The jersey given to Mike Bartley after his son, Aiden, had his No. 42 retired by four Butler NBHL teams in March. Aiden battled pancreatic cancer for two years before he died in September. Submitted Photo

When local ball hockey players such as CJ McNany head out to compete some nights, Aiden Bartley’s courage sticks in the backs of their minds.

“I remember complaining sometimes because my back hurt from lifting or I injured myself playing softball or doing something dumb,” said McNany, manager of the National Ball Hockey League’s Butler Breeze and Butler Blizzard. “I’d skip an in-house game. ... Leave my team out to dry, essentially.”

Bartley had spent a lot of his time around the Butler Township dek hockey rink, playing and watching his father, Mike, and uncles, Steve and Nick. After a bout with pancreatic cancer, Aiden died at 11 years old in September.

Even while undergoing chemotherapy, he did his best to join his teammates. Aiden’s story inspired four teams to retire his No. 42 jersey. More importantly, the memory of his fight lives on through others.

“For him to not leave his team out to dry as an adolescent — as a child, really — while he’s fighting something as serious as pancreatic cancer, it’s hard to take a day off now,” McNany said.

Mike is similarly motivated by his son’s memory. For months leading up to the NBHL campaign, Mike prepared by playing as much as possible, no matter how tired. It was the most he’d played hockey in months.

“I always just kept thinking, ‘If my son can do this, I can do it,’” Mike said.

Aiden’s jersey was memorialized by the four teams during a ceremony after Mike’s Tier 3 Butler Thrashers defeated the Butler Blizzard 3-2 on March 30. A matchup between McNany’s Tier 2 Butler Breeze and the Butler Bantams followed.

“It just seemed like the ultimate form of respect, and a kid that put up a fight with one of the most aggressive forms of cancer for two years absolutely deserved that,” McNany said.

McNany has played against members of the Bartley family for over a decade. Jim Cendrowski, the Bantams’ manager and goalie, figured it would be fitting to get all four teams together at the face-off circle.

“I really was taken aback by the heat of the moment,” Mike said. “I wear (No.) 42 in honor of my son, so it was a really special moment.”

“I might not be a great hockey player. I’ve always been good with words,” McNany said. “I’ve never been on a team with Steve, Nick or Mike, and I said, ‘But I’ve got to play against them — and I know that tensions run high at the rink whenever we’re playing — but at the end of the day we’re all cut from the same cloth. We’re all family.’”

Mike framed the jersey and hung it on a wall dedicated to Aiden’s memory in his family’s home. Aiden’s uncles also received jerseys.

Cendrowski also had helmet stickers made for the Butler teams. Pittsburgh-area squads wore a similar sticker at the NBHL nationals in New Jersey.

“Off the rink, if someone were to break down on the side of the road and someone drives by, they’ll always want to help out,” Mike said. “That’s just who we are.”

Mike is in the latter stages of forming a non-profit foundation in Aiden’s memory. His goal is to “help families with lost wages and utilities bills that (are) fighting child cancer. ... Any kind of cancer battle is expensive, and it shouldn’t be that way,” he said.

Mike wants others dealing with the same fight to know they’re not alone. He wants his son’s story to help.

“He would always get back and just keep pushing on,” Mike said. “He had the innocence of a child in an adult, scary situation. He kept his innocence, and that’s the one thing I was always most proud of.

“He would get treatments on a Thursday or Friday — some of the worst treatments that would make adults vomit and sick — and he was out smiling and laughing a couple days later with his friends. ... He was a battler, a fighter.”