A stick tap to 'Johnny Hockey'
Countless lives were changed when an apparently drunk driver mowed down Johnny Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew, as they rode their bikes on a quiet road in New Jersey.
I’m angry and sad and I’m not sure anything said here will change anyone’s mind or will change their behavior, though I hope it does.
But I’m still compelled to mourn and rage over the senseless deaths of Columbus Blue Jackets forward Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew, who were killed on a road in Oldmans Township, N.J. while they were out for a bike ride Thursday night, a day before they were going to be groomsmen in the wedding party of their sister Katie.
We use the words “disaster” or “devastating” too often in sportswriting to describe a badly located pitch that’s hit for a home run, an apparently easy catch that’s fumbled short of the goal line, or a defensive mistake that allows an opponent to score. Let’s be clear: those are setbacks. Obstacles. Mistakes. They’re frustrating and vexing and maybe they contribute to a loss, but they often can be reversed or overcome in the next inning or next game or next week. No one dies because of a missed tag or a dropped fly ball or a double fault.
The deaths of 31-year-old Johnny Gaudreau, a New Jersey native and the father of two young children, and 29-year-old Matthew Gaudreau a former college and minor league hockey player who was to become a father for the first time in December with his wife Madeline, are truly devastating, a disaster to several families that lost a brother, a son, a father, a husband, a friend, a happy future. In addition, the NHL lost a dynamic player whose enthusiasm and skill earned him the nickname “Johnny Hockey,” a five-foot-nine, 163-pound tornado who succeeded in a league where size and muscle are highly prized.
And all because Sean M. Higgins, who admitted to police that he’d consumed “five or six beers” before getting behind the wheel of his SUV and was drinking while driving, found it inconvenient to remain behind a couple of cars that had given the Gaudreau brothers a wide berth to safely pass them on County Route 551 around 8:20 that night. Higgins couldn’t wait a second or two or three, whether because he was impatient or his thought processes were impaired. He decided to pass those cars on the right. He plowed into the two brothers, who were pronounced dead at the scene.
On Friday, in his first appearance in Salem County Court, Higgins seemed annoyed that the Labor Day holiday weekend would prolong his wait for his detention hearing. “So, I’m here until Thursday?” he reportedly said with an exasperated sigh. He should be in jail past Thursday, and the Thursday after that, and every Thursday to come for decades.
At some point, information will emerge about where and how much Higgins was drinking before he drove. Was he at home? At someplace public, where someone might have seen him drink those “five or six” beers and might have questioned whether he should have gotten behind the wheel? Did anyone suggest he instead call Uber or Lyft or phone someone for a ride? Did that occur to him?
Even if someone did advise him not to drive, it was his ultimate decision to start that SUV, to continue drinking while he drove, and to make that fatal attempt to pass the cars in front of him before he struck the Gaudreau brothers. Actions have consequences.
The consequences in this case should be severe, and not simply because the Gaudreaus were professional athletes or by any measure famous. They were human beings whose lives were ended callously and carelessly by someone who had too much to drink and made a series of terrible and irrevocable choices, someone whose impatience and arrogance forever changed the lives of too many people.
Gaudreau was more than the sum of his hockey statistics. He consistently overcame the limitations of his size, winning the Hobey Baker award in 2014 while at Boston College (awarded to the top player in college hockey) and winning the Lady Byng trophy in 2017 as “the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability."
He spent nine seasons with the Calgary Flames before he signed as a free agent with Columbus in 2022, a city he picked because it was a shorter distance to his family and the family of his wife, Meredith, a Jersey girl.
Meredith published some photos on Instagram on Saturday, heartbreaking reminders of a man who always seemed to be smiling. Hockey fans could sense his kindness: many left flowers and other remembrances of him outside the Calgary Saddledome and Nationwide Arena in Columbus. Amid flowers, some visitors left packages of Skittles, his favorite candy, or bottles of purple Gatorade, The Flames posted a tribute video. So did the Blue Jackets. Teammates, former teammates, and friends posted favorite photos and videos of him. So did fans.
Higgins was charged with two counts of death by auto. The website NJ.com obtained a full copy of the complaint.
You’d like to think that this tragedy might inspire someone to be less impatient on the road. To be more cognizant of the dangers of driving after drinking too much. To take time to call a friend or use a ride-share app instead of getting behind the wheel if they’re not in full control of their faculties. I fear it won’t change enough minds, because so many drivers seem so impatient and apparently don’t care that they’re putting others’ lives at risk by driving while impaired or speeding or making dangerous lane changes out of pure self-interest. So what if you arrive at your destination a few minutes late.
I’m angry and I’m sad, and I hurt for the Gaudreau family and their loved ones. This will be terrible for them. Because one stupid, apparently intoxicated idiot put himself above everyone else and never considered the awful consequences his decisions would inflict.
My husband had a great suggestion after he and I mourned this terrible tragedy. The NHL could use this as an opportunity. Make it the Gaudreau memorial reminder. Every third period in every building make a public service announcement. Simple-“if you enjoyed alcohol this evening, please avoid driving. “ they could have it sponsored by Uber or Lyft. Show the brothers. Hockey fans will understand. Let this loss help others.
Spot on Helene. It won't change one person. They people who it might affect won't read this.
I understand this loss to my core. My 17 year old brother, who just graduated from High School and was headed to the Air Force Academy, was killed when a drunk driver crossed the center divider and the result head only collision was devastating. My brother's girlfriend was bleeding from superficial cuts. My brother got out if the car, sat on the curb while the paramedics treated her first. My brother then died on that curb from massive crush injuries in his chest. This was 1969, no shoulder belt or airbags. There was probably nothing that could have been done to save him.
I was then T-boned on Easter Sunday 1981, by a drunk and stoned driver running a red light at 85 mph. He got away with a cut lip. I ended up unconscious for hours, my car hit so hard, it took out a light pole and a telephone pole. I had two torn ligaments in my knees, 9 teeth broken off, and 8 more with micro fractures, a grade 3 concussion and a head wound that needed 49 stitches. This accident continues to affect me to this day.
I don't mean to take over your story. But I am as outraged as you. I should have died on that Sunday in 1981. That man needs to be in prison for life. If there were harsher penalties, he deserves it.
But if enough people, hear stories like the Gaudreau's and to a lesser extent mine. Maybe just maybe one person will think about getting behind the wheel drunk. That will be something good. Nothing can cure the heartbreak the Gaudreau family is suffering. Hopefully his legacy will give the young ones a chance to forgive. My mom was never quite the same after she lost my brother.
Please, continue on the important things you do. It means so much to me and others who have felt loss like this.
Godspeed to the Gaudreaus.