But he went into camp looking to prove himself and put his best foot forward.
He showed well, making it into all three pre-season scrimmages and getting good opportunities to showcase himself to the coaching staff. At the end of the day, he looked at it like he was playing with house money in a sense.
“I knew the roster was pretty stacked, and my mindset was just to give it my all, and if it doesn’t work out, I could go home and say to myself that I did all that I could,” Mander said. “As the weeks went on, I felt more and more like this was going to be possible and that I could get a practice roster spot. I just felt more and more comfortable and felt like I had a really strong shot at making the team.
“I remember one of the first weekends, I was rooming with Cole Kirst, and he told me, ‘You’re not looking for a yes to be on the team, you’re just not looking for a no.’ So, that kind of stuck with me, that thought of until they tell me ‘no,’ I’m still on this team. So, I felt like that was a good mentality to have.”
Mander did more than just crack one of the final spots in the lineup. He was named to the Thunderbirds’ active roster to open the season.
Alongside him, fellow rookies Kirst, Briley Maxwell, Andrew Vradenburg, and Aaron Woods all cracked the team’s final roster ahead of their home opener against Saskatchewan. Having that nucleus has been a big help for Mander when it comes to his acclimatization to the professional ranks.
“It’s great having a group of young guys on a team that can lean on each other,” Mander said. “...We have guys that are going through the same things together, and we can all relate to each other. It’s nice having someone close to my age, but everyone has made me feel so welcome and comfortable in this organization. There’s definitely an amazing support system here.”
Mander and the rest of the team’s newcomers got their welcome to the city during the opening game of the year, getting a chance to take in their first NLL gameday while getting to see the Thunderbirds pull out a victory against Saskatchewan at The Nest.
“The thing that stuck with me the most was just walking into the arena for the first time and then getting to walk through the tunnel and be on the floor,” Mander said. “Just getting to see all the seats and take it all in, that’s when it became real. I just said to myself, ‘Wow, this is really it.’”
Mander spent the first number of games to open the year as a scratch, practicing and getting comfortable within the team during the swings of a season. He was still living in Surrey, which meant he was travelling cross-country to make his dream a reality.
His ultimate goal of playing in the NLL came true just after the calendar turned to 2024. Mander appeared in his first NLL game in Albany.
“We had a practice on the Wednesday, so I flew in from Vancouver, and then we bussed up to Albany. We go through shootaround and everything on gameday, and I wanna say I found out about two hours before the game that I was going to be playing,” Mander said. “Accursi posted the lineup sheet, and I saw my name and I lit up. Then Suits (Andrew Suitor) came and talked to me and just said, ‘Play your game, you’ve earned this.’”
Mander made his way into the lineup for three games. He played in Halifax’s game last weekend in Saskatchewan and nearly nabbed his first goal. So far this year, he has nine loose balls and a pair of caused turnovers. But his long-term development is what’s on the mind of the team.
He mentioned that he leaned on veteran defender Luc Magnan early to help pick up the defensive tendencies that the Thunderbirds use. And that’s helped him pick things up quickly.
“He’s someone that also coaches junior and knows how to relate to the younger guys. Mags helped me in the first couple of weeks to get comfortable. As the season has gone on, everyone on that defence has been super helpful. But Mags is someone that sticks out.”
Since making his debut, Mander has also made the jump to living in Ontario for the season, living alongside Maxwell, whom he spent time playing with during that Minto Cup appearance in 2022.
“When I saw that Briley also got drafted by Halifax, I was already pumped, but that kind of sent me through the roof,” Mander said. “Knowing that I had a guy there that I already knew was amazing. And I was just fortunate that his dad had moved out here and they had a room available so that I was able to make the move out here.”
Mander is just scraping the surface of his potential as an NLL player. Standing at 6-foot-5, 205 pounds, he possesses fantastic athleticism for his frame and a knack for burying the ball at the other end. Add in his young age, and the Thunderbirds are looking at another pivotal piece for the future to pair alongside their franchise pillars on the back end like Graeme Hossack, Jake Withers, and Ryan Terefenko.
But going back just a few months, even Mander is taken back by how far he’s come.
“I was still in school when the draft happened, and if you would’ve told me back in September that I’d be playing in NLL games, I would’ve thought that was a bit of a stretch,” Mander said. “I was really honest with myself when I got to Halifax. I didn’t know if I was going to make the roster, but it’s something that I had high hopes for. When I look back at it, I wanted to give this my all, and that’s what I did, and now I’m here because I put the work in every day.”