As a young man, Guy Gaudreau was an ice hockey and soccer star at Norwich University in Northfield, Vt. and was one of the state’s most prolific forwards in both sports at North Country Union High School in Newport.
A member of the Vermont Sports Hall of Fame and the Norwich Athletic Hall of Fame, he excelled at ice hockey, scoring 118 goals in high school and 88 at Norwich, where he graduated with a physical education degree in 1979.
He then brought his love of hockey to South Jersey, where he and his wife Jane settled down and raised four children: Johnny, Matty, Kristen and Katie. And Gaudreau almost single-handedly brought the sport to the area, at Hollydell Ice Arena in Washington Township and Gloucester Catholic High School in Gloucester City, coaching the Rams to a South Jersey championship in 2010, with sons Johnny and Matty playing starring roles.
“Hollydell opened in 1992 and Guy was the hockey director,” NHL announcer Jim Jackson told a capacity crowd of 2,500 people during a remembrance ceremony for the Gaudreau brothers at Hollydell on Sept. 13. Johnny and Matty were both killed on Aug. 29 by an alleged drunk driver as they rode bikes in their Salem County hometown, plunging the ice hockey world in grief.
“When Johnny and Matty came along, it was a home away from home for them,” NHL announcer Jim Jackson told a capacity crowd of 2,500 people during a remembrance ceremony for the Gaudreau brothers at the arena on Sept. 13.
“This rink has been a home for our family for many years,” noted Katie Gaudreau, the sister of Johnny, 31, and Matty, 29. “We will always know it will be there for us,” she added, referring to Hollydell’s renaming of its Futures rink to Gaudreau Rink.
The brothers learned the game as youngsters from their father at the arena and practiced and played there with the champion Gloucester Catholic team. Hollydell is also the home ice for Rowan University’s men’s and women’s ice hockey teams, as well as high-school teams that include Washington Township, St. Augustine Prep and Clearview.
“Guy Gaudreau built this program,” offered township Police Chief Patrick Gurcsik as he waited for the remembrance ceremony to begin. “My son played ice hockey here. Guy taught all the Washington Township kids.”
The parking lots at the hockey complex – which also includes Hollydell North across the street on Holly Dell Drive – were filled an hour before the ceremony, which preceded the Philadelphia Rebels versus Northeast Generals game.
During warmups, the home team Rebel players wore jerseys with the numbers 13 and 21 for Johnny and Matty, and had the name Gaudreau printed on the back. Coming out of the locker room with their regular jerseys, they solemnly lined up as a team on the back line as the ceremony began.
When the Gaudreau family and close friends came onto the rink, they were welcomed by a rousing round of applause from the crowd, punctuated by the Rebels banging their sticks on the ice. Emcee Jackson opened by thanking the team for wearing the jerseys honoring the two brothers during the skate around. He then asked for 34 seconds of silence, the total of the numbers on the late brothers’ jerseys, and the arena was quiet as more than a few tears were shed.
“Johnny and Matty made lifelong friends here, and several of the men are sitting on the ice now,” Jackson noted. “They never stopped coming here to visit Hollydell when they came home.”
Jackson then asked the crowd to let the family know “how much we thank them and how much they have meant to us.”
The answer was deafening, as the arena erupted during an incredible standing ovation.
The next speaker was owner Jim Mackey, who said, “The Guadreau brothers are an inspiration to everyone at Hollydell. They took pride in their South Jersey roots, and when they came back, they engaged with our community. They were approachable and kind.”
Mackey said that all the youngsters at Hollydell start on the Futures rink, and that it will now be known as the Gaudreau Rink. “In the midst of an awful situation, the next generation will learn on a sheet of ice named after Johnny and Matty.”
Four Rebels then skated onto the ice and presented flowers to the family members, including Guy and Jane Gaudreau.
Grieving will be a difficult process for the parents who lost their two boys, but they know they have the support of the Hollydell community.
Guy Gaudreau taught his sons well, as “Johnny Hockey” went on to be a seven-time National Hockey League All Star and Matty played in the American Hockey League before returning to South Jersey to coach the Philadelphia Rebels and the Gloucester Catholic Rams.
Their legacy will continue to live on as Johnny’s wife, Meredith, is expecting their third child and Matty’s wife, Madeline, is expecting their first child.
But for now there is an emptiness, and sadness, at the Hollydell Ice Arena and throughout the ice hockey world. Two young men were taken from their families way too soon.
Billy Sheridan, one of the Philadelphia Rebels presenting flowers to the family, gets a hug from Guy Guadreau.
