By: Izzy Cheung, Sports Editor with contributions from Kaja Antic, Sports Writer
Content warning: mentions of death by drunk driving.
On August 30, 2024, purple Gatorade nearly sold out in Calgary.
The drink isn’t an athlete’s typical choice, as most prefer lemon lime or fruit punch. But, back in 2018, keen fans watched as former Calgary Flames Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, and Elias Lindholm doused themselves in the purple drink mid game. The drink became synonymous with what was referred to as the Flames’ “top line” at the time.
It was only fitting that, on the day of Gaudreau’s unexpected passing, bottles of purple Gatorade swarmed the steps of his former team’s arena in memory of the former Flames star.
Tragedy struck the entire hockey community on August 29 when brothers Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau were struck and killed by a drunk driver. Grief over their deaths was shared throughout not only hockey leagues, but the rest of the sports world as well. As players, their impacts on the game will never be forgotten; as people, their legacies as husbands, fathers, and sons will always be remembered.
A fourth-round draft pick in the 2011 NHL Draft, Johnny Gaudreau made his name in the NHL not only for his smooth stickhandling skills, but for the path he helped pave for smaller players. Endearingly referred to around the community as “Johnny Hockey,” Gaudreau scored 243 goals and tallied 500 assists in 763 career NHL games. He was drafted by the Calgary Flames, spent nearly ten seasons lacing up for them, and most recently played two seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Matthew Gaudreau was best known for his time at Boston College, where he spent four years and notched a total of 16 goals and 47 assists in 119 games. He followed this up with a couple stints with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the American Hockey League affiliate of the New York Islanders. Matthew soon transitioned into coaching, running the bench for Gloucester Catholic High School. He had won the New Jersey high school hockey championship in 2010 as a player with the school, alongside brother Johnny, and coached by their father, Guy. Matthew was following in his father’s footsteps, as Guy had coached the Gloucester Catholic Rams for 11 seasons before stepping down in 2017. At 29 years old with a baby on the way, his life was only just beginning.
On the ice, the Gaudreau brothers brought championships to Boston College and dazzled with dekes in-tight. But getting the Gaudreau’s onto the ice took a different kind of motivation. Days at the Hollydell Ice Arena — where their father, Guy, used to work — were spent collecting Skittles off the ice. Skittles that were purposefully placed down by their father, who did so in an attempt to teach his boys how to skate.
“You and the athlete may not encounter each other in your respective orbits of life — but for a brief 13 seconds, you recognize the love of a father, the penchant for Skittles, and remember that they’re just as human as you are.”
It’s stories like this that make you reconsider your standpoint. For your entire life, you idolize an actor, a philanthropist, an athlete . . . the list goes on. You place them on a pedestal, your mind already deciding that you’re in two different worlds, and that nothing could ever make your paths cross. Then, you hear about their love for Skittles, something propelled by their parents’ quest to provide for their kids in any way they can.
You and the athlete may not encounter each other in your respective orbits of life — but for a brief 13 seconds, you recognize the love of a father, the penchant for Skittles, and remember that they’re just as human as you are. While both these boys grew to professional men’s athletes, they are cherished just as much for who they were off the ice.
Teams across the NHL have paid tribute to the Gaudreau brothers by holding a 13-second moment of silence in honour of Johnny’s longtime jersey number, 13. The upbeat, retro-style tune of “Johnny B. Goode” echoed through the Flames’ home arena, the Scotiabank Saddledome, as shots of Johnny flashed across the jumbotron. Florida Panthers players suited up for their game against the Blue Jackets armed with purple Gatorade. When the first puck of the season dropped at Columbus’ Nationwide Arena, the Blue Jackets’ starting line up left the left-wing spot vacant. Flame-turned-Blue Jacket Sean Monahan took the faceoff, passing the puck to where his longtime Flames teammate would have been standing, and both Blue Jackets and Panthers players waited while 13 seconds ran off the clock.
When Monahan scored in the team’s home opening game, he pointed to the rafters, where his friend’s banner now sits, in a tender moment of reflection.
In a league that thrives off of physical play and board-breaking hits, Johnny Gaudreau proved that smaller players could dominate the game. His impact is best summarized by Montréal Canadiens forward Cole Caufield, who changed the number on the back of his jersey to 13 following the news of Gaudreau’s passing.
“I wore #13 at a point in my career because of Johnny and now I will be wearing it again to honor him,” he wrote in an Instagram post detailing his number change. “He paved the way for smaller players and proved we had a future in this game at the highest level. I will forever be grateful to him for inspiring me and others.”
The Gaudreau brothers’ legacies can be traced back to the very purple Gatorade that sat at the steps of the Scotiabank Saddledome. Anyone within the hockey world knows what it stands for, as well as what it means to the rest of the league. The next time you see a bottle of purple Gatorade or a pack of Skittles, think of Johnny, think of Matthew, and think of how blessed we were to experience their impact on the game of hockey right before our eyes.
