Jerry York, Greg Brown Remember Lives and Legacies of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau
Former Boston College men’s hockey head coach Jerry York and current Eagles head coach Greg Brown spoke to the media on Friday to remember the lives and legacies of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, who were killed on Thursday night after being struck by a vehicle while riding bikes in N.J.
“It’s hard to put into words,” said Brown. “The Gaudreau family is so close, they’re so tight. So many people here that were affected by them, their teammates, everybody. The fact that they were together is horrific but ironic because they were that kind of family.”
Brown, who was the associate head coach from 2012-18, spoke on what the two were like during their time at Chestnut Hill.
“They brought a ton of joy to the rink,” said Brown. “They were happy to be here, like truly happy to be here. Big smiles all the time. The things they could do on the ice, that’s what people who don’t know them remember because they were both magical in their own ways but everyone just loved having them on the team, they were tremendous teammates. They light up the room when they came in. We’ve had lots of brothers at BC but when you had those two in the room, it’s just everything was amped up and they carried that joy that they had for life and for being teammates onto the ice and you could see it by the way they played.”
The third-year head coach even shared a memory he was told from their parents on how Johnny learned to skate when he was younger.
“That’s how they got him to get around the ice, I think he would chase skittles,” said Brown. “He wasn’t in love with hockey when he was little but he would chase the skittles because he liked those. His diet was never that of a world-class athlete.”
York, who was the Eagles head coach from 1994-2022, spoke highly of the two and said that they are among his favorite players while coaching at The Heights.
“Both amazing players and people all talk about Johnny as [an] Olympic player and world class, but just as someone to raise the level your practice to be Johnny Hockey but not wear that label,” said York. “Well respected by all the students here, the teachers, and by Greg and I. If you asked us to name our favorite players, they’ve got to be, both boys are going to be among them.”
York talked about the dynamic he saw between the two when they were both a part of the Eagles team.
“Johnny was a magical [player] but Matty, his compete level and he pushed his brother so much that they had a great bond between them but I think part of the reason that Johnny was so good, not Greg and myself here, but the younger brother pushing him hard like that. It was a fun dynamic to watch,” said York.
Both coaches shared what they learned from the brothers by how they presented themselves and acted as student-athletes.
“Absolutely, every day. Not just hockey skills but how they handled themselves and Father Tony is always talking about [how] you wanna be great on the ice but you don’t wanna to act great off the ice and just be a regular. They’d walk around the campus and everybody was in awe because of the brother, Johnny, but he was just ‘hello’ and very polite. He handled fame extremely well and he did at the NHL level too. He was always a great teammate.”
“Very grounded,” said Brown. “Had special abilities but that was just their thing and didn’t put them in any special light. Treated every one of their teammates like a brother.”
KIM RANKIN