He worked odd jobs to keep her dream alive, urged her not to quit acting, and stood by her through years of obscurity. Then she got the role of a lifetime — flew to Hawaii — and the marriage was finished. This is the real story of Murray Hone.
Most people stumble across the name Murray Hone while reading about Lost star Evangeline Lilly. A quick search turns up a mess of recycled blogs, invented stats, and outright wrong information. So here is what is actually known — sourced, verified, and laid out straight.
Table of Contents
Who Is Murray Hone?
Murray Hone is a Canadian former ice hockey player, born in Canada around 1980 or 1981, and best known publicly as the first husband of actress Evangeline Lilly. He is from British Columbia’s Lower Mainland — the same region where Lilly grew up and studied.
Beyond that one famous connection, Hone has kept himself completely out of the public eye. No interviews. No social media. No public statements. Not a single word to the press since the marriage ended in 2004. For a man linked to one of the biggest TV stars of the 2000s, that level of silence is almost remarkable.
Quick Facts
- Full name: Murray Hone
- Nationality: Canadian
- Estimated birth year: ~1980–1981
- Profession: Recreational ice hockey player (retired)
- Team: Langley Spitfires, Cross Mainland Church Hockey League (CMCHL)
- Married: Evangeline Lilly (2003–2004)
- Children with Lilly: None
Murray Hone’s Hockey Career — What the Records Actually Show
Here is where almost every article online gets it badly wrong. Murray Hone is routinely described as a “semi-professional hockey player” or a “junior hockey player.” Neither is accurate.
Hone played for the Langley Spitfires in the Cross Mainland Church Hockey League — known as the CMCHL. This is a men’s recreational hockey league based in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland, with games played out of the Langley Sportsplex and George Preston Recreation Centre. As official sources confirm, the CMCHL was founded to “provide a Christian environment for hockey, bringing glory to God through sport.”
It is not a professional league. It is not a junior development league. It is a Christian recreational league — and that context matters, given Lilly’s own deep Christian faith and background.
Records from hockeypage.com, the official CMCHL database, show two verified seasons for Hone:
| Season | Team | Jersey | Position | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003–04 | Langley Spitfires | #99 | — | 18 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 11 |
| 2004–05 | Langley Spitfires | #39 | Right Wing | 13 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 6 |
| Career | 31 | 5 | 17 | 22 | 17 |
A few things stand out from those numbers. Hone’s assist totals consistently outpaced his goal count — the mark of a player who reads the game and sets others up rather than shooting first. His penalty minutes were also among the lowest on his team both seasons, particularly in 2004–05 where his 6 PIM was well below most teammates. He played clean, controlled hockey.
What is also striking: Hone was still playing for the Langley Spitfires in the 2004–05 season — the exact year Lost premiered and turned his ex-wife into a global star overnight.
The Marriage to Evangeline Lilly
Lilly and Hone married in 2003, well before she had any public profile to speak of. At the time, she was a broke university student at the University of British Columbia, picking up background roles in Vancouver-shot productions and doing odd jobs to pay tuition.
The UK’s Mirror has described Hone as Lilly’s college boyfriend — someone who was part of her life during those years of struggle, long before Hollywood came calling.
What the National Enquirer reported at the time adds a layer that rarely gets acknowledged: it was Murray Hone who kept Lilly’s acting dream alive. According to the paper, he worked side jobs to support her financially and, when she considered walking away from acting entirely, he urged her to stick with it.
Then, in late 2003, a friend pushed Lilly to audition for a new ABC show. She landed the lead role of Kate Austen in Lost, got her work visa approved after nearly 20 attempts, and flew to Hawaii to begin filming in early 2004.
The marriage did not survive the move.
“She got to Hawaii and told him she was having second thoughts about their marriage,” a friend told the National Enquirer. “She didn’t return his calls.”
The couple divorced in 2004. Lilly has never spoken publicly about the marriage or its end. Hone has said nothing at all.
After the Divorce — What Happened Next
On Lilly’s side, the timeline is well-documented. She began dating Lost co-star Dominic Monaghan in 2004, a relationship that lasted until 2007. Monaghan later opened up about the painful split on Anna Faris’ Unqualified podcast, describing it as the worst heartbreak of his life and acknowledging his own struggles with alcohol played a role.
From 2010 onwards, Lilly has been with Norman Kali, a production assistant she met on the Lost set. They have two sons together — Kahekili, born in May 2011, and a second son born in October 2015. Lilly has no children with Murray Hone.
On Hone’s side: silence. Shortly after the divorce, a National Enquirer reporter found him after a weekly hockey game in Coquitlam — a detail consistent with the CMCHL’s CLA Canucks team being based in that area. He was not wearing his wedding ring. A fellow player delivered the only words anyone has ever got from his camp: “He doesn’t have anything to say.”
That was 2004. Nothing has changed since.
The Christian Connection Nobody Has Written About
One detail that connects Hone and Lilly that has gone almost entirely unnoticed: the CMCHL is explicitly a Christian church hockey league. Lilly’s own faith is well-documented — she was raised Baptist and Mennonite, taught Sunday school for eight years, did missionary work in the Philippines as a teenager, and has been described by Lost castmates as someone who carries a Bible with her. The idea that she and Hone were part of the same Christian community in BC’s Fraser Valley is arguably the most coherent explanation for how they met — though neither has ever confirmed it.
Where Is Murray Hone Now?
Unknown. That is the honest answer, and any article claiming otherwise is guessing.
He is believed to still be in Canada. He has no verified social media presence. He has given no interviews. He appears in no public records beyond his two seasons in the CMCHL database.
For a man who the internet has spent 20 years trying to find, the fact that Murray Hone remains completely invisible says something about him. He had proximity to massive fame — the kind most people chase — and walked away without a word.
Key Takeaways
- Murray Hone played recreational Christian church hockey in Langley, BC — not semi-professional or junior hockey
- He is the only verified source describing Hone as having financially supported Lilly and encouraged her acting career
- The couple married in 2003 and divorced in 2004, the same year Lost launched Lilly to stardom
- Lilly’s two children are with Norman Kali — not Murray Hone
- Hone has made no public statements since the divorce, ever
- His CMCHL stats show 31 games, 5 goals, 17 assists across two seasons for the Langley Spitfires
Sources: Wikipedia — Evangeline Lilly | Famous Birthdays — Murray Hone | Entertainment Tonight — Dominic Monaghan on the breakup | E! News — Monaghan and Lilly split | The Globe and Mail — The Blooming of Evangeline Lilly (2005)
