Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Johnny Hockey ❤️

Episode Date: August 30, 2024

In Memory of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I saw Rhett take a peek, see if I was crying already. Yep. You made that damn thing and you're crying already. Why is this thing? I've been in it all morning. There's some things that you do. You just can't believe you're doing them, you know? I was thinking, too, that what's great is certainly not about me.

But when we would do things on the radio and I would break down. It's like, okay, well, you leave a studio and then you move on. It's like, you know, this is going to be on YouTube. There's going to be a lot of people watching. That's true. It'll be a lot of people watching when I'm getting upset. And we weren't going to do a show today. It sure weren't.

It's going to be a nice long weekend. So on a number of different levels, not happy being at work today. But some things just hit different. and you don't categorize people's, the importance of people's lives, but this is a rough one for people of the city, fans of the team, fathers, mothers. As Johnny Goddrow and his brother Matthew were killed in a car wreck yesterday. Instant reaction. Well, that's not true. There's just that silly.

That can't happen. But then it's, well, this stuff can happen. I don't know. We were kind of texting. It's like, is this true? This can't be true. Yeah, it's weird because people will race to break a news story, like a trade or a firing. This is when you don't race.

And this is one where nobody wanted it to be true and no one wanted to break. it. And if I'm correct, it was a statement released by the NHL this morning that confirmed what people already knew was most likely true, but was hoping somehow wasn't. It's also one of those things, too, you start sniffing around and when you're getting no responses back. Silence. It's kind of a bad. Not a good. Yeah. Yes, but no one's racing to do this and respect the process, police, family, NHL. you have the i guess kind of a news release or just as because as we're doing this if you're watching it live obviously you know that we're doing this on friday morning it's 1053 calgary time so more

details will obviously come out but as we do this now yeah sorry i'm going to pull it up right now i mean it's just in an absolute outpouring from the hockey world today we've seen just in terms of the the the news story yeah uh sorry i told you did have it ready. Now I'm scrolling for it like crazy. But essentially we had news break last night that there was a car accident involving two men on bicycles in New Jersey, in a suburb of Philadelphia, where Johnny's from. And the immediate fear and the initial reporting that was not done by a journalist was that this was Johnny Goodrow. And we all waited to hope that it wasn't true, which indeed was not the case. There's been a man charged with two counts of driving under the

influence he's suspected to be of that he's been charged with it and uh johnny his brother on bicycles they're supposed to be their sister's wedding today stunning that as well i mean he just adds to the horror of the whole incident police sources say the man suspected to be under the influence of alcohol remained at the scene a warrant was issued for a blood toxicology test and it would take up to 24 hours to confirm he was driving while impaired he's formerly charged with two counts of death by auto reckless driving improper passing as well as having a an open container in his vehicle and consuming alcohol while driving. It's an absolute travesty.

Yeah. To hear those details and, you know, we'll just move the drunk driver, I guess, to the side, but. Sister's wedding, young daughter. And son. Lives at lives devastated. Well, the one picture for me that hurt the most was his old man in the stairs. like it's the people that aren't left behind that have to trudge through this and find a way to keep going. Yeah.

I think you know that all dads love their kids, but to see the love that Dee had for Johnny was. That's family, man. Yeah. Like sister was sisters were here, aunts and uncles, mother and father. It was always family first. It was the good row, the goodro crew. And it was not one guy in his family. It was the Godreau's.

And I think that's something that weighed heavily on him when he was expecting a child and approached free agency. And you wouldn't be surprised if one of the Goodrow family members slid into your DMs or, you know, liked a clip that you did on John. It was all over it. And, you know, Wes Gilbertson, a post media did a phenomenal job today trying to write on a topic that's almost impossible to. and he had a lot of anecdotes about the Goddrow family and how much it meant to Johnny just to be around the family, racing from his last game before Christmas to an airport trying to get home, not miss his flight.

It was always about his family. And that family has been absolutely shattered by the news of the passing of him and his brother. Yeah. I was thinking about this, too, it's not about us. But I don't know if there's anyone in media who have talked about Johnny Goddrow. more than we have. Because if you recall back, we were working together. I just remember we would

have, and the reason I say that is because you're doing a four hour radio show. Yeah. It takes, you're doing, talk a lot of time. I mean, for many of this years, you were alive from 530 till 10. There's a lot of Johnny Control in there. But my, my earliest, because then when we started working together, I remember talking, he was still in college. And you were fighting the fight that, hey, listen, he's not going, because maybe he's going to go back to school for one more year so that he can become a free agent and not sign. It's like, he's not going to sign here. And you're like, if he wants to make NHL money and play, he's going to come. That was before he'd played at a game.

We had a year of that talk before he became a Calgary playing. There was two years of that. Because his first year, it was like, whoa, this kid lit up the USHL, but he's playing against 20 young 20 year olds, mid 20 year olds now. Like, this is a different ball game. It's kind of the Dustin Wolf thing where it's like, yeah, but at the next level it would be too small. That's why he slides to the fourth round, despite torching the USHL. And then in his second year,

he should have won the Hobie Baker. He was phenomenal. And then it's like, okay, can you get him out now? The flames tried. He still doesn't weigh 155 pounds at this point. And his younger brother Matthew said he was coming to Boston

college that he picked for the brothers to go to because Matthew kind of ran Johnny. Johnny didn't like those decisions. Matthew was like, let's find a place that Johnny will like will both go. And I just read. read an article that Darren Haynes wrote, Flens from 80 feet at a development camp,

the summer that Johnny said he was going back for his junior season, which is his third year of college. And he said, if I can come back 10, 15 pounds heavier, maybe get up to 165, maybe 170 even, I'll be ready for the men's game. But most importantly, I get a chance to play with my brother.

Matthew's going to come to BC and we'll play together. Yeah. Family. Family. So I thought about that, because we spent hours having that discussion of was he even going to come to Calgary. And then he became a flame. And then obviously scored his first game.

And we were doing radio or some version of it together, the three of us or two of us and the three of us ever since. So that's a badge of honor. I think that we could take that claim. I think I've gone from here. There's no damn way he was coming to Calgary to he may be the best flame to ever put on the jersey. Doing that video this morning, it's in terms of all out hands, pure skill. Hawk and Lou, I'm trying to think all time. There are great players, Jerome, Theo.

But I just wonder if he's not in terms of pure hands and all out hot. It's hard to compare errors even, and we don't really need to. And it's not, he was a special player, whether he was the best ever or not, is probably irrelevant. but he's certainly in the conversation. To do what he did at the NHL level, he left Calgary over a point per game, like 609 points and 600. What is,

there's obviously his NHL numbers. He's just under that because he had the last years of Columbus weren't up to that point per game total, but when he left on the heels of that 115 point season, I mean, he was an absolute rock star in Calgary, 602 games, 605 points. That's incredible. Yeah.

And so to do that in the bottom, that, you know, you watched his 18-year-old freshman season goal in the national championship game. They're described. It looks like a 12-year-old. Look what he's doing out here. Like, he never did have a man's body. To accomplish what he did at his size and stature just speaks to the immense talents and vision and skill that he had. It shouldn't be possible.

My brother, my nephew. Yeah. He got a picture with Johnny. And I don't even know if we could see it. I should have just sent it. It's like, who's the kid? Yeah. Who's signed in his jersey here?

That's right. It's unbelievable. Yager, I remember his quote, when they started playing together, he came like, I've never played with a player that small. I've never, never, never seen that. And that was, what's amazing is that he was the size he was. And after a certain point, you never talked about it again. No, you watched him a couple times.

It was like, It was the only thing, right? You think about all the things that we talked about Johnny over the years. And it was only about his size. Only about his size. Is he going to be big enough? He'll never be big enough. He can't do it.

He can't handle the rigors. He's going to break down. And that at about the two-year mark, you never heard size brought up. Incredibly durable. Didn't take a lot of heavy hits. Well, unless he was going to slash across the wrists. We've talked about, like we just said, we've talked about him a lot. But I've since retiring, how often I've been excited about the flames and the games.

You know, and you played and it's different for guys. Anyway, I've never been at a game where I was that into it. It was the flames were playing L.A. And they needed to win to make the playoffs and Godro and Monaghan combined and score. And I'm high fiving with Jason Weamer. And we're like, these guys are unbelievable. This is F and off. There was a reason to be excited again.

because you'd watch the decline of that core of Jabo and Mika and Eginla and you're like, what do we even have here? And then they take a flyer on a kid in the fourth round in 2011, three years of college later, scores in his first game, the season finale against Vancouver in the spring of 2014. And then the next year, you could literally hear the ooze and the people gasping at this phenom

that somehow could just cross the blue line button hook and find someone wide open. for an incredible play almost every shift 2011 draft i remember being at the at the dome doing we were doing the show from the hot stove lounge and once the rounds are kind of done you come into it's like free agency we come into the edwayland media lounge and then the uh the gm will come in and talk to you i remember sitting there with scott crickshank who at the time was working for the calgary herald and johnny had done his media on a conference conference call. And like at that time, he's like he say, is he 150 pounds? At the draft,

less than that. Right. God, yeah. Coming out of the USHL. Yeah. Okay. So fourth round Johnny Go Godro. Dubuque fighting saints. At that point, the USHL was a rather unknown quantity. Exactly. Right. Unless you were really nerding on the junior hockey scene in the states. He's how he's five watt, a hundred and what out of Dubuque. Where's Dubuque? And then he caught on the conference call and somebody was, he had more of his New York accent then, whatever you want to call it from that, you know, that area, New Jersey. And somebody had asked him, have you ever, do you know about Calgary or what do you know about

this area? He's like, no, I don't really know anybody. I forget who it was. You know, a buddy of mine went, he played out in Sam and Am. So I don't know. Sam and Am. I don't know if Sam and Am is close. So he's like, I think Samanam close to Calgary.

It was, Crickshank and I looked at each over. So that was our little running bit, Sam and I'm. We would say that to each other for a while. And the reason that stands out is because it felt like, are we going to talk to this fourth round pick? He's a weird pick, awfully little guy. Oh, but he's got a lot of skill. I guess he better.

So I was an Abbottisford at the time. And it was Jay Feaster's second draft, but really his first full year on the job. And they'd just hired John Wisebroad, who'd worked with the Bruins and was in the Boston area. I would have seen a ton of Johnny playing. for the Eagles at college. Well, he wouldn't have actually.

It would have been in USHL. But he was on the radar. And John wasn't allowed to talk draft with the flames, but was hired before the draft. So I don't know what happened there or not. But I remember seeing Wise Broad on the road when he'd come check in with the American League team. And just anytime you mentioned his name,

he would light up because it's like they knew. They had something really special. Maybe it wouldn't work. But this was an absolute full out swing on incredibly high end skill. If someone at six foot put up those numbers, he's top 10 pick. It's that simple.

The other guy who is in that mix, obviously, is the general manager today and Craig Conroy. Because he was cutting his teeth at that time, getting into the player research development, wanted to get into the front office. And he was one of the guys that watched Johnny a lot. And the relationship, if you recall the visits to Boston College to try and coerce Johnny, you're going to love Calgary. Same agent. It was Conroy.

Connie was on the private jet that went there the moment his junior season ended with a contract to sign and it was they didn't know how it was going to go. I remember that day too. There was a lot of nerves. They sent in Connie because everybody loves Conroy. Connie get on that plane. They sent the, they sent Murray's jet. Bill Arnold got a flight there too, as I recall, because he was also on the team and a flames draft pick. Hey, if you come out, we'll get you here in time.

We'll bring your buddy with you. And, you know, Bill, you can come along to the purpose being. get him in for the last game they're going to burn the first year of that contract and do whatever it takes all the bonuses let's go and i just remember conroy i don't know if there's bad days for kregg conroy but you talk about a guy who was happy that day he was on cloud nine because this is the guy he'd had to sweat it out though he did big time he sure did yeah yeah he sure did we've reached out to a lot of people uh within media within the flames organization n hl Craig um as you can imagine And to your word, it's very raw.

And they've all politely and respectfully declined. And we understand that. For the same with former teammates. I mean, you just, what do you want to do? Go cry on YouTube with media guys. Yeah, this will take some time. Who would want to do that? That would be terrible.

But I have the same memory as well, Redwin. And it was part of it would have been the old core. we were watching a lot of older players at the end of their career. Unemotional. It was not a good team. The players didn't seem to care. The fans had just kind of become. This team isn't good enough.

You should have traded Jerome sooner. Yeah. Yeah. And then Monaghan, then Goddrault. And it was. It gave you hope. There was, is this what it's going to be like? And it was just, here is a guy finally that has the skill.

He's going to bring you out of your seat. He's going to, he's going to. he's going to bring you bring you out of your seat talent. And then it was literally, yeah, he's, he's getting you out of your seat with what he's doing out there. We hadn't seen that. Well, the joy with, which he did it too, right? Like, there's guys that score a lot of goals and they don't always aren't emotional,

each of their own, but he loved it. I can remember coaching the All-Star game the one time. Yeah, they did the fan, all-star thing, the two Flames teams. They don't even, skills. And the only skills competition. skills whatever I did. Yeah, sorry, though, wasn't the awesome. But whatever it is.

And it's pretty hokey and whatever. Yeah. The only thing that stood out to me was Johnny's personality and his excitement and is want to enjoy and have fun at the ring. I remember you coming in the next day and you kind of marveled at how he was revered by his teammates more than anything. Because everyone saw him as the young kid, but these pros older just like, we can't do this stuff. Like no one should be able to do the stuff he's doing. You'd see him in warmups. You'd flip a puck, four stories in the air, catch him on his blade.

Like, you've never seen this before in warm up. Who's doing that? Yeah. I wonder if you were to go from door to door in this city, how many people have Goodroo jersey's hanging? Oh, a ton. He was our boy. I mean, he obviously left and nobody was happy. And I don't for a second think that COVID didn't play a massive role in all this.

and blah, blah, blah. He, I said, he was our boy. He was our boy. He was supposed to be our boy. He was kind of our, here's our Johnny. We love you. Our underdog. Everyone said he could know, we believe.

This is, this is Calgary's most famous human for what felt like a decade. I mean, he could not move 10 feet in the city without being identified, revered and loved. And the family aspect of it was, I think, part of it. Like, because family was so important to him and because of the Flames family, the city of Calgary, they engaged with each other. How many players' parents would fans know the first names? No. I can't think of any.

But everybody knew. Bind beer. Johnny's like a stress. Uncle. They show them on the Jumbotron and everyone knew it was and they're screaming and yelling. Yeah, it was. Today's probably not the day. for it. But like you say, like he, it, it, I think it, it, it, it still hurts that that, that he

wasn't here and that he didn't stay. But that was that was, you know, it's more about Johnny and the family today. But it is part of also it kind of makes it, it feels like it's even more sad. It's like, we've lost them twice now. Yeah. Well, and it, as much as he was a blue jacket for two years, like, there is a morning and a, there is a cloud over the city today because oh, this team in this market is not the same as professional hockey in Ohio. It just isn't. That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt for them. But this whole city is in a funk today.

I didn't know how to put it because I don't want it to be disrespectful. There will be blue jackets. They will be devastated. That organization will be floored. And I say with all due respect, it was however many years he played, it still didn't look right. Some players leave and you get used to them in other jerseys. never looked right. Never looked.

What do we do on this? It's like Iggy in Colorado. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. Iggy anywhere else, to be fair, Iggy in a Kings jersey. But you're right, and Iggy anywhere else.

It kind of speaks to it. It was our guy and Johnny was our guy. And again, it's not about hockey today. But he's a Mount Rushmore player for this team. If you get four faces that when you look at them, you're like Calgary Flame. It's him and Jerome for sure.

You can make a really strong case for Mika and Lanny, they weren't these huge tenures, but there were impactful moments and memories that last. And that's probably where I'd start and finish. But you could make cases for other great players that were here, but not for their whole careers, not necessarily the primes. They were Calgary Flames.

You want to go through his place in flames history. We're kind of going through, and it's top five in a lot of the offensive categories for sure. But it does, you talked about his points per game, over a point per game for his career, that's going to put you in pretty good stead. but he still sits today as one of the greatest flames ever. He sits fifth and points in franchise history despite leaving in his 20s.

And not starting at 18. I remember when, no, she came in his 21 in his first full season. He played one game in his 20-year-old season. They make the playoffs his rookie year in 14. And you talked about the belief with Weimar when you saw it. That was when there was excitement again because this group had no business being a playoff team. They were still just getting over the loss of this old core. And it was the findaway Bob Hartley crew with all those comebacks in the third period that season.

And not only do they do that, they give Vancouver a joltz in round one. It was unbelievable right from the day he got there. He was a winner. I don't think people feel that way because the team never really got over the hub in the playoffs. But he won a USHL championship. He won a national championship of the NCAA. He won a world juniors. He was phenomenal in that world junior tournament.

The first year arrives in Calgary, immediately the team makes the playoffs. Like he had an incredible effect on the organization. He sits behind Flurry, Aginla, Suter, McKinness for assists. I'm not sorted wrong here. Let's go to points and do this probably. Aginel's first, Flurry, second, McKinness, third, New-and-Dike, fourth, Johnny fifth. He's one of a small list of point-per-game players on the team, not even Jerome. How many are you on?

Rush, is it four or five? Four. Four. So who would you add? McKinness? Left too soon. New-Dike left too soon. Yeah.

Well, I was wondering because he was fifth in that point total. I was in the first if we were going to. Well, I take Cal and Joe out and I put Mekin and those are your top four. I'm just kind of, again, we're just flying by the seat of our pants here. I arrived late. We were doing separately doing stuff together. I see that Jack has got, let's go back to that first goal. We already told the story.

A pro would have thrown to it at the time. But that was an exciting thing because we had spent so much time. There was so much hand ringing. is he going to come? This guy's really good. At that time, we'd seen him on the world stage. We'd seen enough of the highlights. He was Johnny Hockey.

That terminology was now getting into the lexicon, right? It's like, this is really going to suck if this guy doesn't come. And then it's a private jet. Connie's on the jet going to get him, bringing him back. He's going to play. It was still until he steps foot and he's on that game sheet, I all feel a lot better when I see. that. And a

night in Vancouver is where it started for Johnny Goddrow. Back to Chris Breen. Slams one towards the goal. Tipped in by Johnny Goodro. His first NHL game, he's got his first NHL goal and Calgary's on the board. All those things Brean brings it to the middle, just slaps it towards a net, and it's off a couple of us, but look at the stick is ready.

It's the, uh, often forgotten Chris Russell, Chris Breen, Chris pairing. That's right. And the towering Joe Colburn out there. Not just brein is out amongst the Sequoias. That's right. And Chris. And it was one of those things he meant to do it, right? He didn't just go off the stick of course. Or is he just in the right spot? No, he knew what he was doing. We're going to need a little more tape. By midseason the next year, you knew it wasn't a fluke. But at that time, you're like, did they bank one in off on on that? No, Johnny knew where to be. But it felt that night, it felt great for everybody. he got on the ice you got he's he signed within 24 hour period and then scores it was even for one night

it was validations we're doing the right thing got the training camp number 53 yeah this is what it's all about and that's where it began he was awesome and i i kept thinking about it when you know you talked about how much we talked about him there was the whole will he come and then there was like, okay, well, he's a hell of a prospect. What is he at the NHL level? And then his second full season, he's flirting with a point per game. And you're like, whoa, we have the rarest kind of superstar, one that doesn't even weigh, you know, 170 pounds. And then it was like, okay, you get to the free agency thing. And it's like, you start to realize that, you know, this, which way could it, would it, should it go that if he signs, he's going to own every franchise

record. He's going to go down as the greatest flame ever if he signs here. But then you also know the family piece for him. You also understood if you, you know, geez, if he could get back to Philly or Jersey, it didn't play out that way. But there was the handringing at the beginning and the hand wringing at the end right until, what, 1159 on, on the eve of free agency two summers ago.

When he started that, when he started his career, it was even before that, because I just think back to when we were talking about, how good is he? He's a fourth round pick. He's low. Well, he, he, he, he, he, he, did this in college and here's other players who have done that those are very short

list very short list and then while he went to the world juniors and he was elite at that level yeah okay and it you just kind of kept moving that bar higher for me remember when he was at the world cup on that team north america carter mcday like there was young studs first rounds first overall picks and he was elite with them yeah not that you needed 16 17 so he was a little bit established. Yeah. Yeah, he was excellent.

But not that you, not that you needed it, but it was more confirmation that, yeah, this guy is, we've got a superstar. We got a world class superstar on our hands here. We have a ticket seller.

That's, in other centers. Totally. Right? Like, we knew it, but the rest of the world came alive to it as well. They're like,

if you're in L.A. I mean, L.A. is maybe not the greatest example, but other cities. and the flames are coming to town and you're like, who's on that team? Oh, Johnny hockey. And after a while, you didn't even have to think about it.

It's about Goddryl. I don't know if anybody else is coming, but. Well, it felt like a perennial all-star, right? Like, just every year, it'd be weird if he wasn't at that game. Like, that's the echelon he belongs in. The point you made about, you know, here's a winner, because he did win a lot. And you look back to when it was,

we got to shake up the core you got to break this thing up monahan godreau they're not going to do it yeah um maybe it's and they didn't you know they they didn't win in calgary there was not a lot of success here um but it's hard to debate when you look at everything else that he accomplished what kind of a you weren't going to get better subtracting him i know that's a winner yeah and i don't know we've we've talked about it a lot what went wrong what went sideways with that group what was there one one thing that could have changed it one did you know you trade doggie hamilton you bring in lind home and then lind home when he had chemistry you just kind of i'm not sure why it didn't work because they weren't quite good enough well and red said it if if if sam bennett

who is number one in central scouting turns into a number one center and you got sean monahan is the number two. Like, goodness, that's a totally different thing. That Bennett has turned into a very nice middle six centerman. That is not what you draft in the central scouting first overall consensus guy who slides to four in the draft.

And that's not to pin anything on Sam, but you could see just that and then the Monaghan injury stuff and you're like, uh, this is kind of sliding away on this group. Yeah. Plus the fact that there's other good teams out there. They weren't perfect around them. It wasn't like the supporting cast was

perfect and Johnny letting you one down. It'd be quite the opposite. But there was a time when people thought, oh, he can't produce in the playoffs. His first playoff run, he was nearly a point per game. He was great. His last playoff run here again. But the team as a whole struggled to play their best hockey when it mattered the most. You think of that Colorado series, their best players weren't their best players. And you think about him being the size that he is, aren't we all thankful and better off that he was the age he was in the era that he played, not always over?

look. Not when smaller guys couldn't. He would have been in Nat Domichelli playing in the Swiss league. He'd have been somewhere else. Yeah. Yeah, but he can't do it in the NHL. But he could. He's paved the way now. Now you'll see slight or small.

Like there's no way Jack Hughes goes where he goes like, what, 1-1 if you don't see smaller guys succeed in the league. And yeah, the rule changes are part of it. But for GMs to say I'm taking this risk or I'm justifying this pick, you had to see it work before. And I don't know that you're going to find many examples of smaller statured, slighter players having success in the lead more than two iconic flames and Theo and he like that's Theo did it in a time in a very different manner that was much more physical yeah but johnny 115 points

second in league scoring it as you know you got teenagers the way more than this kid it's incredible he'd have been an inspiration to so many players but specifically guys that were told they weren't big enough if you're a father and you're bringing up a kid and he likes playing hockey and he's smaller in stature and the kids go well Why can't I? Why did I get cut? Your whole story is, look at Johnny.

Yeah. Look at Johnny hockey. Look at Mr. Goodro there. You can. If he can do it. If he can do it, you stick with it.

For sure, that's was. Did you guys ever see the brick highlights? Yeah. I don't know if Jack's got around, but so the brick term, I believe is like for 10 year olds in Ebenton, and they bring in these teams all over North America to compete.

And it's a big deal when it shouldn't be a big deal, because 10 years would probably just play and not worry about this stuff. But parents, get very excited. I think Johnny was playing a year or two up and is far and away the smallest human in the building, never mind on the ice. And it's just end to end and dips who goes

behind the net and spinoramas and wraparounds and you're like, this little bucker was a hell of a hockey player and of course his old man ran the rink and he always had, oh, it's a little bit ice, it's not being used later and then I, Johnny go and mess around. Jay Feister was interviewed and asked about checking in at the

end of each season and they'd meet it at Gies rink. And they'd always be talking about the future and Johnny's eyes would wander to the window and look into the rink. It's like, do you want to just go get the gear on? I'll talk with family. Like, yeah, okay, that's great. And you go and skate. That was his, that was his happy place. It was playing hockey and being on the ice. That's, that was his bond with his dad. That was where he became Johnny hockey. If I'm not mistaken, that day he was drafted and we did the conference call with him. He was out playing street hockey.

Of course. came in to take the conference call. Which perhaps is another great lesson in all of this is to teach kids to love the game or show them how to love the game. Because I don't for a moment to think that Johnny wasn't enjoying his time at the rink. He absolutely loved the sport. That has to be understood by anyone that watched him. Just the, you know, the passion and the joy that the game brought him.

And on the flip side, when you see someone love it like he does, it becomes easier to see guys that are just in it. Oh, yeah. It stands a real, yeah. Yeah, there's been a few of those guys. Yeah. There's not as many of them to love it. Here's Johnny at the brick.

Look at his size. It's just, he's up to the goalie's shoulders. Zoop, there's one. Another guy see it. Curtains. Tail lights. It's not fair. Let's see that kid's birth certificate.

Oh, he's younger. Oh, he's quite a bit younger. Never mind. And then watch the boo behind the net. This is vintage Johnny here. stop whoop there it is

and they double it's like the Dougie Gilmore in the playoffs in Toronto where he does the double fake and then the rap just tremendous this kid from New Jersey all the way to Western Canada

some place called Edmonton to play in a mall it's so sad it's hard it's so many levels I just think of the parents today And how? How do you don't think of the whole family? You know, it's the whole crew, right?

It's the good droves. It is beyond devastating. But and just one small piece of it. I just know as a dad with my kids, I love watching my kids play sports. My oldest boy, he's been out of hockey for a little bit. And my middle guy, he played for a little bit. It wasn't really his thing. But it was hard because one of my favorite things.

I like watching my kids play more than watching the flames or going. to a game. I was, it's, oh, Jay's kids, sports and that, I never bitched on a game day. It's like, I'll drop them off, put his skates on, grab a coffee, get in the stands, hang out with the dads, watch the kids play to not be able

to watch him play. Guy loved it. You talk about all dads love it. Guy was next level. The whole family, they'd be flying out. I remember seeing a clip this morning where it was, they were interviewed by Brennan Parker and one of the writers from Calgary Funers,

a calm, I believe. Maybe Ryan Dietrich, I'm not sure. But it was like, we're excited to be back. It's been two years. You're like, oh, shit, COVID. This family that was so tight couldn't come watch their kid play in Calgary. They said, we're just thrilled to be back in Calgary. It's been two years.

I remember Kelso got Guy, some gear. They were playing beer league. That's right. I remember you see if Guy out there? I mean, it was part of the. That's their culture. And part of the family and the community. And it was, it's why it all hurt.

When he left it's why it's why it hurts. today for well it's in calgary hasn't played there for a long time it's why it feels like it does is because of that i i'm sure there's a lot of families that have been here to watch their kids play and not a peep yeah not that it doesn't mean anything but it just the the relationship that was built between the city the fan base the team and the and the parents and maybe it's because gie is gie and he well some of it is they're willing to engage and have fun with it and enjoy it so yes there'd be a lot of people that wouldn't want to be engaging with it. I asked, because that's just off the top of my head,

that no one has worn 13 since Johnny left. I think it's safe to say no one will wear it again. Correct. Yeah, and I think by design it wasn't worn last few years. Yeah, and you know what, no one's on 14 since Theo. I wonder, is it just an unspoken, no one wears 13 within closed doors, or is there a time where 13 goes up when the emotions come down a little bit. Yeah.

And there's layers to it, right? It's like, are you retiring the player? Are you remembering a tragedy in someone very important to you? Is it all those things? If he's top five in team points. Yeah. It's not crazy. Despite leaving in a, yeah, with eight years there.

And all those other names that you mentioned in that four, yeah. Either should be retired or are forever. But you're right, because he's got the compelling case. it's not as early a departure, if I'm correct, as like a Gilmore, McKinness Newendike, who were phenomenal players. It was the bulk of his prime.

He was over a point per game. But it would have been something you dealt with when he's 36 or 7 and retired. But now that he's gone, it's like, what do you do? Because are you just putting it up because he passed? No, but we weren't going to do this for six, seven years. But I think they don't do it. It's not happening next year.

Oh, no. I think down the road, if you're top five, at some way, I don't know what the policy is. The protocols, the ring of honor or doing the, putting the jersey up, but it'll be one or the other. And no one wears the number. For sure, no one wears the number. But I do wonder if the day comes when, and it's a long ways from today,

where the family can come back. I hope so. And have a night. Be celebrated by the city that they have. loved and loved them so much. It'll happen. When? I'm trying to think,

is it morbid that I'm wondering, but when it was the last example, we saw a professional athlete in their prime, not post-retirement, because tragically we see that too early, especially the NFL with head injuries and such, but when did we see someone in their professional athletic career prime pass?

Payne Stewart. Pain Stewart on a flight. It's a good question. And I'm, Kobe was right after retirement. Jack and I were talking about if we're correct. Um, you know, it's, it's not common. It's Pellie Lindbergh. Someone brought up to him this morning. I see it in the chat now and that was tragedy for the flyers. Because he has just won the Vesna. Finally had a goalie and that's it's been a curse in Philly forever. But it's just where do you, there's no handbook on protocols. Like, okay, now when you're super, like, this is supposed to happen. That's why it's so shocking to all of us. This isn't supposed to happen. Yeah. It's. It's. It. It. there's no words. You know, I, when we were texting last night,

it feels like we should do a show. Yeah, we should do a show. I don't know what we're going to say. That's what I was like. Just kind of sit and look at each other and do it. Sure too bad. Yep, sure too.

I don't really know what you say, but it feels, it does feel like it's something that, I don't know, I think we had to do it. It feels, it feels right. The,

locomotive hockey team in the KHL. Some people are bringing up that to similar tragedy, but to another level because so many lives are involved. But I mean, I'm just trying to think of the lens of North American pro sport. It doesn't need to be that. But I just, I don't have good comparisons on what anyone's supposed to do or how we're supposed to feel or what we would compare it to.

This is just devastating. I mean, you know, my wife is weepy all day because of this. I'm like, you never. Yeah, it's crazy. It's affecting people. A lot of my family members are like, ooh. Yeah. He touched a lot of lives.

Yeah. If you like hockey in general, globally, you know who Johnny Goodrow was. Yeah. If you were a fan and you lived in North America, you definitely followed and saw a bunch of his highlights. Locally, he was the guy. He was a super son. Or as long as he was here. So he touched a ton of lives.

And if you loved hockey, maybe if you were just hot and cold. towards hockey. There'd be some fans in this city that became pretty big flame fans. Yeah. After he put a jersey. God, there were so many 13s a year in. He was just, it had taken over like, that's our star. That's the jersey you buy.

Anytime he's on the ice. And that connection with kids to everybody. He was the guy that made you, how do you, how do I word it? He made you a fan of Johnny Goddrow, even if we weren't a fan of hockey. Yeah. Because you could watch that and go, that's exciting. I really like to watch this is fun. Yeah.

That's a star. Yeah. That is a star. But the flames lose, I don't care because I'm a fan of that and that guy and how he plays and the fact that he is of that stature and is out there with the best of the best, doing it that way. There was a comment. Brian Burke posted some comments.

He says, my heart goes out to the Godreau family after the tragic loss of Johnny and Matthew. I was lucky enough to have Johnny with the Calgary Flames and USA Hawking. It cannot be overstated. just what a joy it was for everyone involved to have Johnny Goddrault on their team. First and foremost, Johnny was always the first to raise his hand to give back to his community. When we had any charity requests, we always knew he would say yes, without hesitation. His love of his family, friends, and alma mater was always apparent and was clearly the driving force in his life. What I will remember most was his happiness, enthusiasm, and kindness that radiated out through the locker room every day.

There are a few players in hockey history who matched his passion and love for the game of hockey, His talent on the ice was enhanced, not diminished by the fact he was having fun out there. The entire Godreau family is in our thoughts and prayers as they navigate this incredibly difficult times. Many nice words said, Brad Burke put a bow on it there. There's none more concise and heartfelt than that. Family is that North Star. It's probably why if at the beginning there was any trepidation in coming to Calgary. It's far from home, far from mom and dad.

It's near Saminar. brother so by samanam i think and then the decision to leave knowing what we know and it's listen it's to get closer to family we kind of joke well how close is columbus it's closer it's it's it's all about family it was always about family closer and i don't know that that was the objective yeah but it's end up in columbus yeah um we shot we saw the first goal uh we can take a look at his biggest goal. There are, there's been some big ones in flames history. I think we all remember. The thing is, you remember Theo sliding across center, scoring an overtime? They lost. They lost that series. The next game, lost that series. Let's take a look and then I guess

we'll, we'll decide where it sits in flames floor. He's a pass to Lino. Stop by Alpshire, took off line. He pairs off with his buddy Kachuk, a little give and go, Goodroll will walk out first, get the first chance out in the slot, and there's the initial chance. But this is a smart goal scorer's goal, you know, from a bad angle, just strode towards the net after Lynn Holmo with the initial chance. And Goodrow just knew that, you know, is still retreating back to the post. And it speaks to him. You know what he did there? That's a Johnny goal.

Yeah, it is. Shortside shelf. He scored a bunch of them like that. Anybody else does that? What are you shooting from there? You see it now? more, but he was one of the guys that brought it in. Just take it, look, make a play. You're just

turning the puck over. What do you, what are you shooting that for? With him, it's because I can put it there. There's a chance. So there again, you heard a couple things. Well, they're off to round two. Yeah. Bring on Battle of Alberta. So yes, things were, it was short-lived euphoria. But what a night.

There's not many Game 7 overtime winners in any franchise's history. But, I mean, I think it was it, Joel Otto in 89 against the Canucks after Mike Vernon made all those saves. did your game seven in round one against Vancouver go o'ampton blanking old and so there's another I mean it immediately become like in the in that moment

the magnitude of the goal like Ottinger was just was he 970 goalie or something he's like what do we have to do to score on this jerk and Markstrom makes a huge save on a breakaway and it was like how many overtimes are we going to play here this is insane and then from an impossible angle a Johnny goal indeed on a shot you shouldn't or don't think you're going to score on or most don't think it's a goal scorer's goal is was it uh yeah Greg millen Greg millin says yeah the gel in a goal against the Canucks it I think it's got more

cachet because of we know what happened next well and prior right prior don't forget there's no success change the subject though there's no success but there was also a tying goal with four seconds that's yeah right yeah so you remember that do you I do yeah yeah wondered if maybe you would. So that's, now he would have scored. I'm trying to think that wouldn't have been his last goal as a flame. I'm sure he scored to the oil. They scored nine in game one against Edmonton.

I'm not going to revisit the rest of the series. I would be stunned if he didn't have one of the nine in that game, never mind the next four games where they scored probably less than nine goals combined. Although Gras was Anderson did score from his old ring outline. Today's not the day for that, right? It really isn't. Yeah, today is not the day for that whatsoever. And with him too, and I think of this guy today is Sean Monaghan, who is one of his best friends on and off the ice.

Yeah, if you show me that video of them hugging after that one. I don't even like to think about it right now. Yeah, it's hard to do. And the chemistry that they had on the ice and off the ice and then the Gatorade bottle. The Purple Gatorade became a thing. and all of that. They were the dynamic duo for sure for this team for a long time. And people forget that year, 2022, that line was far and away the best line in hockey.

Gochuk, Lindholm, Goddrow. It was an absolute force of nature. I think they set records for even strength points in a season. and it was wild how just, you know, some very good parts came together and were something so much greater than each of them individually. They all hit 40 goals, 115 points for Johnny. They were absolutely magical to watch. And it wasn't the only line that he played on that was like that. They had a Monahan Lindholm, Johnny Line.

The first year Lindholm came and they put him on right wing. He was a huge, huge piece of this team being relevant for the better part of a decade. I see you've got a clip there, Jack. Is it, uh, there's just, uh, Monahan on the What Chaos podcast, just kind of talking about, you know, getting the opportunity. Three days ago, I believe. Johnny, yeah, that's, that'd be great. Johnny's one of my best friends and I think, uh, I mean, to go full circle kind of start

when I was 18, 19 with him and, I mean, come back to be able to play with him again is, is pretty cool. And I mean, we both have sons that are two or three months apart. So they get to kind of grow up together. breaks your heart thanks to the uh and credit to the what chaos great podcast those guys do um yeah there's there's just so many layers to this tragedy and it's that anytime someone is tragically killed there are family members and people that are you know their lives are horribly affected forever this one's just so front and center as to the and far reaching

So far reaching. We saw Mike Trout reach out. Another New Jersey product. LeBron James mentioned Johnny this morning. I mean, this is not just a pro. I don't like this. Oh, man. For those just listening, we're composing ourselves.

Yeah. Well, we went for 50 some odd minutes, which is kind of better. And I didn't completely break down a couple of times there. So I'm not sure. What else there is to say? Just keep the gadreau family in your thoughts. That's heartbreaking stuff.

And, you know, you always hear it, you know, hug your family and that. But above all else, it's life's precious. They were out hanging out the day before there's, for a wedding. Yeah. And here we are. But who was it?

Was it Winnie the Pooh? who said, don't be sad, it's over, be thankful it happened or whatever. Is that Winnie the Pooh? I'm not sure. Someone wise like Winnie that makes sense, yeah. But there's a lot of memories, right? Which is why it hurts so bad. You don't have to think about all of the moments that you had to celebrate because of him

and his ability at what he did for that fan base. You just saw the fans and the stands, what the one fraction of a second, what he was able to do, the joy that it gave to people. A parking lot with tens of thousands of people in it. It's hard to see it today. It's hard to see it today. But he's one of the greatest players that this franchise has ever seen. One of the best players in the National Hockey League,

great guy, beloved by so many, and will be terribly missed. It goes without saying. And I said it earlier, just kind of off the cuff. And if somebody, if, well, he doesn't even play for the flames. it feels like he's a fly you've lost them all over again that'll do it see you guys