Guy Gaudreau joins US team for practice at the 4 Nations Face-Off

MONTREAL (AP) — Guy Gaudreau spoke softly, cracked a joke about how bad a hockey player he was and nodded his head with appreciation. On the lapel of his jacket was a pin honoring the memory of his sons, John and Matt.

Gaudreau thought John — the NHL star known as “Johnny Hockey” — had a chance to play for the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Instead, Dad was at dinner Monday night, in the team picture Tuesday and on the ice for the practice that followed.

“They were good boys, and I miss them a lot,” Gaudreau said. "It means a lot to Jane and I and my daughters to have me involved and the picture with the team. It means a lot.”

The Gaudreau brothers died in late August riding bicycles on the eve of their sister Katie's wedding. USA Hockey has since kept John's No. 13 jersey prominently displayed in the locker room at international tournaments, and the 4 Nations is no different.

“It’s nice that they honor John that way,” Guy said in an interview with The Associated Press and NHL.com after practice at Bell Centre. “I love the game of hockey, and my boys loved the game of hockey.”

Nearly half the roster was teammates with one or both of the Gaudreau brothers over the years, either with the U.S., at Boston College or in the NHL. Dylan Larkin was also close with Johnny off the ice, visiting him at the Jersey Shore around their times together at the world championships.

“He’s just been through the absolute hardest time,” Larkin said. "At a time so difficult, to see a smile and to see him out there when Johnny should be out with us, it’s first class by USA Hockey to do that. It means the world to me that they brought him in. I hope for how difficult of a time, I hope that this was something that he appreciated and enjoyed doing.”

Gaudreau attended dinner with 1980 “Miracle On Ice” players Mike Eruzione and Rob McClanahan and U.S.-born Hall of Famer Mike Modano. That was always the plan, then team officials asked he stay in town to have the family represented in the photo and participating in practice as a guest coach.

“I thought it was important that he was there,” U.S. general manager Bill Guerin said. "Johnny and Matthew were a big part of USA Hockey and a tremendous loss. They’re with us in spirit. I just think it was important that Guy was there. The coaches wanted him out for practice, and the players wanted him in the picture. He’s an amazing guy. We love having him around.”

Philadelphia Flyers coach John Tortorella, a U.S. assistant on Mike Sullivan's staff, first invited Gaudreau to help him at practice in September. A longtime coach in South Jersey, he also spent time on the ice with the Columbus Blue Jackets, John's team, in October.

Being at 4 Nations is another step in the healing process, including the chance for a father to hear stories about his son that he hadn't known about before.

“Chris Kreider, he was telling me how one day he went up to John and asked him for a stick because he was collecting sticks of random players at the time,” Gaudreau said. “John goes, ‘You want one of my sticks?’ ‘Yeah, I want one of your sticks.’ And Chris couldn’t believe how he was so thrown back (by) that, ‘Why would you want one of my sticks?’ He was a good person. He loved the game. He loved his teammates, loved being with his teammates.”

And John was a beloved teammate from BC to Calgary to Columbus. Top U.S. center Jack Eichel said his absence is still front of mind in Montreal.

“It’s something that I think we’re all still continuing to process in being here,” Eichel said. "It’s really special to have Guy here. Obviously, you want to do as well as you can for Matthew and Johnny knowing that they’re watching down on us and they’re here with us.”

Guy Gaudreau said he and his wife always looked at John and Matt as their boys first, not hockey players. Yet he still beams at what they were able to achieve in the sport they loved and the company they kept.

“(John) obviously looked up to some of these guys like, ‘Oh man, this guy’s good, that guy’s good.’ But he always played with them,” he said. “I always thought he was a pretty decent little player, but to be in that kind of caliber — he was in that caliber. It’s pretty cool the players still look up to him and respect him as a player and really wanted him here to be part of their team.”

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