At 6:30 a.m. Friday, Boston College head coach Greg Brown answered a phone call from another NCAA coach, who immediately relayed a horrifying, unimaginable rumor about two of Brown’s former players.
Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau had been killed, according to a rumor that, the coach warned, seemed to have legs. “Unfortunately, it did,” Brown said as he recalled the conversation in a phone interview Saturday afternoon.
At 7:15, one of Brown’s old BC colleagues, Mike Cavanaugh, received a similar phone call from an NHL team executive. “It was surreal to hear about what had happened. It was hard to believe in that moment and still is today,” Cavanaugh, who now runs the men’s hockey program at UConn, said.
“The first thing I did after I heard the news was call my son, who I dropped off at college last week,” Cavanaugh added. “Just to tell him I love him. Because it just tears you apart. It’s like, holy shit, life can end that quickly. It’s horrible.”
Scenes like these played out hundreds of times across North America on Friday morning as those connected to the Gaudreaus learned about the brothers’ tragic deaths and struggled to know what to think, feel, or do – how to process it all.
“Completely gutted. The world just lost one of the best. RIP Johnny,” Flames forward Blake Coleman tweeted with a broken heart emoji and photo of Johnny smiling next to Coleman’s toddler daughter. Coleman is among dozens of teammates who’ve posted grief-stricken tributes on social media.
Johnny, 31, and Matthew, 29, were killed by a suspected drunk driver while riding bicycles alongside a rural road in southern New Jersey. The Gaudreau brothers were hours from serving as groomsmen at their sister’s wedding.
Johnny, who spent three years at BC prior to an 11-year NHL career, was married with two kids under the age of 2. Matthew, who spun four years at BC into a brief minor-league career, was married and due to become a father.
A GoFundMe campaign organized by a family friend has already raised north of $400,000 for Matthew’s widow, Madeline, and their unborn baby boy, Tripp.
On Saturday, Brown and Cavanaugh shared memories from the BC years.
Brotherly respect
The Gaudreau brothers, born 16 months apart and tight their entire lives, were always going to play college hockey together. They originally committed to Northeastern but backed out after coach Greg Cronin left for a job in the NHL.
How did they end up at Boston College?
Cavanaugh said the Gaudreau parents once told him that it was Matthew – not Johnny – who pushed for BC, despite Johnny being the older brother, better player, and the one with more to lose by picking the wrong program.
“Johnny said to Matty, ‘Hey, I made the decision the first time. This one is your decision. Where do you want to go?'” Cavanaugh said. “That says a lot about Johnny’s character and how the boys were raised.”
‘Nobody had more fun’
Cavanaugh, UConn’s head coach since 2013, spent the previous 18 years at BC. He coached Johnny for two years but left before Matthew arrived. Brown, on the other hand, coached both brothers and can report one major similarity.
“It felt like they – both guys – never had a bad day,” he said. “They always came in with big smiles. They were excited to be there. Be around hockey and their teammates. And it translated into the way they played on the ice. The smiling faces – nobody had more fun out there than Johnny and Matty.”
A hockey dressing room is filled with different personalities. Introverts. Extroverts. Joyful people. Funny people. Troubled people. Everything in between.
The Gaudreaus exuded positivity. It could be infectious. They pranked their teammates and didn’t mind being pranked themselves. They were quiet “glue guys,” Brown said – though come game time, both (especially Johnny) “had that fire, that drive” to compete. They led mostly by example.
Brains over brawn
Johnny, generously listed at 5-foot-9 and 165 pounds, was famously small. He was short and slight, unlike, say, BC alumnus Brian Gionta, who’s short but stocky.
“Who’s that?” Brown remembers an NHL general manager asking him one day at the rink.
“Johnny Gaudreau,” Brown replied, with the GM noting he genuinely thought Johnny was around the team because he was BC’s stick boy.
(Matthew, by the way, was even smaller than his brother. It’s an incredible achievement that he tied for the team lead in scoring as a senior and then played 148 pro games in the AHL and ECHL.)
Johnny was underestimated at every level of hockey. But he processed the game at such an elite level that the height disadvantage was never a factor. He was a slippery playmaker who could control the pace of the game.
“Chris Kreider has great speed and strength. Cam Atkinson can shoot the daylights out of the puck. Brooks Orpik was big and physical,” Cavanaugh said of other BC alumni who went on to have long NHL careers. “It was always hard to describe Johnny. The way he played the game was so unique. So special from an IQ standpoint. I always thought he was kind of like Wayne Gretzky.”
Gretzky? In which way?
“Yeah, you couldn’t hit him. He always made the right play with the puck. He could score goals where you’re going, ‘How did that even go in?'” Cavanaugh continued. “He’d shoot it off a goalie’s mask or something crazy like that. He just saw the game way differently than everybody else.”
‘Johnny Hockey’ legacy
Johnny won a national championship and the Hobey Baker Award while at BC. He won a world junior gold medal with Team USA. He made seven appearances at NHL All-Star Weekend. He was a Calder Trophy finalist and Lady Byng winner. He recorded almost a point per game over 763 contests.
The legacy “Johnny Hockey” leaves behind in hockey is one of inspiration. He carved out a template for players under 5-foot-10. He didn’t simply crack an NHL lineup as a fourth-round flier – he became a legitimate star, and that made him an anomaly. Something to strive for. He was a cheerleader of other small players, a soft-spoken, humble role model.
Brown said BC hockey will honor the brothers in some way.
“Funny story: When Johnny won the Hobey Baker, there was talk about retiring his number. But he wasn’t really into it. He wanted people to wear his number, so we never did it,” Brown said.
Cavanaugh last saw Johnny at BC alumnus Kevin Hayes’ wedding last summer. “Big hug. He was full of energy. I’m going to miss him, man,” he said. “I’m really going to miss him. He was a wonderful human being – Matty too.”
“I’m just heartbroken for the Gaudreau family. I really am,” Cavanaugh added. “It’s hard to put it into words. I’m heartbroken and, for me, it’s still surreal.”
