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A Most Memorable Hockey Tribute Happened in Columbus Last Night

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  October 16, 2024 12:01 PM

We were all Columbus Blue Jackets fans last night. How couldn’t you be after the tragedy that’s befallen this club? The team’s home opener paid an emotional tribute to marquee player Johnny Gaudreau, 31, who was killed on August 29, along with his brother, Matthew, 29, also a professional hockey player, by a reported drunk driver as the pair were cycling through Oldmans Township, New Jersey. They were there celebrating their sister Katie’s wedding, which was supposed to be held the following day. 

Their deaths sent shockwaves through the world of professional hockey. All 32 NHL teams, including other professional athletes and politicians, offered condolences. To compound the tragedy, Johnny Gaudreau’s widow, Meredith, announced in September that she was pregnant with their third child. In June, Matthew and Madeline Gaudreau posted on social media that their first child was expected in December. 

The Blue Jackets faced the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in their home opener, where a banner was raised for Johnny, along with chants of “Johnny Hockey” echoing through Nationwide Arena, a most fitting tribute to a player cut down too soon. In 2022, Gaudreau signed a seven-year, $68.25 million contract with the franchise. The game opened with players holding their positions for 13 seconds (via ESPN): 

If you want to cry, cry. 

If you want to laugh, laugh. 

The only rules -- play the game the way "Johnny Hockey" would and with him in mind.

Emotions ran high in Columbus on Tuesday night, when the Blue Jackets paid tribute to their star and his late brother, Matthew, at their home opener against the Florida Panthers. Among the highlights: A banner was raised to the rafters in Gaudreau's memory as fans cheered, both teams stick-tapped the ice in the traditional hockey salute and his family looked on, their arms intertwined. 

And before the puck dropped, the teams stood still as 13 seconds -- Johnny Gaudreau's number -- ran off the clock and with his left-wing position vacant, the Blue Jackets having sent four skaters onto the ice instead of the usual five. The puck dropped, and the Blue Jackets' Sean Monahan passed it to Florida's Sam Bennett. 

Monahan and Bennett were teammates with Gaudreau in Calgary. It couldn't have been more fitting. 

"I don't want anyone to be sad," Meredith Gaudreau, Johnny's wife, said in a recorded message played shortly before faceoff. "I want you all to be inspired by the life that John lived. That means love your family first and foremost, and when it's time to drop the puck, let's love the game that John loved." 

Johnny Gaudreau, the Blue Jackets star who would have been entering his third season with the club and 11th NHL season overall, and his brother, Matthew Gaudreau, were killed on Aug. 29 when police said they were struck by a suspected drunken driver while they were riding their bicycles on a rural road in New Jersey on the eve of their sister Katie's wedding. 

The Panthers would win the game 4-3, but who won and lost was hardly on anyone’s mind last night.

On October 12, the Calgary Flames paid their respects to Gaudreau, who started his professional career there.

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