Remembering Johnny Gaudreau with John Buccigross | The Hockey Show | The Dan Le Batard Show

forck [Applause] joh byor [Applause] Johnny the Flames to round twoing on the Battle of Alberta this is the hockey show my name is Roy bamy David Jor is here as as well we're going to be joined by John brr to talk about the memory of Johnny gdo and his brother Matthew who lost their lives last night in a accident where they were on bikes and were struck by a drunk driver um that video and sound was courtesy of sportset that was his series winning goal against the Dallas Stars in 20122 and overtime um and this is just a heartbreaking story that um really is really should not have happened Dave this is this is a tragedy no it's it's tough we woke up to this awful awful news today um not really sure you know all the details but anytime you know a young man 31 years old way too young young father uh you know two young two young men a family I'm I'm just start right now we've talked we've been talking about this all morning we've been talking about we're going to do this show and we're going to talk about Johnny and Matthew and what happened and I'm just struggling to come up with the words in the moment uh it's it's hard to Fathom I mean I've got young kids you've got a daughter it's it's just devastating it's devastating Don brass is uh also a father he uh works for usn he does NHL coverage and um he's followed his career uh since he was in uh Boston College really and Johnny gd's career in Boston College was like won for the record books National Championship hobby Baker award um John why don't you tell us a bit about J's career before we get into the details of what happened last night yeah just a sweet kid grew up in South Jersey um always incredibly tiny and small uh goes to Boston College after a good year at the USHL again despite his tiny stature producing goes to Boston College in 2012 as you just mentioned that was his freshman year 18 years old he has an August birthday so he was an 18yearold for his entire freshman year they win the national championship he scores probably one of the greatest goals in college hockey history would have been one of the best plays of the year to clinch the national championship against Farah state in Tampa they up two to one late third so it's just one of those cool goals that is highlight incredible you laugh at it it's so amazing know there's some amazing plays in sports where your teammates your peers because they know how ridiculous it is and they could never do that laugh that's kind of like the the response so to to clinch the championship to have three minutes to soak it in while you're enjoying this amazing play that only this freak can do it's really something you know I'd met Johnny for the first time during those college Years and you just look at him in person and it's like this kid was 125 pounds when he went to BC he might have been 150 when he left three years later and I'll never forget looking at Kevin Hayes uh who was his teammate and really great friend of course Kevin lost his brother a couple years ago so again this tragedy just extends there so many tributaries and tentacles involving in a in a tragedy like this and uh and so you so when you think of Kevin and you think of people like that it's uh it's difficult so you know Johnny has I look at Kevin I go Kevin uh can he play in the NHL I mean he's like aund he's like 140 pounds yeah and the look that Kevin gave me was like dude you have no idea this guy is a wizard and uh players see it in practice before we see it in games right yeah and and that's what happened here he was just a freak of a player who burst onto the scene that freshman year at BC and and won a national championship came back another year could have turned Pro after his second year but his brother Matthew wanted to go to Boston College and play with him and Johnny's like absolutely I'm staying another year you know not many kids would do that they would be they would have more self-interest in that so Matthew comes for another year and they make the Frozen Four I was in Philadelphia I called that one with Barry Melrose my first one was 2013 and and uh he got 80 points in 40 games he was Conor McDavid stuff two points a game easily the best player in the nation and then he turned Pro from there in Calgary fourth round draft pick because of his size that's why he was a fourth round pick because they saw the Wizardry and the Artistry he was first round talent that way but obviously Scouts did not believe he could play in the NHL it was a long shot that's why he was a fourth round pick uh bchi it seems like Johnny had to play bigger than his size right I mean like I said I just can't believe that's why I asked Kevin that question back in it was uh at the Frozen Four in 2013 like can he play in the league I mean this kid is Tiny you know it's we're talking 140 pounds here and it really did remind me of I covered before I got to ESPN I worked in Providence Red Island for two years 94 to 96 and that's when obviously Providence the biggest thing in Providence is Providence College Basketball friars and uh so I went to those games all the time cover them highlights reaction after the game and that obviously meant I got to see alen Iverson come and play for Georgetown and it's the same thing and that's that's when people ask me who Johnny gdr's comp is it's Allen Iverson it's not another hockey player Iverson like Gad was impossibly small impossibly skinny and to see him amongst these players in person like I did with gdo with Iverson Courtside there watching him in person against a good Providence team and just how he went in there with fearlessness and how fast his brain worked how fast his feet and hands worked to you know you had to when you're that little and I remember I had to vote for the wooden award that year and certainly voted Allan Iverson easily and that's who Gad was this impossibly small person who somehow was a freak on the court it's it's you just don't see that very much where the guy's the best player at that size very rare there's funky stories and whether it's Dustin pedya or Mugsy Bogues and they're very effective players you know I mean betro won an MVP but but he was never the best like you look at him as like the most like almost talented player he did it through other ways and and baseball does that but to see gdo and Iverson at that size dominate it was something else it almost kind of reminds you of the the line from the movie Rudy like you're five feet nothing hundred and nothing yeah but one of the things aside from his skill on the ice um was just his personality like you talked to a lot of people and they just talked about how Johnny had this infectious smile how he was just always you know he'd light up a room he was always a very happy guy very positive guy uh just in your interactions with him how much did you kind of get that feel off of him yeah you know it comes from a big Jersey family married into a Jersey family just you know one of those old school you know let face it people just don't have a lot of kids anymore they they have one or two you don't have four or five and then when you start adding another four or five and then another three or four you know something he he has he had two young children kind of quickly so maybe he was gonna have four or five and he just pictured this beautiful loving gigantic family every summer on the beach in south Jersey just loving life and uh enjoying each other and you know the sister was going to get married and this is on the eve of the you know there's two boys and and two girls and his parents that's what they he had his uh siblings you know the brother and two sisters family of four that's what I had family of four I we were two and two as well I was talking about that with my mom this morning when I broke the news to her um and so yeah just just picture this big family and he was part of that he was always smiling always very quiet I remember the 2016 World Cup up in Toronto and I was at a hotel and and and just this figure as I was walking into the hotel one was walking out just in front of the revolving doors actually he was outside probably waiting for an Uber or a friend to pick him up and had a baseball hat on a small figure he goes hey bchi hey how you doing you know I'm occasionally recognized when I'm out in public especially around hockey events and so I thought this was this you know this little American kid just maybe flew up to watch the game because I don't really get recognizing Canada too much occasionally it was Johnny GD I mean he L looked like he was 14 years old at this point he's a you know he's an established player in the league couple years in Calgary and and there he was just kind of with a baseball hat and you like you know dark clothes on and it was you know kind of at night and it was like hey bchi what's up he like hey good to see Johnny it was just very unassuming but his own man you know when he was a free agent everyone thought he was gonna go back and sign with the Flyers signed with New Jersey nope he felt like Columbus was the place for him you know and uh that's where it that's where and that's where he's been the last couple years well yeah I mean we mentioned that um his wife and her family are Jersey Brad J Jersey Bourne uh he didn't sign with New Jersey he decided to sign with Columbus then he he took less money to sign with Columbus but to be as close as possible to his wife's family right yeah you know and but maybe he felt like that was too close right he could have signed with the Devils really good team um they had offers there like you know out of the Flyers they weren't really prepared they were mismanaged and they probably weren't ready to take them on and he probably felt like that situ didn't look great U maybe felt like Columbus was a little more you know with prospects and stuff or maybe a better sh but maybe he felt like that was too close to be home right maybe he felt like he would have been smothered and want to kind of get the space of Ohio and have some space and just have his family they can come visit but then they go home they're not coming over every day and who knows what that if that went into his thinking again a quiet guy obviously incredibly smart by how you see him on the ice and how he was one step ahead of everybody again he had to be one step ahead of everybody when you're that small you have to be the smartest guy on the field or on the ice or on the court you have to be smart it it's just you're up against it at that size and again the speed and quickness but you have to have a fast brain as well and that's what and that's what he had so yeah so that was a big shocker it shocked the hockey world when he signed in Columbus that was a crazy day and um and that's something I wonder you know it it's to find out exactly what was the biggest reason you always want to protect yourself and protect your decision at the time you know people don't have to know everything when you make a family decision like that but it was interesting and here he was in Columbus the last couple years tough couple of years you know trying another new era in Columbus this year Sean you know Monahan was coming on his buddy and you just wondered if they were then going to start to turn the corner and he was kind of gonna have a big decade in his 30s that would have got him to the Hall of Fame you know he you kind of look at him he probably would have been a 1200 game playay 1200 Point guy as Columbus got good again um and those are Hall of Fame numbers and you couple that with the college career because you know Hockey Hall of Fame takes into account your entire career not just your NHL career most points amongst American born players at World Championships um so this is an international he would have been on the Olympic team you know a college player International NHL looking at a Hall of Fame type of player so uh again that's the least important thing today but just to give people an idea of the trajectory that he was probably on in in what his what he was in the game what how he was looked upon and what his state was and uh station in the game I want to get into the journalism aspect of reporting a story like this last night there were rumors circulating around what eventually happened um um and the medical examiner apparently took pictures of his notes and sent it into a group chat and then all of a sudden a boom is circulating uh on social media uh Tim PE was the first major name who reported that this happened and I'm obviously willing to give a 15-year NHL referee the benefit of the doubt as a source on that situation and um but that was it that that I mean outside of that it was just speculation it was just rumors so as a journalist how do you weigh through those Waters yeah I got a text last night at 11:30 um from someone who I know and uh we're on the phone and I had yet to hear from it I I had I had gone I went to bed about you know about 11:15 eastern time and I was like I was tired had a long day and so I jumped into bed reading my Thomas Jefferson biography by John mechum that I've been reading at night before I fall asleep and just happen to look at my phone one more time i' been been doing the good habit recently putting the phone over on my dresser keep it there let's fall let's get a good night's sleep don't keep it in bed with you you know and so but like this time is I was low and my battery was low so I put it and plugged it in next to me so I had it underneath my pillow the other pillow on the bed and I'm reading and I was about to go to sleep I looked at my phone one more time and it was and the text was are you up I go okay no yeah I am and and they called me and and that's when I heard about there's these rumors and someone tweeted out that Johnny Gad was involved in an an accident he and his brother are dead and we just and we're talking and and then while we're talking you know we're texting people and then he got a text from a former player who said yeah it's true so I knew last night about 11:40 and like you said then I went on Twitter and there's nothing there some you know and obviously people this is a delicate time and then I saw you mentioned peele's tweet but again it's just at that point you don't know when the family's been notified you don't know what's going on again there's we I didn't know about the wedding plans of his sister so you can imagine people might be all over the place might have gone to bed early that night you just don't know and so the family has to know first so that's that's what I you know certainly by before midnight last night I I had known the news but again you just you got to respect the family in that situation it's just not worth it and so I went to bed knowing that when I woke up this morning there would be this obviously avalan of news and that's certainly uh what happened and that's the thing uh the family I mean TMZ did that with the Kobe Bryant death I mean they reported that thing as soon as they found out from what what the police pictures that got circulated around and Vanessa Bryant didn't find out until she read that report and that that sort of thing is bad you know that's very unal yeah the journalism you know again people want to get a story out they want to be first um they feel like there's I understand that balance of responsibility to information and news especially now more than ever um but also sensitivity to the family what is that line I'm always going to lean towards one in doubt it's not worth the pain of someone else not finding out in the proper fashion although in the end he's you know when he's gone it maybe in the end that doesn't matter I don't know but it probably kind of does um you want that respect but in the end the loss is the loss and all they do is want that person back right away because at first it's unbel it's still unbelievable to me I still don't really believe it like you know it takes a while to process that so maybe in the end it doesn't matter but still yeah went and out in those situations that just becomes self serving and little self-absorbed if you want to throw something out there but again that's what you know the thing about Twitter x one of the positiv and I think there's many positives to it is there is that kind of community collaboration that a lot of times we don't have in real life anymore so we get it digitally and sometimes that can be a good thing you share your thoughts you you're kind of you're you're communicating with people you're getting through this in real time it's different obviously then when we were younger and before the age of social media but in some ways it it it probably helps people cope it helps them connect and share their feelings get their feelings out prepare for tragedies I remember as a young father I I thought about these things every now and then thinking well maybe if I think about it once in a while of losing my kids if it does happen I'll be better prepared which of course is folly as well but you do anything to protect yourself and and when you think about loss especially when you have children and because there's there's not a bigger loss in that when she start having children and that's the thing too about Johnny that kind of hits me he's a child of the 90s he was born in 1993 my kids were born in '92 94 99 so NHL players his age I almost look at my third son like I really do it's kind of strange how my career now as I've gone into it deeply I look at these players like Johnny as you know they're my sons I and I want the best for them I want to somewhat protect them I want to push them I want to challenge them I want to you know do all the things that a father would do so I try to cover them almost like a father and uh in in terms of the things we do as a good father we have to push our kids we have to have guidelines but we have to have have affection we have to have forgiveness we have to love them we have we and of course ultimately we want the best for them and that's how I look at people like Johnny and because like I said he's right between my oldest son Brett and my and my daughter mallerie like he's right in the middle 93 born and so uh so that's why like I like I said I just can't believe every time they come up and see me you know that that college connection that I had with these college kids this is extra you know hurtful for me because like I said I seen him since he was 18 growing up and Har he is a a man now 31 a wife two little babies just building his own life and that's just again what we want for our children what we worry about them you know sometimes you can't picture them that they're going to be an adult someday and they're gonna have children they're gonna have a mortgage and they're gonna have a car payment and when that kind of happens you get you're so proud as I'm sure his parents were the same feeling I get now with I look at my adult children as they emerge and evolve John talking about the the hockey community at a time like this how you kind of alluded to it there but how people tend to come together whether it's to you know share stories grieve together it's something that when times like this come which it's inevitable right but it's always a little bit of Solace knowing that there's this big community of caring people that just know how to embrace one another how important is that going to be right now is we're about to start a new season and something like this happens just the idea of everybody just kind of needing to lean on each other right now to to make it through these very hard times yeah especially the especially the young men his peers and the wives of these young men as well who uh who see this young woman losing her husband like that um and that's what that's that's a young person things sports are not right I remember when uh you know Brendan Burke died the son of Brian Burke in a car accident coming home on a on a snowy road trip back to Miami University in Oxford and I remember going you know covering that funeral and writing about it um you know he had just come out as gay a few months before and at that time that was a big story especially being Brian Burke's son that just added another layer to it and it was a huge story at the time and it was great how the hockey Community came together and really did celebrate him um in a majority of the way and then of course you had this tragic death after you know this big story comes out three months later and I remember going to the funeral there outside Boston and the whole Miami University hockey team was there in their sweaters and of course the NHL Community was there as well and I just remember as the people walked out of the church there a look on these boys faces again these are boys 181 19 20 21 just they're scared they're frightened and that's what young people you know that that's their first kind of emotional reaction to death like this especially to a peer is you do realize oh my gosh life is that precious someone anybody could die any day tomorrow today next week um you know my my nephew my mom's oldest grandson diagnosed for with cancer this year in March dead in June bam three months later like that can happen to any of us and so what happens to young people like that I just see that broken look on those boys faces like oh my goodness how scared they were and they just hadn't been through we've been you know again my age I've been through I've lost a parent I've lost a brother I've lost friends I've been through death a lot so you get better at it right you get you understand how it works and it um some things get better some things never get better and that's okay understanding that too hey you're GNA hurt it's okay to feel that way it's not going to get that part's not going to get better my mom's always going to miss my dad just that's it now she can function a little bit better as she goes on but you're not going to miss them so understand both of those things and uh so that's what I think about today is Johnny's friends the wives of Johnny's friends that how Shook and shaken they are um and the think that their kid will never know their dad um parents lost two brothers or two sons you not just even one they lost half their family last night the parents of Johnny and Matthew um you know it's just it's just unspeakable that's the heaviness it's hard to breathe it's hard to your chest is tight there's empathy there's sympathy there's there's self interest as well you think about you know you're losing your own kids right or losing your own brother and sister l so it's all those emotions the one giant you know crockpot and it's tough but you just kind of keep going you try to keep going and so that's what I think about today I think about the young people you know the hockey player the family is 20 to 35 but you're right there's nothing like the hockey Community um is something it's why I gravitated to the sport more and more I'm sure it's why you guys do you understand there's a little secret sauce There of community because it's small right it's like a seeing a concert in a 2000 seat venue instead of a football stadium the 2000 seat venue is always better it's more intimate you share more and that's what I I always said hockey is it's that kind of community it's a 2500 seat concert Community not a football stadium uh community and that's why I love it so much and that's why I love the intimacy and like you said pulling together as they always do and Matthew cadro who was playing in the East Coast Hockey League for the wer railers he was uh having a pretty decent minor league career as well coming out of Boston College so um again like Johnny yeah he was tiny kid he got into coaching recently so I think that's probably would have been his future yeah uh coaching a junor junior team in Jersey and so obviously not quite Johnny skill but played division one hockey at Boston College you know Johnny again Johnny stayed the extra year so he could play with them and um so yeah just uh again that was his guy right and that was those tight Brothers just two years apart and out out for a bike ride last night on a beautiful summer day and um before this you know just awful tragedy happens and like I said you see people driving around recklessly sometimes it just makes me angry whenever I see it you know just slow down a little bit what are you doing you you don't save any time on short trips you know you just don't and So that obviously and that that's the again that's part of the emotions that people process right the anger at that person like what were you thinking um and that's part of this as well that people are dealing with there's sadness there's you disbelief and then there's a little bit of anger too so it's a lot uh it's a process the uh hockey community lost Johnny G and his brother Matthew and uh we are we're devastated about it and we send our condolences to the Gad family and we would like to thank John butross for helping us navigate through all this John thank you for joining us yeah thank you for giving Johnny this much you know time this much content because a lot of people wouldn't do that so I appreciate people have been able to listen to get the full story about him and about his family and about grief and so I appreciate you guys for for doing this today well thank you John we appreciate you man thank you man