[News] Confirmed: Johnny Gaudreau and brother Matt have passed away

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by manwiches

Just an utter tragedy, compounded several times over with all the accompanying news as was previously said.

Aside from the obvious tragedy the family had to deal with, i remember a handful of things very vividly that I personally experienced.

1st was telling my son what happened. The look of utter despair in his face and then seeing him break down, shook me the most. He's never experienced any loss in his life up to that point, and hearing his favorite player and the reason he plays hockey passed away, was too much for him.

2nd was visiting the memorial when I went to Calgary for work. Sobering and powerful. My son wrote a letter that I laminated and brought along with skittles he bought, and i left it there. I spent probably 45 minutes just taking it in, and reading everything I could.

3rd was all the tributes, but in particular, the one when Sean came back with Columbus. I saw his face in that faceoff and it crushed me.

Last was George Canyon's rendition of Johnny Be Good. I didn't think I could be broken so easily from a song, and I bawled. Typing that and thinking of that song is making me cry again to be honest.

It does bring me happiness seeing the family's updates and how they have moved on. The strength of every one of them is something to behold

Thinking of Sean hugging Meredith and crying on ice makes me tear up immediately.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

RIP to the most talented flame i ever got to watch. An inspiration to many smaller players around the world. Magic every time he controlled the puck. Scored goals on shots only he could make/ would take.
RIP also to another great hockey player and by all accounts great man and father.

What happened to this family is one of the biggest tragedies in nhl history.

Didn't Cole Caufield change his number to 13 because of Johnny being an inspiration to him? Makes you wonder the complete impact on small players, namely Cole, if he ever thought he wasn't good enough to make it to the big leagues with his size. He was 13/14 YO when Johnny broke out and shut down the naysayers.

[Barnet Flame]

Yes, he did.

I now follow Cole and hope he has a wonderful career.