At the end of Blue Jackets practices since the start of training camp, the team has finished with a sprint around the rink called the "Johnny Skate."
The players stand at one end of the rink and one of them, chosen by the coaches, shoots the length of the ice at an open net. A goal means the team skates one lap around to close out practice. A miss means three laps. One and three, representing the No. 13 worn by Johnny Gaudreau prior to the tragedy that took his life and the life of his younger brother, Matthew, as they biked near their hometown Aug. 29 in Oldmans Township, New Jersey.
Monday morning at Nationwide Arena, the "Johnny Skate" got a new twist. Rather than a player shooting the puck, it the Gaudreau brothers' father, Guy, who put on a Blue Jackets track suit and went through practice with them as an honorary coach.
"We said (to Guy), ‘Do you want to shoot on the net?' and he goes, 'Yeah, and I’ll miss it on purpose,'" Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said, chuckling. "So, I said (to the team), ‘Full disclosure, guys, Guy said this,' and Guy said, ‘I told him I’m going to miss on purpose, so you guys have to skate.'"
The result was Blue Jackets players zipping around the perimeter of the rink with a pep in their step as their beloved teammate's father clacked a stick on the ice and encouraged them: "Come on, boys, skate!"
After they did, the entire team gathered for a photo with Guy Gaudreau right in the middle.
"I've been told that Johnny Gaudreau was a rink rat," Evason said. "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. (Guy Gaudreau) just wanted to be on the ice. He just wanted to be here. ... He just loves the game, loves hockey and it was a joy to have him out there."
Guy Gaudreau gets early start at practice with Columbus Blue Jackets
The coaching staff, including Gaudreau, convened before practice. Gaudreau already had on his track suit, hockey gloves and skates when goalie coach Niklas Backstrom started heading to the ice for pre-practice work with Elvis Merzlikins and Daniil Tarasov.
"Where ya going, Nick?" Gaudreau asked.
Before long, Backstrom had a second coach heading to the rink with him. They were the first two guys on the ice, followed by Merzlikins and Tarasov.
"I was watching the goalies shoot, and I was watching him," Evason said of Gaudreau. "He was skating around, talking to different players, and he just loved being on the ice. Then, afterwards, he was telling stories about running the rinks that he ran (near Philadelphia), and I chatted with him a bit about when I met with Johnny (in the summer), and he'd skated with Johnny. I said, ‘Yeah, Johnny said you work him pretty hard,’ and he was like, ‘Oh yeah,’ and he was very serious. He was like, ‘I had him up and down the ice.’ He calls them ‘wallies’ or whatever they were doing that morning.”
Gaudreau didn't put the Blue Jackets through any 'wallies,' but he stayed on the ice from the very start to the very end of practice. He also had a question for Evason afterward.
"On the ice, it just looked like he was having a blast, just having fun skating," Evason said. "We finished practice, come in, and I said to him, 'Anytime you want to come out, you're more than welcome,' and he said, 'Are you having a morning skate tomorrow?' I said, 'Yeah.' So, he's coming out (Tuesday) as well."
Columbus Blue Jackets to honor Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Gaudreau before home opener
That morning skate will be the Jackets' final preparation for their home opener Tuesday night against the Florida Panthers, when the Gaudreau brothers will be honored during a pre-game ceremony and fans will be given No. 13 patches like those the Blue Jackets are wearing on their jerseys all season.
It's going to be an emotional night for everybody in the building. It will also be a chance for Blue Jackets fans to voice their support for the Gaudreaus and let them know how much their sons meant to hockey, in general, and Columbus, in particular. Johnny Gaudreau is revered here for picking the Blue Jackets to sign with in 2022 as a free agent.
It will be poignant, especially for Erik Gudbranson and Sean Monahan, who each got to know Gaudreau's family while they played with Johnny as Calgary Flames.
"(Guy) came up to me the first time I met him (in Calgary) and he just said, 'I'm really happy you're here, you fit in on this team really well and I love your game. ... Keep playing really hard. You're really helping us,'" defenseman Erik Gudbranson said. "That stuck with me, and he's been the same for the last three years. He's a very positive person, and it wasn't just with Johnny."
Guy Gaudreau, Columbus Blue Jackets healing through hockey
Monday's practice wasn't the first time Gaudreau skated with an NHL team since the tragedy. He has also helped the Philadelphia Flyers , the team his sons grew up loving, during multiple practices. He also has a standing offer to attend Flyerss' skates from former Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella.
Tuesday's pregame celebration of the Gaudreau brothers' lives will technically be the second of its kind at Nationwide Arena.
The Blue Jackets also honored them with a pregame video and 13 seconds of silence prior to their first home preseason game against the St. Louis Blues. The Jackets' preseason also provided a different way of honoring Gaudreau during postgame victory celebrations in the locker room.
Their new postgame "player of the game" award is a gray and white donkey hat , with donkey ears and tail, and it features Gaudreau's No. 13 on the side. Sean Monahan, Gaudreau's longtime close friend who signed with the Blue Jackets on July 1 with the intention of reuniting with him, wore it first after the Blue Jackets stunned the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday in Denver.
"If you knew John, he'd probably called you a 'donkey' before," Monahan said. "That was his word. He called me a donkey probably a million times, so it's just a little something to remember him after wins."
Skating through practice with Guy was also memorable, for Monahan and the entire team.
"It's nice," Monahan said. "He gets to live what his son did. It obviously brings emotions. It's nice to have him here in good spirits, and it's always nice to see Guy's face."
bhedger@dispatch.com
@BrianHedger
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ahead of Columbus Blue Jackets' home opener, Johnny Gaudreau's dad joins team at practice
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