The Next Ones

by Michael Traikos

  * * *

  Don’t judge a book by its cover. That’s how Jerry York, the long-time head coach of Boston College, talks about his experience coaching Gaudreau. Of course, York didn’t judge. He’s been around far too long, seen too much, to disregard a player just because of his size. Besides, he likes smaller, skilled players. He is, after all, the coach who gave Mike Cammalleri and Brian Gionta a shot, the coach who trained Nathan Gerbe and Ryan Shannon and Cam Atkinson. He’s been Papa Smurf to a roster full of mite-sized players.

  So when York saw what Gaudreau did at Dubuque in the USHL, he knew Boston College would be a perfect fit. The feeling was mutual. “Boston College is known for their smaller guys and Jerry York did a great job of helping me out,” said Gaudreau. “He made me. At Boston College, I realized that my size wasn’t a downfall to my game; that I should use it to my advantage. I was playing against men. But guys couldn’t hit me if I used my speed and my creativity and made plays. Jerry York is a huge part of why I’m here today.”

  York might have been a believer from the very start. But Gaudreau’s teammates shared the skepticism that has dogged him throughout his career. Gaudreau, whom the Flames had already drafted, showed up to a team meeting in the summer before his freshman season feeling everyone’s eyeballs on him. Not this again, he thought. “One of the captains we had asked me, ‘Is he this good, coach, because he doesn’t look big enough for this level,’” said York. “Sometimes you get fooled by the cover of the book.”

  Once again, Gaudreau proved everyone wrong. He stepped on the ice and the players, who were bigger and better than they had been in the USHL, couldn’t touch Gaudreau. He spun around checks, darted in and out of traffic, and electrified everyone with his moves. “From the first practice, you could tell right away that this was a hockey player,” said York.

  But he still didn’t look like a hockey player. York tried to change that. Gaudreau didn’t have the body type to stand in the ring with the heavyweights or even the middleweights, but there was no reason why he couldn’t add muscle to his tiny frame. That meant introducing him to a place called the weight room. And convincing him that Skittles weren’t technically part of the five food groups.

  “First and foremost, we tried to impress upon him that off-ice conditioning was going to be as important as his on-ice development,” said York. “He used to get so excited when the Zamboni cleaned the ice. He’d say, ‘Hey, the ice is all set, coach.’ We wanted to try to convince him that there’s a weight room too. It’s fresh and it’s clean and all set for him too. Be excited about that. Be excited about planks and bench presses. The next step was to try to get him off Skittles and more toward protein. Again, we weren’t as successful as I wanted. But I think we got him pointed in the right direction.”

  Gaudreau had a banner year, leading all freshmen in scoring with 21 goals and 44 points in 44 games, winning a national title, and earning MVP honours in both the Hockey East Tournament and the Beanpot Tournament. And yet, they came with an asterisk. During the national championship game against Ferris State, Gaudreau scored a highlight reel goal, kicking the puck up to his stick and turning a defender inside out with a deke before roofing a backhand to put the game out of reach. But on the ESPN broadcast, commentators once again called him “tiny” and said, “He looks about twelve years old.”

  It was a familiar refrain. Earlier that year, Gaudreau had been cut from the US World Junior Championship team, despite being one of the best college players in the country. “He went to tryouts in December and we fully expected him to make the team—because we had watched him those first four months as a freshman—but then in the selection process they sent him home,” said York. “I thought he really took it hard and when he came back to our practice sessions, he was even more determined. I think that kind of got him going, boy. ‘If they don’t think I’m good enough, I’m going to show them.’ So you think about it, the next year he’s the best player in the tournament and the year before he can’t make it. That really spurred him. That rejection he took in the right way.”

  The next year, there was no way he was being left off the US team. In fact, on a team that included six first-round draft picks, he was the best player. It was a shock and yet it wasn’t. Gaudreau wasn’t the only undersized player that year. Rocco Grimaldi, his linemate for part of the tournament, was 5-foot-6. “Obviously [Gaudreau] was going to be on our team,” said Phil Housley, who was the head coach of Team USA in 2013. “He was a great player in college and his game continued to grow. I mean, they showed me some video of him before we went on the ice, just to get an understanding of how good he was, but to actually see him live, you could tell that his instincts and hockey IQ were off the charts. I was like, ‘This guy’s special.’ You could tell right away. There was no doubt in my mind. He was a big part of our team. It was just a matter of finding the right people to play with him who would play the game the way he thought.”

  Gaudreau led the tournament with 7 goals in 7 games and helped the US win gold. “He didn’t start out well in the tournament,” said Housley. “I think he had some really good looks to score against Russia and Canada, whom we lost to 2–1 and 2–1 in that tournament. But in the next game he scored and then had a hat trick. And then he just took off. I think he just needed to hit the twine to get some confidence. As a player, you’re squeezing the stick and waiting for something to happen and he made it happen eventually. You have to look at the level of competition. Canada, I think, had fifteen or sixteen first-rounders. Russia had a really strong team. And he was able to find his way through those teams.”

  When Gaudreau returned to Boston College, things continued to click for him. He finished the season with 36 goals and 80 points in 40 games—a 2.00 point-per-game pace that made him the highest scorer in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and easily won him the Hobey Baker Award as the NCAA’s top player. “That was his motivation. ‘I’m going to show these guys that I’m better than they think,’” said York. “He’s not just playing in the World Juniors, he’s playing the world championship and he was one of the best there too. I watch all our players on TV and you watch Johnny play and it’s like, ‘Whoa, he’s become a high-end, high-end player, I’ll tell you, boy.’”

  * * *

  I think the first time I saw John play and thought he had a chance at making it was when he played for the World Juniors. I don’t know how he made that team but he made it and he went over to Ufa, Russia, and I’m watching him play against all these first-round draft picks and he’s one of the best players on that team. And I’m thinking, “Yeah, maybe he has a chance. He might make it. He might prove me wrong.” They won the gold medal and he was the highest scorer on the team and selected to the all-star team and won MVP in three or four games. I’m like, something’s not right here, he’s playing with J.T. Miller and Seth Jones and Jacob Trouba and guys who are going to make the NHL. And he’s on the ice all the time and carrying the team. — Guy Gaudreau

  * * *

  He doesn’t really go by Johnny or Johnny Hockey. Did you know that? To his family and friends and coaches, he is simply John. “Anybody who’s known John since he was a baby or growing up, to our friends, his name is John Michael Gaudreau,” said Guy Gaudreau. “He became Johnny when he went to Boston College. Everyone called him Johnny. They would chant, ‘John-ny! John-ny!’ And it kind of took off from there. And then they started calling him Johnny Hockey.”

  It wasn’t exactly an original nickname. A couple of years earlier, high school quarterback Johnny Manziel had been dubbed “Johnny Football.” By Manziel’s sophomore season at Texas A&M, he was on his way to winning a Heisman Trophy as the best college player. That same year, with Gaudreau on his way to winning the Hobey Baker Award and electrifying the NCAA with highlight-reel goals, fans started calling him “Johnny Hockey.” Whenever he scored a goal at home, the Boston College prep band would play Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.” The nickname took off and soon, it was appearing e
verywhere. The family got concerned. In 2016, they trademarked “Johnny Hockey” in Canada and the United States. “Someone tried to start ‘Johnny Effing Hockey,’” said Guy Gaudreau, purposely leaving out the swear word. “We weren’t too pleased with that. We said we better patent this so people can’t make T-shirts and stuff with this. We didn’t want people using [the name] inappropriately.”

  Call it one of the downsides of Gaudreau’s somewhat unlikely rise to becoming one of the top players of his generation. Back when he was getting cut from festival teams and overlooked by scouts, no one could have seen that Gaudreau would one day trademark his nickname. No one could have seen that he would step into the NHL, skipping the American Hockey League (AHL) completely, and score 64 points as a rookie. Or that he would follow it up by finishing in the top ten in scoring with 78 points in 79 games in his second season.

  “When you see him on the TV and playing and see how they’re talking about him, it’s hard to believe that’s our son,” said Guy Gaudreau. “That it’s the same old John.” Maybe that’s part of the reason why Gaudreau is where he is today. Nothing ever came easy. He always had to prove himself, always had to crawl while others ran, reaching for one Skittle at a time. Because of that, maybe the next kid who is that small and talented won’t have to stuff pucks in his underwear.

  Matt Murray

  Matt Murray does the splits to block Detroit Red Wings’ Dylan Larkin’s shot in a 2018 game. AP Photo/Carlos Osorio

  Pittsburgh Penguins

  » № 30 «

  Position

  Goalie

  Catches

  Left

  Height

  6′4″

  Weight

  178 lb

  Born

  May 25, 1994

  Birthplace

  Thunder Bay, ON, CAN

  Draft

  2012 PIT, 3rd rd, 22nd pk (83rd overall)

  Matt Murray

  When a team wins the Stanley Cup, everybody on the roster—whether it’s the leading scorer or the fourth-line forward or an anonymous scout out in Anchorage, Alaska—gets to spend a day with it. What you do in that day is entirely up to you and your imagination. The only caveat is that you have to bring along a chaperone.

  As one of a few “Keepers of the Cup,” Howie Borrow has seen it all. Over the years, the Cup has survived a soaking under Niagara Falls and being sunk to the bottom of Mario Lemieux’s swimming pool. It’s been inside steam rooms, saunas and showers, and used as a food bowl for kids, dogs and once even a Kentucky Derby winner.

  The first time Phil Kessel won it in 2016, he loaded it up with hot dogs and posted a picture for all the haters who had criticized his questionable eating habits. A year later, Josh Archibald had his three-week-old son baptized in it. And then there was Matt Murray, whose wildest activity involved eating popcorn out of the Cup while watching a movie.

  “It was basically a prop,” Borrow said of the television that was used in a photo shoot of Murray’s day, which was later posted on Twitter. “We set it up like he was watching a movie and somebody said, ‘How can he be watching TV if it isn’t even plugged in?’” As for the rest of the day, “He really didn’t do much at all,” said Borrow. “It was probably the most low-key day with the Cup I’ve ever had.”

  On a Saturday morning in early August, Murray had just finished eating an omelette at the Valhalla Inn in Thunder Bay, Ontario, when he checked the time on his phone. He was going to be late. He quickly paid the bill, hopped into his Range Rover and headed to the airport where Borrow was due to arrive at 10 a.m. from Toronto. As soon as the Cup arrived, Murray had fourteen hours with it. And though his itinerary was light on activities, he still didn’t want to waste a single minute.

  When Murray won the championship a year earlier as a rookie goaltender for the Pittsburgh Penguins, he had let others plan his day with the Cup. His parents had practically invited all of Thunder Bay, whether it was an old teacher he didn’t remember or a former coach he didn’t even know he had. He visited hospitals and hockey rinks. Even the mayor got involved. It was a non-stop party for a person who doesn’t party. And before he knew it, the day was over. This time around, he was in charge, which meant a little more me-time with the trophy he had barely got to know the previous year. “Maybe take a minute for myself with the Cup this time,” said Murray. “Last year, I don’t even think I had a single minute.”

  Matt Murray (far right) celebrates his day with the Stanley Cup with his older brother Michael (far left) and his mom, Fenny. Photo by Michael Traikos

  Once it arrived at the airport, Murray loaded the Cup, which is stored in a heavy-duty lockbox on wheels, into the back of his SUV. The first stop was Fort William Gardens, the home rink of Lakehead University’s hockey team, where Murray got his first taste of playing in front of a crowd. “I still remember it was one of my first times playing net,” he said. “[My team] played during the intermission of a Lakehead University game. I think there were like a thousand fans.”

  For the first two hours of the day, Murray got the housecleaning out of the way. He invited former coaches and family friends to take pictures with the Cup inside a tiny dressing room, and then brought it onto the rink, outside of which hundreds of locals had been lining up since 6 a.m. Murray, dressed in black workout pants and a black long-sleeved shirt, hoisted the Cup above his head as a DJ blasted “We Are the Champions.” And then… that was it.

  Murray retreated back to his condo with the Cup and its chaperone. Together, with his girlfriend and the black Labrador he had rescued earlier that year, they spent the rest of the day simply hanging out. A photographer arrived and they headed down to the shore and posed for a picture in front of the Sleeping Giant, a natural wonder out in Lake Superior. Later on, about twenty friends were invited to his place at night, but there was no craziness. “That was it,” said Borrow. “They sat around a table talking, sharing stories, got some photos with the Cup, did some drinking out of it, but nothing crazy. The curfew for the players is midnight. He let me go early.”

  For those who know Murray, this wasn’t surprising. As one former GM said, it’s amazing he even celebrated. “You know when you win the Stanley Cup and everyone goes crazy? Well, I wasn’t really sure what he’d be like, because he’s such a low-key guy,” said Dave Torrie, who drafted Murray to the OHL as general manager of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. “That’s part of his success.”

  At only twenty-three years old Murray already had his name on the Stanley Cup twice, having won his first championship as a rookie and his second straight title while technically still a rookie because he had only played thirteen games in his first season. How did he do it? How did a goalie come into the league and enjoy so much early success? Well, as anyone who was on the invite list to his day with the Cup can attest, he did it by being boring.

  * * *

  I remember it like I was still there. We were in Superior, Wisconsin, and we were on the international ice. The extra ten yards just killed our kids. Just killed them. We were winning but the game was going the other team’s way and in the last three seconds Matt let a goal in. It bounced in off a defenceman’s shin pads. Bad luck. So we’re in overtime. And we went six overtime periods. It was draining. It got to the point where everyone was saying just let the puck in and let’s go home. But Matt, who was eleven, was not going to let up. It just gives you an indication of how he looks at the game of hockey. He was not going to lose. He was determined that he was not going to lose. — Rick Evoy, Murray’s first goalie coach

  * * *

  There is a sleeping giant in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Well, two of them actually. The first is located in Lake Superior and is a giant peninsula of land composed of mountains of rock and covered in mossy grass. According to Ojibwa legend, it wasn’t always rock. Many years ago a great spirit named Nanabijou was turned to stone as punishment for sharing the secret entrance to a rich silver mine that became exploited. Today, it’s one of Canada’s natural wonders.


  You can travel to Sleeping Giant Provincial Park and hike on its many trails and even camp out on it. But the best place to view it is from way up at the top of Hillcrest Park in Thunder Bay, where you can see the entire city and where out in the distance the Sleeping Giant’s dramatic steep cliffs actually resemble a man lying on his back in the water. From this vantage point, everything comes into focus. Everything seems so small, so peaceful. Violent waves crash all around the Sleeping Giant, but the great spirit doesn’t wake or even budge. He just quietly endures. For a goalie, there’s a lot to learn from that.

  “It’s a good place to sit and think,” said Murray. “It’s got my favourite views that I’ve ever seen. It’s super quiet up there. Not many people.” Murray took the Stanley Cup there for a picture the first time he won it in 2016. It was, as some joked, one sleeping giant celebrating with another.

  Like the giant in the water, Murray was built to endure. He doesn’t rattle easily. An example of that occurred in the 2016 Conference Finals, when Murray was pulled in Game 4 against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but returned to the net for Game 6 and won back-to-back starts and helped the Penguins advance to the final. Of course, there are many more examples throughout his career, whether he was playing in the NHL, the minors or as an eleven-year-old in Thunder Bay.