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Columbus Blue Jackets, fans honor Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Gaudreau with emotional vigil
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- Columbus Blue Jackets, fans honor Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Gaudreau with emotional vigil
Some let their candles burn until the end, until their flames were extinguished into a pile of hot wax that dripped onto their fingers and dried there like frozen tears.
Blue Jackets fans who gathered for a vigil Wednesday outside Nationwide Arena waited until a solitary bagpiper played the last notes of "Amazing Grace" before quietly and sadly filing away into the night. A group also descended upon a memorial that has adorned the arena's east entrance, and grown in size, for the past week with placed hockey sticks, homemade signs, jerseys, pucks and purple Gatorade.
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Once more, they paid homage to Blue Jackets forward Johnny Gaudreau and his younger brother, Matthew, two brothers from South Jersey who loved their families dearly, played hockey passionately and enjoyed making people smile – very likely in that order. Johnny, 31, and Matthew, 29, were killed last Thursday night by a driver who admitted to police he'd been drinking alcohol prior to a collision he caused while attempting to pass two vehicles on a two-lane road.
It's a tragedy, simply put, and it's sad in more ways than anybody wants to count up. It has rocked the NHL and the sports world in general, as a harrowing reminder that even beloved famous athletes are like the rest of us. They're human. They lead full lives, have families they adore, teammates as extended family, countless friends and former coaches who helped them get to the top. They have an ability to touch many via their notoriety, but they're not invincible.
Mourners gather at Nationwide Arena for a candlelight vigil to remember Columbus Blue Jackets forward Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew Gaudreau.
Johnny Gaudreau was one of them, and the team's vigil Wednesday that honored him and his brother was a powerful reminder. Life is fleeting and fragile, even for them, and no place in the NHL knows that more than Columbus, which is mourning again. Only two years after Gaudreau stunned the NHL by signing with the Blue Jackets and three years after goalie Matiss Kivlenieks was killed in a tragic July 4th fireworks incident , a city that still holds "Kivi" dear to its heart is now grieving for the Gaudreau family.
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It's not even close to fair.
In fact, it's almost unfathomable that one team, one city and one fan base must endure that kind of heartache more than once, let alone in such a short span. But they gathered in droves Wednesday, forming a sea of Gaudreau jerseys that filled a plaza.
After listening to emotional words and memories from Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell, captain Boone Jenner , alternate captain Erik Gudbranson and center Cole Sillinger , a crowd that likely surpassed 1,000 in number fell silent. Candles were lit, daylight faded and a video showing scenes from the Gaudreau brothers' lives flashed on a large screen across the street.
It showed them playing hockey, celebrating weddings, dancing, laughing, smiling. The accompanying silence was supposed to last exactly 13:21 to reflect each brother's jersey number, but most stayed mum for longer despite one guy's attempt to spark a "Johnny Hockey!" chant.
Alyssa Griffin of Reynoldsburg stands for 13 minutes and 21 seconds of silence during a candlelight vigil to remember Blue Jackets forward Johnny Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew Gaudreau. The time was symbolic of the brothers' jersey numbers.
Soon, the bagpiper played. Candles illuminated the evening. Tears streamed down cheeks.
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The ceremony came to an end with the words of John H. McConnell II, son of majority owner John P. McConnell, and then a hush again took over. Small groups filed out, almost all wiping their eyes. Some stayed and locked their arms around each other. Others still faced the video screen, transfixed by the ongoing slideshow until their flames, too, burned out.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets, fans remember Gaudreau brothers at touching vigil
