The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Hockey Show: Remembering Johnny Hockey

Episode Date: August 30, 2024

Roy and David are joined by ESPN NHL analyst John Buccigross to discuss the life and career of Johnny Gaudreau. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. Your teen requested a ride, but this time not from you. It's through their Uber Teen account. It's an Uber account that allows your teen to request a ride under your supervision with live trip tracking and highly rated drivers. Add your team to your Uber account today. The Bro scores! This is the hockey show. Bring on the Battle of Alberta! This is the hockey show, my name is Roy Bellamy, David Dwork is here as well We're gonna be joined by John Butchgross to talk about the memory of Johnny Goudreau 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.

That video and sound was courtesy of Sportsnet. That was his series winning goal against the Dallas Stars in 2022 in overtime. And this is just a heartbreaking story and really should not have happened, Dave. This is a tragedy. No, it's tough. We woke up to this awful, awful news today. Not really sure, you know, all the details, but anytime, you know, a young man, 31 years old, way too young, young father, you know, young man 31 years old way too young young father you know two young two young men a family I'm just struggling right now we've talked to we've been talking about this all morning we've been talking about we're

gonna do this show and we're gonna talk about Johnny and Matthew and what happened and I'm just struggling to come up with the words in the moment it's it's hard to fathom I mean I, I've got young kids, you've got a daughter, it's just devastating, it's devastating. Don Bertram-Grasse is also a father, he works for ESPN, he does NHL coverage, and he's followed his career since he was in Boston College, really.

And Johnny Goudreau's career in Boston College was like one for the record books, the national championship, the Hobie Baker Award. John, why don't you tell us a bit about Johnny's career before we get into the details of what happened last night? Yeah, just a sweet kid, grew up in South Jersey, always incredibly tiny and small. 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 18 year old 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 Ferris State in Tampa, they're up two to one late third. So just one of those cool goals that is highlight incredible. You'd laugh at it. It's so amazing. Now there's some amazing plays in sports where your teammates, your peers, cause they know how ridiculous it is and they could never do that laugh. It's kind of like the response. So to the clinch, the championship, to have three minutes to soak it in while you're enjoying this amazing play, to have a little bit of a sense of what's kind of like the response. So 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've been 150 when he left three years later. And I'll never forget looking at Kevin Hayes, who was his teammate and really great friend. Of course, Kevin lost his brother a couple of years ago.

So again, this tragedy just extends. There's so many tributaries and tentacles involved in a tragedy like this. And, uh, and so when you, so when you think of Kevin and you think of people like that, it's a, 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 a hundred and he's like 140 pounds. Yeah. And the look that Kevin gave me was like, dude, you have no idea. play in the NHL. I mean, 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 a player see it in practice before we say it in games, right? Yeah. 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 won a national championship.

Came back another year, could have turned pro after a 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 there would have more self-interest in that. So Matthew comes in 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 he got 80 points in 40 games. He was Connor 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 of the artistry. He was first round talent that way But obviously Scouse did not believe he could play in the NHL. It was a long shot. That's why he was a fourth round pick

Bucci 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 At the pros and four in 2013 said can he play in the league? I mean this kid is tiny You know, it's we're talking a hundred and forty pounds here and it really did remind me of I covered before I got to ESB And I worked in Providence Rhode Island for two years 94 to 96 and that's when I was see Providence the biggest thing in Providence is Providence College basketball priors. And so I went to those games all the time, covered them, highlights reaction after the game. And that obviously meant I got to see Allen Iverson come and play for Georgetown. And it's the same thing. And that's, that's when people ask me who

Johnny Gaudreau's comp is, it's Allen Iverson. It's not another hockey player. Iverson, like Goudreau, was impossibly small, impossibly skinny. And to see him amongst these players in person, like I did with Goudreau, 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. You know, you had to when you're that little. And I remember I had a vote for the Wooden Award that year and certainly voted Allen Iverson easily. And that's who Gadreau was, this impossibly small person who somehow was a freak on the court. You just don't see that very much where the guys the best player at that size very rare.

There's funky stories and whether it's Dustin Pedroia or Mugsy Bogues and they're very effective players, you know, I mean, but Troy wanted 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 baseball does that. But to see Drogh and Iverson at that size dominate, it was something else. It almost kind of reminds you of the line

from the movie Rudy, like you're five feet nothing, a hundred and nothing. Yeah. One of the things aside from his skill on the ice was just his personality. Like you talk 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. 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's face it, people just don't have a lot of kids anymore.

They didn't have one or two. They don't have four or five. And then when you start adding another four or five and then another three or four, you know, he had two young children kind of quickly. So maybe he was gonna have four or five. And you just picture this beautiful, loving, gigantic family every summer on the beach in South Jersey, just loving life and 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 two girls and his parents and that that's what they, he had as a siblings, you know, the brother and two sisters, family of four. That's what I had family before 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. And so yeah, just he just pictures 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 and he goes, Hey, Bootsy, 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 recognized in Canada too much. Occasionally it was Johnny Gaudreau. I mean, he literally looked like he was 14 years old.

At this point, he's an established player in the league, couple years in Calgary. And there he was, just kind of with a baseball hat and dark clothes on, and it was kind of at night. And it was like, hey, Bucci, what's up? He's like, hey, good to see you. Johnny? It was just very unassuming, but own man you know when he was a free agent

everyone thought he was going to go back and sign with the Flyers sign with New Jersey nope he felt like Columbus was the place for him you know and uh that's where 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 bred Jersey Jersey born. He didn't sign with New Jersey, he decided to sign with Columbus. Then he took less money to sign with Columbus, but be as close as possible to his wife's family, right?

Yeah, you know, but maybe he felt like that was too close, right? He could have signed with the Devils, really good team. 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. He probably felt like that situation didn't look great. Maybe he felt like Columbus was a little more, you know, with prospects and stuff or maybe a better shop. But maybe he felt like that was too close to be home, right? Maybe he felt like he would have been smothered. And once they 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 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. 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 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 that's something I wanted to find out exactly. What was the biggest reason? You always want to protect yourself and protect your decision at the time. People don't happen 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, trying another new era in Columbus this year. Monahan was coming on his buddy. And you just wondered if they were then going to start to turn the corner. Monahan was coming on his buddy, and you just wondered if they were then going to start to turn the corner.

He was kind of going to have a big decade in his 30s that would have got him to the Hall of Fame. You kind of look at him, he probably would have been a 1200-gameplay, 1200-point guy as Columbus got good again. 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. So this is an

international he would have been on the Olympic team, you know, college player international NHL, look at the Hall of Fame type of player. So again, that's the least important thing today but just to give people an idea the trajectory that he was probably on and what his What he was in the game what how he was looked upon and what his state was and Stationed 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? a story like this. Last night there were rumors circulating around what eventually

happened. The medical examiner apparently took pictures of his notes and sent it into a group chat and then all of a sudden boom is circulating on social media. Tim Peel 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. But that was it. I mean, outside of that, it was just speculation. It was just rumors.

So as a journalist, how do you wade through those waters? Yeah, I got a text last night at 11 30 from someone who I know and we're on the phone and I had yet to hear from it. I had gone, I went to bed about 11 15 Eastern time and I was like, I was tired, had a long day. And so I jumped into bed and read my Thomas Jefferson biography by John Meacham that I've been reading at night before I fall asleep. And just have a look at my phone one more time. But been doing the good habit recently, I put the phone over my dresser, keep it there. Let's fall asleep. It's got a good night's sleep. Don't keep it in bed with you, you know. And so I

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 they called me and then that's when I heard about, yeah, there's these rumors and someone tweeted out that Johnny Goudreau was involved in an accident. He and his brother are dead and we're just, and we're talking and then while we're talking, 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 1140. And like you said, then I went on Twitter and there's nothing there. And obviously people were just a delicate time. And then I saw you mentioned Peel'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, I didn't know about the wedding plans with 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 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, avalanche of news. And that's certainly what happened. And that's the thing. 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 the police pictures that got circulated around and Vanessa Bryant didn't find out until she read that report. And that's, you know, that's,

yeah, the journalism, you know, again, people want to get a story out, they want to get a story out. They want to be first. They feel like there's, I understand that balance of responsibility to information and news, especially now more than ever, but also sensitivity to the family. What is that line?

I'm always gonna lean towards when in doubt, it's not worth the pain of someone else not finding out in a proper fashion. Although in the end, you know, when he's gone, and it may be in the end, that doesn't matter. I don't know, but it probably kind of does. Um, you want that respect, but it's good. In the end, the losses, the loss, and all they do is want that person back right away. Cause at first it's unbelievable.

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, when in doubt, no situations. That just becomes self-serving and a little self-absorbed if you wanna throw something out there. But again, that's what, you know, the thing about Twitter X, one of the positives, 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're kind of you're communicating with people, you're getting through this in real time. It's different, obviously, than when we were younger and before the age of social media. But in some ways, 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 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 when you think about loss, especially when you have children, because there's not a bigger loss than that once you 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 on my career now as I've gone into it deeply. I look at these players like Johnny as you know, they're my sons 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 do all the things that a father would do. So I try to cover them almost like a father. And 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 affection. We have to have forgiveness. We have to love them. We have, we, and of course, 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 Mallory, like he's right in the middle 93 born. And so, so that's why 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've seen them since he was 18 growing up and here he is 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 gonna 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're so proud, as I'm sure his parents were, the same feeling I get now when I look at my adult children as they emerge and evolve.

John, talking about 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 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 gonna be right now? As we're about to start a new season

and something like this happens, just the idea of everybody just kinda needing to lean on each other right now to make it through these very hard times. Yeah, especially the young men, his peers and the wives of these young men as well who see this young woman losing her husband like that. And that's what that's a young person thinks sports are not right. I remember when

you know, Brendan Burke died, the son of Brian Burke in a car accident, coming home on a snowy road trip back to Miami University in Oxford. And I remember going, you know, covering that funeral and writing about it. You know, he had just come out as gay a few months before. And I remember going, you know, covering that funeral and writing about it. 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 in a majority of the way.

And then of course, he had this tragic death after 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, the look on these boys faces, again, these are boys, 18, 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 appear as you do realize, Oh my gosh, life is that precious. Someone, anybody could die any day. Tomorrow, today, next week. You know, my nephew, my mom's oldest grandson, diagnosed 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, like, Oh, my goodness, how scared they were. And they just hadn't been through we've been, you know, in my age, I've been through, I 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 some things get better. Some things never get better. And that's okay. Understanding that too. Hey, you're gonna 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 okay understanding that too. Hey, you're gonna hurt. That's okay to feel that way. It's not gonna get better. That part's not gonna get better. My mom's always gonna miss my dad. Just, that's it. Now she can function a little bit better as she goes on,

but you're not gonna miss him. So understand both of those things. And 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, and to think that their kids will never know their dad. Parents lost two brothers, or two sons, not just even one, they lost half their family last night,

the parents of Johnny and Matthew. You know, 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 self-interest as well. You think about, you know, you're losing your own kids, right? Or losing your own brother and sister.

So it's all those emotions into one giant 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, the hockey player, the families, 20 to 35, but you're right. There's nothing like the hockey community. It's something, it's why why I gravitated to the sport more

and more. I'm sure it's why you guys do you understand there's little secret sauce there of community because it's small, right? It's like a scene 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 always said hockey is, it's that kind of community. It's a 2500 seat concert community, not a football stadium 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 Cadreau who was playing in the East Coast Hockey League for the Worcester Railers, he was having a pretty decent non-elite career as well coming out of Boston College. So again, like Johnny, yeah, he was having a pretty decent non-league career as well, coming out of Boston College. So, again, like Johnny, yeah, he was tiny kid. He got into coaching recently, so I think that's probably would have been his future, coaching a junior team in Jersey. And so, obviously, not quite Johnny's skill,

but played Division I hockey at Boston College. You know, Johnny stayed the extra year so he could play with them. And so, yeah, just, again, that was his guy, right? And that was those tight brothers just two years apart and out for a bike ride last night on a beautiful summer day and 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 don't save any time on short trips. You know, you just don't. And so that obviously, and that's the, again, that's part of the emotions that people process, right? The anger at that person, like what were you thinking? And that's part of this as well, that people are dealing with.

There's sadness, there's disbelief, and then there's a little bit of anger too. So it's a lot. It's a process. The hockey community lost Johnny Goudreau and his brother Matthew and we are devastated about it and we send our condolences to the Goudreau family and we would like to thank John Butcher-Grassford for helping us navigate through all this. John, thank you for joining us. Yeah, thank you for giving Johnny this much 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 doing this today.

guys for doing this today. Audi listeners, it's Mike Ryan. The Dan LeBattard Show started September 1st, 2004. It's a long time ago, 20 years in fact. A lot has changed over that 20 years. But for most of that 20 years, we've had Miller Lite on board as a proud partner. And even though, like I said, so much has changed. Our show has changed, where we've been,

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