To close out a very difficult weekend, I just wanted to share some of my thoughts about the events that took place. When I finished working on Thursday night and looked at my phone and I had texts about Johnny Gaudreau rumors I didn’t think there was any way they were real. I stayed up until 3 am waiting for any kind of confirmation. Friday morning we woke up to that confirmation and the whirlwind began. The hardest thing for me was texting my best friend asking if she was ok and her saying plainly, “no”. And texting another who said she just wanted to cry. Then going to the arena and seeing that people had already started to drop off flowers and sticks and jerseys and see a toddler leave his stick at the memorial only to leave and come back a few hours later and see that it had grown exponentially in size since the morning. Going there and seeing my friends crying and me just walking up to the memorial and just feeling numb all culminating with the unexpected difficulty of simply leaving. Going back again on Sunday for one last moment with someone I had never “met”. But it hit me on Friday when I was there with all of my friends why this hurt so badly. When I moved to Columbus in 2019, I was on top of the world. I had just graduated, gotten a job, gotten engaged and moved to a new city with the girl I was going to marry only to lose the job and the girl all within 2 years. I was at my lowest point. I had always loved the game of hockey but didn’t have a team so I thought about getting tickets. I saw a post from @sarah____kent that talked about how close of a family the #CBJ are and then we signed some guy named Johnny Gaudreau. That was it. I made my decision. I didn’t have family in Columbus so I was going to join one. And I did. I got a quarter season ticket plan. I went to games, I started interacting with people on Twitter, I met Sarah at the Finland watch party at pins, I upgraded to a half season to be around them more and moved to 210, I started to be on a podcast, I went to the watch parties, I gained followers, I upped to a full season and I am surrounded by some of the best people in the world like Sarah, @1Suzieqzie1@F1RETHECANNON@ellielyn38@HatWearingLlama@GeoffreyM96@mark_scheig and others that I consider my family and I did it all because the final piece of the team fell into place when Johnny Effing Hockey signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Hug your loved ones, tell them how you feel because you never know when your time will come. My tattoo on my leg is in honor of my grandfather and while there is only a portion of the poem, the whole thing goes like this: May the road ride to meet you, may the wind be at you r back, may the sun shine warm upon your face, may the rain fall softly on your fields and until we meet again, may you keep safe in the gentle loving arms of God. So Johnny, keep looking down on us. You, Matthew, and Kivi. We know we have support from up top forever.
The Calgary Stampeders mourn the tragic death of Johnny Gaudreau. Johnny was a cherished member of the Flames family and a beloved figure in our community.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the Gaudreau family and the Flames organization during this time of immense sorrow.
Perspective Re: Johnny Gaudreau
IF rumors are true tonight, then he isn’t just Johnny Hockey, he’s more importantly:
Johnny The Brother.
Johnny The Son.
Johnny The Husband & Dad
Johnny The Friend.
Johnny The Team Mate.
Take a second and send up a prayer for these folks.