Unless he’s up in the woods, strolling among maple trees that give cover to the acreage he purchased from his father in northern Vermont, life’s quiet moments aren’t good for Guy Gaudreau.
It’s been a year and eight months since Gaudreau, his wife Jane, and their family were devastated by the type of tragedy that keeps parents awake at night. Their sons, hockey standouts John (often called Johnny) and Matthew, were killed while biking together in Oldmans Township, New Jersey, not far from their parents’ home on the eve of their youngest sister’s wedding.
It’s a heartbreaking story with layers of grief. So, how is Guy Gaudreau doing?
“Well, I don’t know how I’m supposed to be doing,” he said. “I know how I feel. You know, I know each day, every second that I’m not … every second that I’m idle, is not good. So, I have a lot of hollow feelings, and you know, it’s difficult.”
Each brother played at Boston College and eventually in the pro ranks. The eldest, John, rose to NHL stardom with the Calgary Flames and Blue Jackets. Matthew was embarking on a coaching path.
They were killed when an SUV driven by Sean Higgins struck them while attempting to pass a slower vehicle on the right shoulder of a narrow two-lane road. Higgins remains jailed and faces multiple charges, while the Gaudreau family pays close attention to his case.
That’s a big reason that stress and grief continue to feel so fresh, but there are other reminders, too.
In addition to the pending trial keeping the tragedy fresh, Gaudreau has also felt emptiness in moments that he and his family otherwise cherish, including the U.S. men’s hockey team defeating Canada back in February to win an Olympic gold medal in Milan, Italy.
Guy and Jane were there along with John’s wife, Meredith, and their kids, all courtesy of USA Hockey. John’s No. 13 jersey for Team USA, which hung in the U.S. locker room for the tournament, was proudly displayed by U.S. players, including Zach Werenski, his former Blue Jackets teammate.
The two oldest of John’s children – daughter Noa and son Johnny – were fetched from the stands by Werenski and Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk, then carried onto the ice for the team photo. For Guy Gaudreau, it was both a beautiful tribute to his son and a painful reminder of what his family lost.
“I mean, it was nice what they did for John and his jersey and all that, but, like, John would’ve been on that team, you know?” Gaudreau said. “So, it’s hard, and a lot of things have been taken away from us. In one second, they’re here, and in one second, they’re both gone, right? And we may never see them again. So, it’s difficult.”
Staying busy is good for Guy.
Gaudreau Family Foundation 5K gets a familiar sponsor
After the tragedy, the Gaudreau family joined with a small group of friends to form the Gaudreau Family Foundation, which was created to help honor John and Matthew’s memories. Meredith Gaudreau and Matthew’s wife, Madeline, also started The John and Matthew Gaudreau Foundation for charitable efforts.
A year ago, the inaugural Gaudreau Family Foundation 5K Run/Walk and Family Fun Day was a huge success, held at Washington Lake Park in Sewell, New Jersey. More than $500,000 was raised for an accessible playground at a special needs school where Jane works, and more than 2,100 people participated, including more than 1,100 registrants doing so virtually.
A year later, it’s time to run/walk for John and Matty again. The second annual Gaudreau Family Foundation 5K will be held May 16, again at Washington Lake Park for those who participate in person, and the main sponsor is Hollydell Ice Arena, where Guy once worked as director of hockey operations.
Hollydell is also where he taught both of his sons to skate and play hockey, right around the corner from the park.
“I raised four children working there, and that was kind of like a home for all of them,” Gaudreau said. “My two daughters didn’t really enjoy skating or playing, so they were more into dance, cheerleading and soccer. They didn’t like smelly equipment, but they did come to the rink a lot. They did help me.”
Hollydell’s returning the favor now.
Gaudreau’s replacement as the rink’s hockey director, Tom Bunting, encouraged local teams and players to raise funds to sponsor this year’s 5K, which will boost funding toward special needs hockey initiatives and a learn-to-skate program next winter.
Gaudreau loves being on skates, and he stayed busy this past season by running weekly clinics for a local AAA team at a different rink. He’s also overseeing a parent-taught class for beginners set to begin May 21 at Hollydell Ice Arena, and that’s sure to prompt some trips down Memory Lane.
“I was on the ice there a lot, and not just with John and Matt,” Gaudreau said. “I worked with a lot of kids, and I suppose I’ve made a pretty big impact on a lot of their lives. There’s quite a few kids I coached who ended up playing [NCAA] Division I or Division III [hockey], or it just impacted their lives or the way they look at life, I guess. … Hopefully I helped more than I hurt.”
New wave of Gaudreaus headed for hockey?
Prior to the tragedy, Matthew Gaudreau and his wife, Madeline, learned they were expecting their first child, a son. His dad helped name him Tripp.
John Gaudreau, meanwhile, had two young kids of his own plus, as John knew, another on the way. Meredith shared the news that she was pregnant with Carter at her late husband’s funeral.
“I made a promise to the boys before anything happened,” Guy Gaudreau said. “When they found out Matthew was having a boy, they took me to a corner that summer and said, ‘You’ve got to come out of retirement, Dad, and teach them.’”
That process has nearly begun.
Noa’s the oldest, so she’s the closest to the ice. She also enjoys dance and playing soccer, and her paternal grandfather has already taken notice of her speed, which he’s seen before.
“She’s a lot like her dad,” Guy Gaudreau said. “She’s really quick. Like, I’ll play with her and chase her, and she’s got that really quick acceleration. Within seconds, she’s going full speed. So, I’m hoping when they come back [from Columbus], we can get her skating. I talked to her, and she’s all excited. She seems to be excited to do it.”
It’s something that Gaudreau envisioned for his granddaughter in October 2023, right after her birth.
Speaking with The Dispatch a few days after cutting her umbilical cord, John Gaudreau smiled while remembering something his dad said.
“We didn’t know if it was a boy or a girl, and right when I told my dad it was a girl, he was like, ‘Girls play hockey too!’” John Gaudreau said. “He was excited. He said, ‘We can put a hockey stick in her hand too.’”
If so, Noa will be the first to lace up skates in a new Gaudreau youth movement, followed by Johnny, Carter and her cousin, Tripp. That ought to keep Guy Gaudreau busy.
“I’d like to get them to the rink, on a chair, and just push them around on the chair so they get acquainted with the ice,” he said. “Tripp and Carter are still about a year away before they really can get on the ice. I usually change [to skates] when they can go up the stairs on their own, when their balance is good enough.”
Guy Gaudreau, family take solace in ‘sugaring’
Gaudreau’s unincorporated hometown of Beebe Plains, Vermont, is split between the U.S. and Canadian borders along the province of Quebec and northern Vermont. It’s incredibly small, located about 20 minutes South of Sherbrooke, Quebec, and there’s a main road that runs East-West along the border.
That’s how Canusa Street got its name. The ‘C-a-n’ stands for Canada and the ‘u-s-a’ for the U.S. The vast majority of residents are Canadians who live on the North side of Canusa, while Americans, including the Gaudreaus, live to the South. The yellow lines dividing the road also divide nations for about half a mile.
Recent tensions between the nations ratcheted up the intensity of border patrols on both sides, which typically affects Gaudreau once a year.
The land he owns there is filled with maple trees. So, whenever late February rolls around and those trees start “running,” with sap, that’s where you’ll find Guy Gaudreau, up in Beebe, Vermont, checking his tree spouts.
It’s called “sugaring,” which John Gaudreau shared with a couple of reporters on Feb. 28, 2024, at Madison Square Garden.
“My dad’s up in Vermont right now sugaring, doing maple syrup and stuff, so he won’t be able to come [to the game], but he’d normally be here for sure,” Gaudreau said. “It’s like a certain time in the sugaring season. The sap runs in the trees, so he needs to be up there right now … so, he’s loving doing that up there.”
It’s a subject that all of Guy Gaudreau’s children and Jane Gaudreau know well. That’s how many of their spring breaks were spent. John and Matt loved tapping trees and sugaring with their dad and grandfather, ripping around on four-wheelers.
Perhaps those memories crossed John Gaudreau’s mind that day in New York, when a reporter jokingly asked if the trees were calling his dad. He smiled from ear to ear.
“Yeah, the sap’s running,” Gaudreau said. “The trees are running, and it’s like two weeks at the end of February into early March that it’s a good time to sugar, and he’s up there doing that now.”
Guy and his family still enjoy sugaring. They still do it together, as a tradition, each season. Some of this year’s batch will even be sold at the 5K to raise additional foundation funds.
Is it cathartic?
“Well, what for me is enjoyable is the fact that I own property that my grandfather owned, and my dad owned, and they sugared that area,” Gaudreau said. “Both of them did it there. Not just that part of the property, but the majority of the property. So, it kind of gives me a good feeling that I’m on the property that a family has owned for years, and I’m out there. So, it’s nice.”
It’s the one moment of solitude that still brings joy.
“I love being in the woods,” he said. “I love looking at trees and the growth and working with wood and stuff like that. You have a small window of opportunity for syrup. When the trees start running, when they start thawing out from the winter, from the cold winter, it picks up water from the ground, draws up the tree, and we tap those trees with little spouts that go in it.”
You get the distinct feeling he could talk about the process for days.
How sugary water drips into each bucket from those spouts. How the buckets are collected when they fill up. How they’re taken to the sugar house, where the water inside each one is dumped into big metal pans and boiled until it reduces into syrup. How it takes 60 to 80 gallons of sugared water to make one gallon of syrup.
“And it’s all organic,” Gaudreau said, excitedly. “There’s no additives. There’s nothing added. It’s just all organic, right from the tree, so it’s really good for you.”
For the soul, too.
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Guy Gaudreau finding peace despite ‘hollow feelings’ that linger
Reporting by Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
