Flowers, sticks, bags of Skittles and bottles of purple Gatorade make up a vigil outside Conte Forum, the home rink for "Johnny Hockey" when he and his brother played at Boston College, together, for one season.
A decade later, the deaths of John and Matthew Gaudreau have hit home in the BC hockey community where they made such an indelible impact. They will be laid to rest at a funeral service Monday outside Philadelphia, but their impact on the school in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, will not soon be forgotten, along with everything they did from New Jersey to Calgary to Columbus and beyond.
"Everybody knows how gifted they were on ice, especially Johnny - an all-world type of Olympic player and college All-Star - but both players brought so much excitement to our locker room and to the dormitories and just the academic environment of BC," former coach Jerry York said. "They left tremendous impressions on all of us. We'll miss the hockey exploits they always had with us but more important how they were as young guys."
John was 31 and Matthew 29 when they were struck and killed the night of Aug. 29 while riding bicycles in their home state of New Jersey by a suspected drunken driver on the eve of their sister Katie's wedding. Grief spread the following morning.
"We go into the gym and everyone's got a pit in their stomach," said Cutter Gauthier, who helped BC reach the Frozen Four final this past spring before making his NHL debut with Anaheim. "He obviously had a huge legacy at Boston College. ... To see that, it's really heartbreaking."
