Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella wants to be a source of healing for Guy Gaudreau.
Gaudreau’s two sons, Johnny and Matthew, the former a star for the Columbus Blue Jackets, were killed last month by a suspected drunk driver while riding bikes.
The Gaudreaus grew up outside Philadelphia and were in town for their sister’s wedding, which had been scheduled for the day after their deaths.
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“I never met Johnny and Matt in my travels as coach,” Tortorella told reporters Monday at the Flyers’ complex. “But their family’s here. Horrific situation going on. He’s a coach. He’s done some great work with some of the youth out here. I figured it’s perfect just to get him in with us.”
Tortorella acknowledged Guy was “hesitant at first” to take the longtime coach up on his offer, “and we kind of let him go at his timetable.” But he said the father of the late hockey players has no regrets and could be around in the near future.
“I think it worked out really well today,” Tortorella said. “I gave him my camp book. We’re going to check in next week and see if we can get him out here a couple more times and have him be part of it. I don’t want it to be, ‘Just come out here.’ I want him to be part of it. I think it will be therapeutic for him to be around us and run some drills.”
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Tortorella joked that Gaudreau was giving him a hard time for yelling at players to skate harder during practice.
“A lot of people know him in the organization because of his reputation,” Tortorella said.
“No one can imagine. No one can,” Tortorella, who attended the brothers’ funeral earlier this month, added. “I’m hoping to get to know the family. I think a number of coaches want to get to know the family, the girls, Matt’s family. It’s just horrible what happened. It’s still pretty fresh. It’s here. It’s with us. Down the street. We just want to be part of it and try and help.”
Johnny and Matthew both played hockey at Boston College. Matthew also played hockey for various minor league teams and had been coaching at the brothers’ alma mater, Gloucester Catholic High School, at the time of their deaths.
Johnny, the older of the two brothers, played his first eight seasons for the Calgary Flames, earning the nickname “Johnny Hockey.”
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