The Making of Johnny Hockey with Guy & Jane Gaudreau

John Boruk: [00:00:00] All right. Thanks for joining us here on Raising A Champion, the podcast that focuses on the 15 billion industry of you sports, and how you can mold a champion physically, socially, mentally, and educationally for life. If you've listened to one of our previous episodes, that we've had insight from medical professionals, coaches, former pro athletes, and today we're gonna have some parents not.

It's a it's a, husband, wife team who have raised some very well rounded athletes. My guest today GE and Jane Gure, parents to Johnny Gure, Mac Gure, Kristin and Katie, right? Yes. Yes. Yeah. You guys have done a tremendous job. So here's a good story. We all met, got together in 2014 when Johnny Goodrow, who's now with the Columbus Blue Jackets, was a, I believe, a junior.

At Boston College now on his way to winning the Hobie Baker Award as the top [00:01:00] collegiate hockey player in the country. And here we are eight years later. And if you were to look and sit there and say what has happened, what has transpired the evolution of his professional career, would you have believed 

Jane Gaudreau: it?

No, not really. I didn't realize that it would go this 

far. John and Maddie, and actually our two girls, they all did either the sports or the dance or the cheerleading, just because they really enjoyed it. And as parents, we wanted to do it because we wanted to make sure that they kept a well-rounded, Taught time management education was very important.

Along the way I, I think maybe some parents think they're gonna raise, an NHL star or, a basketball or baseball, but we just really wanted to make sure that they were staying out of trouble, having fun. And we thought, if they could go to college and play college hockey or do a [00:02:00] sport in college, my daughter danced.

That's what we were looking for. It was like I don't really know if a lot of grounded people, it would be great if you had that for your child, but, realistically that doesn't really happen. So a lot has happened and we're really proud there. 

John Boruk: There's still even eight years later, there's still elements of that interview that I vividly remember.

And one of those was Johnny, like any other kids I'm gonna play in the nhl. I wanna play in the nhl. I'm gonna, I'm gonna get there. And you said ge, you're like, Jane we gotta sit down with him. We gotta really have a talk with him because he's not going to the NHL , 

Guy Gaudreau: right? Yeah, we, we knew our boys, our kids were all small.

We're not tall people. We knew they weren't gonna be much more than five nine at best. And what, when we got married and we had our kids, our goal was to have four kids that went to college, got their education, [00:03:00] played sports. Cuz I felt like I was, I grew up around sports and I felt that just makes you a better rounded person, learning how to deal with success and failure and, and there's a lot of kids I've coached all my life coach hockey and there's a lot of kids that, like the senior in high school, they don't get recruited to play division one or play college hockey.

And it's hard. They have to now, their whole life has changed like for 15 years they've. Hockey or soccer, whatever, and it's no longer there. Now what do I do? That's when you fall back on education and bringing him up the right way, but it's hard but we're proud of all our kids.

But to get where he's at, it's almost like a, you win a lottery ticket. There's not, it's, that's how big a deal it is to get there. It's a 

John Boruk: little surreal though. Yes. Isn't it? That's, it is. You gotta pinch yourself and think that wow. He is part of the everyday lexicon of the nhl and to see where he's gotten [00:04:00] is it, you could tell he was, when I met him for the first time in Boston College, that he came from a really good upbringing.

Does, is he, is it, do you still have to keep him grounded 

Guy Gaudreau: a little bit? Yeah, I have to make a phone call once in a while. I do. Okay. I like not to. Now he's married. The boys are, both boys are married and my oldest is married, so I try not to get too involved in their lives anymore.

But there's times when you have to just. I'll seem his body language isn't quite right or whatever, and I'll say, Hey, I don't, you can't be like that. You're not made that way. Just work hard, and she gets mad at me because I sometimes over my boundaries as father, I think sometimes I do.

So I, I try not to anymore, but I still do. 

John Boruk: You guys balance each other out though? And I got that take eight years ago. If you feel like that. He's, like you said, overextending the boundaries. You reel him back in, don't you? I do, yes. Yeah, I do. I got, 

Guy Gaudreau: I get that sense. Yeah. And then she'll like, and [00:05:00] then she'll say to me like, maybe you went a little too far or whatever.

Or she'll say, yeah, he needed that, right? But she's the level headed one in our family. I like sometimes. Work top. That's okay. 

John Boruk: It's alright to get worked up. Trust me, she'll reel me back in. If you're a hockey parent and you're in that community, a lot of people get worked up. Not just you.

Exactly. No, not just you. But take it back to when they were little, they were youngsters. I mean they had the luxury, you were general manager at Holly Del. Yes. So that was your job. You were always at the rink and so naturally they wanted to be, or it was easy for them to really get sucked in into the 

Guy Gaudreau: environment.

Yeah. It's, and to their, my son's credit that the two boys credit was there was a couple other people that I worked with, they had kids the same age as my kids and they had access to the ice as much as my kids did. And they never used it the way my kids would come spend a day with me.

They'd go out there for three hours, just play the one on one, the two of 'em. Just, [00:06:00] and then they'd just make games up just to play and be on the ice. And then I'd run six weeks at camp in the summertime and. They couldn't say when my oldest daughters swam in the pool having ground pool and they wanted to come to the rink, but I told 'em, you come to the rink, you start camp at eight o'clock, we're done at five 30.

You do everything. You don't come in for the scrimmage or the fun time, you do the para ski and the skill work and all that. And they had no problem with that. They, I never had to fight with 'em about it. Just loved it. That's a key. I mean 

John Boruk: that if you have to tag the rope, 

Guy Gaudreau: we never do. Yeah, we would never do that.

We'd make 'em do sports, 

Jane Gaudreau: but we didn't really make 'em do sports. We, what we did is whatever you started, you had to finish, and it was a story our oldest daughter, and it trickled through because she's about nine, nine to 10 years older than John. So we thought she was gonna be an only child for a while.

And then we had John, and then Maddie, and then Katie. She would be into, she was in competitive dance and she would be in the dance studio and [00:07:00] it would get to be, start in September, get to be the end. And it would be like April May where all her friends were having sleepovers and she had practice.

I said, you can't sleep over. And she said and it was hard. You're nine, 10 years old, cuz all our kids started. There are activities or sports young, and we said you don't, you have to finish out the year, but you do not have to go back next year. But once you start something, our philosophy is you start something, you finish it, then, it would be a couple weeks and then it would be time for like the pictures and the recital.

And then we go through the summer and it would be like, signups for dance again. We'd say, Kristen, you didn't wanna do it. Oh, I wanna do it. And I was like, are you sure? Because once you do it, you go through, and she did, but there were a couple times you're just missing out.

And with the boys, they missed out on a lot with hockey. You'll find out with hockey, you miss out on so many things. It was, I think, sometimes harder for me as a parent [00:08:00] because I would, but what do you mean you're not gonna The homecoming? I'm not gonna have the homecoming picture.

I have the homecoming picture of the girls, and they were like, no, we have a tournament. We're going to the tournament. We're, neither one of the boys have ever been to a prom, . So it was a lot that you miss out on, but it was their choice. I remember one time going into the school and one of the parents saying to another parent, I overheard 'em.

They were like, oh that's terrible. They just think everything's sports. And I was like listening and I thought, oh, are they talking about us? Yeah. And, but we didn't if you didn't wanna go to the tournament and you wanted to go to your eighth grade graduation, that's what you would do.

Like we never said, you have to do this, you have to do that. It's whatever, we set the guidelines, when you're committed, you're committed to a team. And that's pretty much how 

John Boruk: we raised. There's all four kids. There's the, in invitationals, there's the showcases.

on the team that my son plays in. We got trips to [00:09:00] Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Boston. Some them will go up to Canada. As you get older, the peewee will back tournament. So trust me the further along you go, the more tournaments and the more travel and the more money that's being spent. You know how extreme it can, 

Guy Gaudreau: it gets Wow. That's funny. Yeah, you're right. Yeah. A lot of 

John Boruk: money. Lot of money. But you do it if they want to do it. Exactly. That's the key. And look, being around girls that's at that age a little awkward, take 'em to a dance and all that stuff, but their comfort zone was hockey.

And I know, cuz you mentioned that to me eight years ago, that if you're gonna do this and you're gonna try to compete at a very high level, more and more sacrifices are gonna, will have to be made. 

Jane Gaudreau: And to this day I think if you ask. Any of 'em, they would say they probably wouldn't have changed anything, it was just, a [00:10:00] great time in their life. A great time in our lives. We had fun as, we got to go away. We got to see a lot of places we wouldn't normally see. And, for the most part, our kids were, just average kids who just loved whatever sport they were in, which was 

Guy Gaudreau: we were really close to our kids.

Cause we spent a lot of time with 'em going to tournaments, going here, going there, going to practice. So we made a, we had a almost like a 20 year commitment where it was just her and I going different directions for our kids. It's divide and conquer. Yeah. Yeah. So exactly. We really now like, just like starting to have our own life now.

We get to do stuff together and fight more. And , it's so much it, but I wouldn't trade it for the 20 years that we had our kids, the things we did with them and. Became real close family because we did all those things together. But a hockey is just part of it, right?

So like we have, we, but when you [00:11:00] have, when you get married and you have kids, that's commitment. You have to be willing to make if you really want success, right? Yeah. If you don't, if you don't make commitment, I know there's a lot of people I know I would've never done what you did.

Go to the here, go there and yeah. If you want your son or your daughter to have a chance, you have to make a commitment as a person, right? So and we were both willing to do that. 

Jane Gaudreau: And it wasn't just we just did it for the boys with hockey. Our oldest daughter was dance and cheerleading.

, our youngest daughter, Katie, she did soccer and she to dance. And she was more of a competitive dancer. So there was, lots of competitions, different things. And now she's a school teacher, but she, her and I own a dance studio, so it's that's great. Yeah. So everyone that did something, what they started out with in the end are still doing what they truly loved. And my oldest daughter, she has two little ones and they go to the dance studio and Kristen helps at the dance studio. So [00:12:00] everyone that started out, what they did when they were younger, they still have a part of it now when they're in their twenties.

And my oldest daughter's in her thirties, so it's like they just had that love for it and it continued 

John Boruk: how when they were young and so Johnny was the second kid, Matt Mattie was the third kid. How aware and cognizant did you have to be to make sure that one kid didn't get more attention?

Because every kid's watching, they wanna make sure, you love me more or you love him more than you love me. But to know that you are giving almost equal time, whether it's equal or not, the perception that it's equal time to each of your four kids as they're. 

Jane Gaudreau: I think it was because there was that 10 year gap between Kristen and John.

We had 10 years with Kristen. They were like really the, the formative years where, we did a lot together. There was a lot of one on one time or two on one with her. So she had us, so for by ourselves. [00:13:00] And then John probably started on the ice when he was like two or three, and then just local games.

So by that time she's 13. When he started really traveling, like at four and five, was it five or, yeah, five, six years old. She was in high school, so we weren't as, She was a cheerleader there. And so we would go to her games, but we pretty much try to balance off everything. We were very fortunate with John and Matt cuz they were so close in age.

 Gee did the two game, did, excuse me, did was a coach of both teams. So when he made the games on the schedule, the boys would have like the 90 threes, 1993 and 1994 years would be, the schedules would make the gains at the same time. So we would travel together as a family and our youngest, who is four years younger than Nay, she would go with us and it was just a fun time with her.

So for the three of them, they, we did everything together. Kristen was a little bit older, so by that time, when you're a [00:14:00] teenager you get to be 16, 17 years old. 18, she doesn't wanna go to the hockey tournament. So she was more than happy with staying home. We, at our house, we built a mother-in-law suite.

So my mom had a place so she would stay home with my mom and then, but we still made sure that, We went to Kristen's, games, her football games, her basketball games. I feel like now thinking back, I often wonder like, how did we do that? Yeah. But when you're, it was just part of our daily life.

This is what you do. It's, you work all day, you come home, you pick up the kids, you take 'em to their sports and it was, we never had any downtime ever. Like sometimes if we did have a downtime, the kids, we were like what are we gonna do today? And we were like, can we just stay home for a couple hours?

We were just always on the go. But, we loved it. We loved being with our kids. I know everyone loves our kids, but, we just truly loved being with our kids. And we, it was [00:15:00] fun for us, like when we went away to tournaments, we had study sessions in the car, like the spelling words and the boys would go to their teachers when tournaments.

And I was like, if you're gonna go to the tournament, it was your responsibility to go to your teacher and ask for your work. They would, we would just have like study sessions in the car. It was, it was, we had a, we are a really close family and now they're still very close. In fact some people say they're really close the kids are, are always there for each other.

Everybody's, that's the way supporting 

John Boruk: each other. And that's, yeah, that's the way it should be. When parents, and I don't know how much you integrate with hockey families and parents now, but I'd have to think at some point parents come to you and they say, what do I gotta do to make my son the next Johnny Guerro?

Or, to I, I want my son to follow on those footsteps. Like you said it's like having a lottery ticket. But what [00:16:00] do you tell parents who, who want to do exactly what you guys 

Guy Gaudreau: did with Johnny? First of all I, when somebody asks me that question, I'd say, how much does your son love whatever sport he's playing?

Much. Like they, I can easily relate to other athletes that, parents that have athletes that go a long ways and they will be the first to say, my son, that's all he wanted to do. Or my daughter, that's all they wanted to do. And then make sure that they get, eat properly, get enough sleep, make sure they take care of themselves and and give them whatever they want.

If they want to go to camp, pay for the camp. Go for the camp. But, and me, what I was as a father was always hard on the two boys. I didn't want, wasn't worried about how many goals or assists they got. I was more worried about if I'm gonna drive to Boston, I'm expecting to work hard back, check hard four, check hard, play the game.

A hard [00:17:00] game, right? Just play, gimme everything you got. And I can tell when you're not giving your coach back or you're not for checking hard or whatever, or you're not being a team player. I can tell that kind of, and I could tell that kind of stuff and I would go to him and say, Hey, listen.

We don't have to go to Boston. We don't have to go to Toronto if you're gonna play like this. So I played good. I'd say, no, you didn't work hard. I don't care about how many points you got. A lot of parents judge on how well their kids, oh, I had two goals and three assists. But he, that puck could've bounced on your stick twice.

Now you just tap it in. So you got two goals, but you didn't back check you're a minus two or whatever. And so that's what I was proud with the hardest on the boys. Of course with dance, with the girls and all that. I didn't you 

John Boruk: didn't have a good barometer in terms of dance moves. 

Guy Gaudreau: I'm not much good dancer. My rhythm is not so good, but she's better on that. And she would be the same way. If, like Kristen would say I don't feel like gonna dance tonight. She goes, you start it, you finish it, you go, [00:18:00] there was no questions asked. Yes. Like it didn't matter. So it was the same thing with the boys.

If you start something, you're gonna finish it. But I was like with the boys, with hockey on a big hockey, yeah. 

John Boruk: You're, I think with the Vermont Hall of Fame. 

Guy Gaudreau: Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So I, and I was hard on him. I was like, as hard as she was with education, all that, I was the same way with hockey.

But I tried not to, once we got in the car, I tried to be their dad, but there was sometimes where I'd have to say, Hey, we left on a Thursday night after work, drive all the way to Toronto to play Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and to watch you coast around the whole weekend doesn't work for me. We can play hurricanes or in-house, whatever.

, I'm okay. And then they would they would listen to me. Then you could see that, like from now for three, four weeks, they were going like hard because they wanted to stay there. But I, that's probably the hardest I'D when I've, we'd [00:19:00] talk and I'd say, Hey, you really didn't gimme much of an effort this weekend.

You like just coasted around and if you don't wanna play. That's okay. But if you wants have one bad game, I'm talking about a whole weekend, a string, a whole weekend. A whole weekend, just come in. We're more worried about playing mini hockey and, whatever they play, hall hockey, whatever they play, and just hanging out then worrying about playing hard.

But I think two boys, like now they like really appreciate that I, what was the way I was, I think they, because they got, both boys played division one for Boston College, both got full rides, so saved my wife and I a lot of money. . 

John Boruk: And I think a lot of parents, like myself included, would sit there and say, look if that's the end goal, that's the destination here.

I've done my job. I feel pretty good. Yeah. Forget anything after that. And by the way, getting into playing division one college hockey now really tough. Yeah. It's, it is [00:20:00] really tough. You see where they're taking kids. A lot of skilled players don't even make it that far. . So that, that's a pretty good goal to have.

And the, so my sort of my question to you is there a template to do that? Yes. We know kids have to, the pa they have to drive the bus, right? They've gotta drive the bus. They're the ones that have to have the passion. But what is it in your experiences to where it's just a little insight here, a little insight there that, that may be, that may give you the upper 

Jane Gaudreau: hand.

I think with both of us from day one, I don't, neither one of us said that we were going to raise a NHL player or prima ballerina or anything like that, what we wanted to do, or even division one hockey player, what we wanted to do is just make sure cuz I've known parents that, that's what they've done.

They're on the ice there at, they have [00:21:00] multiple days where they'll have. Privates or the kids. And so sometimes when you push too hard, then that's not good for your child either, right? And or if you think that the child is just trying to keep their parents happy. So g and i, it was never our goal to have an NHL player or have division one.

We just wanted our kids to, be rounded and be the best that they could be, and just be really good kids. And along that way, we would support him as much as we could. And I think that's where it is. We weren't, we expected them. If you're going to take something on, you do it, you go a hundred percent, you're not going to, but I don't think at any time we thought this is what we're gonna do to make sure that, our child or our son becomes NHL player.

I think it just, it evolves that way. It evolves and you can't put too much pressure on them, I make it a point that [00:22:00] after a game, Especially after a loss or as you mentioned, they, they're skating that they weren't giving 100% effort. I don't say something right away. And the reason why it's kinda like the 24 hour window for parents not to come to coaches.

John Boruk: I think there's something that can apply to your kids as well, because I don't want them to get in the car and think, oh my God, what is it gonna say? Right away, over time I'll pull up a video clip and say, just watch this for a second and I wanna explain it to you. Did your, the way that you to talk to your boys evolve over time as you started to experience and some of that I didn't wanna be one of them fathers, like you said, where the son's walking through the car and he's like in the back of his head saying, oh God, now I gotta get in the car with him.

Guy Gaudreau: Yes. And that happens a lot in hockey, a lot where the fathers grab the kid and they walk and you could tell that the child is not looking forward to get in the car. Cuz his dad's gonna ride him hard. I and [00:23:00] I, when we were home, I don't think I ever talked hockey to my kids. We'd watch, maybe we watched the flyers, whatever, but just sit down and say, Hey, you have to do this differently.

You have to do that differently. I, because, I had 'em in the locker room, I had 'em on the ice, we did camps, did all kinds of things together. I felt if they're gonna learn, they would learn it there. And there's a lot of things that go into this whole thing. There's a lot of youth hockey coaches out there that aren't really good.

No. And then you get, as a parent, you're like, this guy's just all he worried about is his son. Or doesn't, he's not developing the players, he's not teaching 'em the right things and all that stuff. And you really don't have a lot of control over that cuz the way you youth hockey is designed now is if you're playing AAA or tier one and you're playing for flyers Elite or Junior Flyers, little flyers or Merc or whatever, and.

You're part of that [00:24:00] program, you, for, you can't just leave that program, go to another program. So they control their players where they don't have the luxury of just saying, we really don't like this coach. We're gonna go somewhere else. And so that, that kind of hurts the youth hockey a little bit.

I think they, but everybody's protecting their, which is the income coming in from those players. So and it's and I think that parents like the attachment or the affiliation of thinking their son is playing tier one or aaa, I think a lot of it's a money grab. Yep. Okay. There's almost, it's almost too oversaturated, too many teams.

John Boruk: All that being said Jane, did you ever think that Gee was a little over the top? Did you have to reel him in? Say, I think that you are, your criticism is going a little too far. 

Jane Gaudreau: Oh, definitely. Okay. Definitely. And it's a different world now, not just in the hockey, but in everything where. Nowadays, [00:25:00] a lot of you have to be very careful of what you say to kids or what you do.

But I can literally remember years ago when he would be on the bench and if someone wasn't listening to him, he, I would go there to take them lunch or do something and I'd just be watching for a little bit. And if someone was listening, I'd see him take his stick and tap 'em on the head.

Pay attention harder. Yeah. a little bit harder than what I would think. And I'd be like, oh, I don't really know if you can be doing that. Or he was a yeller. Like he, he's definitely mellowed out. I used to yell a lot, but it was not like I would never take a child and belittle in front of his teammates.

Guy Gaudreau: I would never do that. I would yell at the whole team. Whole team. Yeah. You guys need to step it up. And then if I had to dress one kid, I would grab him like on the bench, just one on one. Him and I would not literally grab him, pull over, pull side, pull him side and say, Hey, listen I need you to do this better offensively.

I need you to, you're the, you're F three on [00:26:00] this play. You should have been here, not there, right? And I would do more of that but I really was hard on the actual team and being a team and, playing the game the right 

Jane Gaudreau: way. And we would always laugh because I remember one of it was Maddie's teammates and they lived closer to us cuz down where we live out in the country so no one played hockey.

And there was this one boy that played in the next town. So it was great cuz I was like, oh my gosh, now we have somebody to carpool. And I remember being in the car with him one time and he said Mrs. G I don't think coach Gee likes me. He yells at me a lot and I said to him, I say his name was John too.

And I was like, John, go ask Coach. Gee, when you go in there, go ask Coach Gee when you go to practice on Tuesday or Thursday, whichever day it was. And you talk to him about it and see what he has to say. And then, so I gave GE a heads up cuz I knew exactly what Gee would say and gee would say, I'm yelling at you and [00:27:00] paying attention to you because I know that you have the capabilities and you have it.

He said, when I stop paying attention and yelling at you, then you have to worry. Yes. And it was so John went in, he had the conversation. I, his mom and I were friends, and I said to Barb I said, oh, I said, I wonder how that'll go. And it was like a couple weeks later and she said, that went great.

Because he said, mom, koge must really like me. Cuz he was really yelling at after that, and it was cute because, but then he knew, he understood, if you're not gonna try, then he's not, yes. There's no sense in trying to get it out of you if you're just not, you're playing at this level because, he saw something in you.

At that time it was just like, he's just more, a little bit louder or, and another thing that was funny is, Some of our parents would say, oh man, I dreaded your rides home from, Toronto or Ottawa. And I [00:28:00] was like, literally, when we get in the car, because Gee has coached them and said everything he could on the bench and in the locker room, when we get in the car, it's okay, let's where do we wanna stop to eat?

What do we wanna do? He becomes probably, Definitely, I would think less talking about the game than any of the other, 20 kids who were getting in that car because, their dads didn't get a chance to do it in the locker room. He's emptied the tank 

John Boruk: at that point. Heed 

Jane Gaudreau: the tank. Our rides were really good.

The kids got in there. If they had a bad game, they would know, but we were fortunate both the kids, when they started to get a little bit older they'll know they'll have a bad game. To this day, even John he'll call we went up to one of the games and he said, ah, yeah, I'm sorry.

He goes I just didn't have a good game. He goes I'm really sorry. He knows if he didn't have a good game, it's a little bit different now. He has a newborn he looks a little tired. [00:29:00] Yes. But, I think that was instilled in him from when he was young.

Whether you've had a good game, if you've put in a hundred percent, now days he has to put in. As much as he can because that's his job and people are expecting him, but I think when, because when they were younger, that's what we expected to them. Don't expect us to take off, for two vacation days.

If I have to take vacation days and go all the way up there for you to, play knee hockey in the hotel. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. 

John Boruk: And that's big, I go to the restaurant sometimes I feel like they work harder playing knee hockey than they again, of course, they're kids, they're gonna have bad games, they're, everyone has bad games.

Jane Gaudreau: But, our philosophy was just, if this is what you wanna do and you wanna play at this level, then you know, you have to be serious about it. Cuz we're giving up a lot. And our kids were, pretty good. Actually they were very good. I don't know how many [00:30:00] times we'd get home and the boys or the girls would just say, thank you for taking me that.

Tournament. Thank you for taking me to the competition. Where, sometimes kids just don't thank, you know each don't 

John Boruk: understand, they don't appreciate, can't, it's they have a belief system that is about them and their activities. Exactly. So I feel like everything what we've done leads them to this point.

Jane Gaudreau: And not whether just to be a professional athlete, but also, in your, career or as a parent, you 

John Boruk: probably take as much pride in watching now Johnny become a. Now that he has it right then just see how he, because he's got a big juggling act now. He's got a big time job with tremendous amount of responsibilities and accountabilities.

He's married, he wants to be a good husband and then to be a good dad. So this is where you as a mom, everything that you guys put into place you're seeing the well rounded individual. 

Jane Gaudreau: Exactly, yeah. And even throughout the years when [00:31:00] we've had interviews, GE knows hockey, he was brought up on hockey you're not gonna find anybody that, can really talk about hockey.

Like he can. So they would always say the hockey questions to gee, and, but usually when I was there, they would always say, and I have to tell you, whether it was, John or Matt after a game or one of the girls, not that we really had interviews with the girls, but even like their coaches or their, they would come and say, they're good athletes, but they're just really great people.

And to me that meant so much more. That they were, good people. They were, respectful. They, people liked being around and people liked to coach 'em. For me, that meant more to me than, them scoring a goal on the ice or, winning platinum at a dance competition.

Yes. But, because, that's this parents, that's what you strive to do. You want your children to be nice kids. Yeah. One of [00:32:00] the things that I remember in our interview eight years ago was when describing Johnny as a young kid, he never wanted to come off the ice. In fact, John Stevens, a former flyers coach, also had boys around the same age, played hockey, and he expressed concern to you.

John Boruk: Oh, yeah. Expressed concern to you that he's skating too much. He's out on, he's playing too much hockey out there. You need to dial him back. But it wasn't necessarily you, the reason you weren't pushing this was what he wanted to do. Yeah. And like with, I had John's Stevens. Johnny, his, you, his oldest son played with Matthew.

Guy Gaudreau: And we did, we practiced on ice all winter and John would come out and help us out. But yeah, I do camps in the summertime. His kids put their skates off and they were on ice all summer. Now both those boys have played division one and they played playing semi-pro American league.

And they're good kids, really good kids. And they worked [00:33:00] hard. But I think towards the end John realized that maybe that his kids might, should have used, had a little more ice, but they took the, cuz he's from Canada, so they pack up the end of the season and they'd go to Canada after school and spend the summer up with the family and all that, which then they didn't do much skating up there.

But but there, even John and I, we talk about it, like one of one of the boys got married Eric Robinson got married and he was there and we talked about it and he's maybe my kids should have had him on more or less, So you can't judge that. You don't know what's right or wrong.

There, you can take a child that is a tremendous athlete, doesn't have to do as much as somebody that's just a, has to work hard at it, right? So so there's a fine line there of what's right, what's not, right? And then there's a lot of older players believe that. Cuz when I grew up March, April hockey's over pack of gear, put it away.

You don't [00:34:00] see it until September. You have 1st of September you have tryouts. Now you have tryouts right after the seasons over, after nationals there was back on the ice. And if you're not there, you don't make a team. It's it's really gotten to the point where, they want kids to be playing hockey 24 7 year round.

And. If you look at the game of hockey, I look at hockey, there's a lot of things you have to be good at. You have to have the good eye and hand coordination, right? So baseball's good for you. You have to have good eye and foot coordination. Soccer's good for you, right? So our kids did those things.

They did the other sports, but because I ran the rink, I had the luxury of working the schedule a little bit around their soccer and, so they, in hockey, where hockey, I knew they'd have games on Saturday. So I would do games for Spring League on Sunday for them, right? So they would, so they could do both.

John Boruk: But. I think you're emphasizing something that's really important. [00:35:00] And we talk, we talked about it on this podcast with some of the other guests that don't get too caught up in sport specialization. Don't make it about hockey 12 months outta the year. Find something else, another sport that they like because some of the footwork, some of the agility, the balance, the coordination, all of those things are somewhat intertwined.

I watch a lot of videos now of off i stuff that you can do with footwork that you can incorporate into other sports you play. And I think that's almost as beneficial. Maybe more during the off season. Absolutely. Yeah. I would be I would, I don't, I wouldn't say they should take six months off, but if you can find a program where they're on the ice maybe twice a week, like a para skating clinic and then a Spring league game, and then.

Guy Gaudreau: Play soccer or lacrosse or football or baseball. Those are all really good sports, anything like that where they have to [00:36:00] use their hands and use their iron hand coordination, iron foot coordination, and they still compete. The word compete is something that is really important word that you'll find a lot of the boys, like I just could say, my two boys, when they played the soccer and hockey and baseball.

Those, the baseball and especially soccer coaches, they love 'em. They'd come and say, I'll pick 'em up at the rink. We need them because they compete. They like, they love to compete. And but it was, if anybody came to me and says, and I know kids that play just hockey, when I coach. And as they got to the higher levels, little things they couldn't do, they couldn't go to the front of that and redirect the puck or they couldn't skate full stride, kick the puck up and not lose a stride.

Because they didn't use their feet. You know as much cuz when you run skills clinics, how often does a coach go out there and just, all right, we're gonna just handle a puck with our feet. They don't do that very, I'll do it in my practice, but I don't know any coach that goes out there does anything with their feet.

Like how many times are you on the boards where you have [00:37:00] to pick the puck up, protect it, and get it to your stick and go right. Or get it full stride and kick it and not even lose a stride. So the very few coaches work on that, but soccer brings that out. And in soccer, like 

Jane Gaudreau: Jerry York can say that one time where he said, I can tell who are some of the kids who played different sports.

And he said, I can tell this was like, I think it was towards Maddie senior year. And he goes, I could tell both your boys played soccer. All their life. And I said, yeah, from the time that they were like three, he said, because they would stop the puck with their foot. And I still see this like when when Mattie was playing, the E chl or ahl and then even John, there's a lot of times he's out there and I see him stop his, the puck with his foot just like a soccer player.

And it's just, funny because I remember Jerry York saying that, you know how he could always notice like a lot of the soccer players because they still had that same [00:38:00] kind of, movement. And that's, and with our kids, that's what we they played, like the boys played hockey all year round.

The girls did dance all year round, but then in between the boys always would play soccer and then soccer in the fall. And then we'd be baseball in the spring and. Maybe this doesn't have anything to do with, but knock on Woody though, a lot of that they didn't get a lot of the injuries where some of their other teammates did, where they would pull different things and we were like, maybe, soccer, you use different muscles in baseball, you do things.

We don't know if that distributed to it or not, but it definitely it probably does. It 

John Boruk: definitely does. Sure. Because you're using muscles that you wouldn't use playing hockey that you Exactly. Yeah. 

Jane Gaudreau: So we were pretty fortunate I don't think either one of 'em ever had an injury from hockey when they were 

Guy Gaudreau: younger.

When they were younger, but as they got along, John was very, is probably a little le more flexible and Mattie was. [00:39:00] Some they're a different type of player. Mattie would never shy from the corners where John would let the big guy go first, then go compete. Matt would be the first one in there and get a 250 pound guy drilling through the wars and couldn't figure out why he separated his shoulder.

I'm like, yeah, that wasn't too smart to on there first. Yeah. That was when they got older. That was, yeah. When they got older that from when they were babies to 15, 16 years old, they were pretty injury free. When is that point, when was it for you guys with both your boys, where it goes from, Hey, this is, we're just having fun.

John Boruk: This is fun. Enjoying the game. Yeah. Work hard. Enjoying to where the level of seriousness has now been ratcheted up a notch. What does, when does that come, what age group does that come? 

Guy Gaudreau: Second year, Banham. Okay, so 

John Boruk: you're talking about at the ac 

Guy Gaudreau: 14 years old. 14. Okay. When they go through changes my minds didn't go through changes until a little older, but you could tell their level of compete, change [00:40:00] completely Where they were, they really wanted to win.

They really wanted to be like, here's the bus. They want didn't wanna be in the back of the bus. They wanted to be in the front of the bus driving the bus. They, you could tell it they wanted to be the best player on the ice. They wanted to be the difference whether we win or lose. Where before they wanted to be good, but it didn't really matter to them.

If they were in the front of the bus all the time, they, they could be in the middle, but they didn't when they were reach 14, 15, 16 years old yeah, then you could tell that they're really wanted to be the leaders on the team. They wanted to be the difference for the team wins or loses.

Jane Gaudreau: And you told them that, I think they knew that ahead of time, cuz gee would say to all his teams, all the boys on the team there was a fork in the road at that banum. And then that's when you would separate the true athlete because you're into high school, you're just, there's girls, there's cars, there's [00:41:00] fun things to do, or there's, you have to take the other extreme, right?

And you, in a gym, you can't do those 

Guy Gaudreau: things. Gym, working, out, lifting, eating right, sleeping right, all of those things. All things is so important to get to the next level, right? And at that point, your parents can't make you do it. That 

you at that point have to, they'll do it on their own. Either you do, they wanna do it or they don't want, do.

They'll come to you and say, I wanna be in the gym 24 7. I wanna, get more ice time. I want this. They'll come to you if they really want it. If they don't, they'll have most, like I've always said mostly your hockey parents pretty well to do. So you have a 16, 17 year old son that just got his driver's license.

They go out and buy him brand new car or buy him a car. And I have a nice car. And all the girls wanna go out with hockey players and the nice car and all, so then it's a lot more fun hanging out with the girl. Then they go to the gym and so things go, that's where you start losing.

That's where you just, the guys, you can tell the guys are gonna go somewheres. And 

John Boruk: [00:42:00] now your boys were always playing up a level in age group or no? No. John played with 90 twos. He's in 93. He played up pretty much the whole year until he was 14. Then we brought him back to 90 threes.

Guy Gaudreau: Okay. Mattie always played 90 fours. I could have done the 93 team, have both of 'em on the team and been fine for both of 'em. But again, I'm a big believer of if Matt John was playing with 90 twos and he was one of the lower end players, I would say just he wouldn't be one of the top end players.

I'd have made him play 93. He was always, I thought, and I might be wrong, somebody might call up and say, Hey, gee was wrong. But I thought he was one of the top players on the 92 team when Mattie could have played 90 threes and still be probably been close to one of the top 90 threes. But I don't think he would've been.

I'd rather I said, why don't we do a 94 team? You and four, five other guys will be the top players and you'll [00:43:00] feel good about yourself. I don't think players feel good about themselves when they're in a third line, fourth line all the time. They don't ever get a chance to play first or second line.

And as a coach, I like to win, right? We like to win. So I'm looking down the bench. If little Johnny's not gonna help me win a hockey game, he's not, and I'll put him on a third line, he'll play a regular shift, but he's not gonna get the chance to play with the better players. We start playing with the better players, more things happen, right?

So I remember 

Jane Gaudreau: we would get to be, it would like maybe November, December, and. Because of course Gee's on the bench. So I'm in the stands he's in with the kids. So I got a lot of the feedback from the parents. And the parents would say what do you think? What's he gonna do next year? What do you think he's gonna do next year?

Like they're talking about next year. And I, and Gee would always say, I will evaluate what I'm going to do after this year. Because, in his position, it's so demanding he's going to coach a team where his sons are on. So if at [00:44:00] that point, John was not being going to be able to play with the 90 twos, gee would have went down and coached the 90 threes.

Or even with Matt Mad, unfortunately, had that December birthday. So he was always, yeah, the youngest one on the team. Yes. But GE said, I'm not sure what I'm gonna do because Cocks so demanding. I have to do one. I have to do it for, that's what I do for a living. So I'm not going to, pick a team.

Until I know where my son belongs on that team. Cuz he would say, I'm never gonna have him, play up and struggle. 

Guy Gaudreau: Yeah. Because when John was 13 years old, he's probably in the body of a 10 year old. He was really tiny. And he still had a lot of skill. But he went through that first year.

Yeah. First year Bannon, he was playing with 90 twos and he still had an okay year, but he struggled with, there's kids there that would have facial hair and[00:45:00] second year, like they were back then the fourteens or U 14 were together. Now they have the thirteens and fourteens, everybody separated.

Back then we used to have sometimes 90 twos, 90 threes. But anyways, he was playing 90 twos, he was playing with second year bans and he was a first year banum and he had a rough year. Then we brought him back down the next year, which is second year, third year bams. He was a 93. And then, That's where he belonged.

He was, but e either way I still don't, didn't matter to me. I think that he'd have been what he is now because he wanted to be that in the worst way. So I don't think, I think, again if I'm a soccer parent or a hockey parent, don't get caught up into what's gonna happen up here.

Or what the coach, as long as the coach teaching fundamentals and skills and hard work habits, you'll [00:46:00] be fine. But the, I left the, I gotta, I'm outta coaching and I'm retired, and I watch some of the coaches and. Man, it had been hard for me to stick my son on those scenes. 

John Boruk: You mentioned how systems is now being taught at the score level.

Yeah. Systems. And the reason is because you get so caught up in winning, you see what other teams are doing. You go, why don't we pass a puck like this? Why don't we break out like this? And he is you're, it's like keeping up with the Jones's as it pertains to hockey. And you wanna do that because you wanna win.

You wanna be at the top. And then the whole idea of player development is almost gets put on the back burner. The back burner, I see it now. I'm, like I said, I've coached all my life and I'm, I'll go right in. Peewees and boys were peewees, they were still doing power skating for our practice and the stick count.

Guy Gaudreau: We didn't do systems until they were bantams. I didn't do any work on any breakouts, no [00:47:00] offensive zone for check neutral zone coverage. I didn't, I just go over the boards like, okay, here's what I want you to do. Pretty much, and, but they were so skilled. They're skating. All those kids are like the 92 team.

At least 10 of them played Division I that I coached. Wow. And yeah, that's a lot of skill And Matty's team, there was six of 'em, played division one off that team that I coached for five, six years. We worked on skating edges, stick handling, passing, shooting over and over.

And so these kids skated from the waist down so they didn't need to throw their whole body all over the place just so when, so they were stick handling and accelerating skating at the same time. And too many coaches get caught up into, you have to stand here, you have to, here, we're gonna work on breakout.

They can't pass 'em here to there. They can barely turn, they can't turn to the left, can't turn to the right or they're on inside edge all the time. [00:48:00] Might wanna work on teaching 'em how to skate the right way. Yeah. And, but. A lot of coaches don't know how to do that.

They watched their Flyers and say, oh, this is how the Flyers break out. This is how we're gonna break out. Yeah. This is how the flyers are on their power place. How we're gonna, I just never I worked on systems when they were high school kids, worked on power plays and penalty kill and all that stuff.

And when they were 14 years old, midgets, we worked on this stuff, but but yeah, but not early. That's interesting. You need another water? I'm good. Thank. Thanks. Oh, okay. Good. Good. Cause I wanna make sure that I know another really difficult time for Giant, maybe even for Matt, is when you had to ship him away, right?

John Boruk: And I think Jane could talk, right? You could talk to this. When they go, when John went to the USHL and they leave home for the first time, for most parents, your child leaves home. It's for college, but they're 18. He was 16. 

Jane Gaudreau: That was really [00:49:00] hard. I can remember when we were first married and Guy was doing older team and he was getting these boys prepared for college and he had this one player who came in from Maryland and he had another player who came from Hershey.

And I said to the parents, cuz you know I would go to some of the games on weekends and I would say that's a long way. Like how do you do that? And I was like, to me, it just seems crazy. And she would laugh. She goes when you find a really good coach and they're at this level, you will drive.

They ended up getting a conversion van. They would pick up their son from school, they would go eat on the way, do the homework the poor kid didn't get. And this was three days a week. And I was like, oh yeah, I don't think I could do that. And then fast forward it becomes the Peewee Quebec and John and Matty both played for the Hershey team.

And here we're doing the same thing. And it was just like, to me, just like I thought, oh my gosh, I've become one of those [00:50:00] parents that, I really didn't think we would, I would ever become, I just never really understood all that and then, but that was okay because it was two nights a week and we went up for the games on weekends and we took, the whole family went, Kristen and Katie, and we just hadn't made a good time of it.

And then it got to be with John and the USHL he was tendered, right? Is that correct? Yeah. What happens? Dubuque was a new program and Jim Montgomery had seven players he could tender before they tendered or what, anyways, he could pick seven players before the draft, before anybody could draft.

Guy Gaudreau: So he came to our house. I just, first I spoke with GE first, so Gee knew all this. I had no clue. And I think Gee was a little free to say, how am I gonna tell her we're sending her 16 year old son, so when they went to Dubuque. 

John Boruk:, Dubuque Iowa was out 

Jane Gaudreau: I had never heard of Dubuque, Iowa.

And when they sat down with us, I [00:51:00] said how's he gonna get home? And they were like, he won't get home, he'll stay there. And I was like, literally, stay there. They, he can come home at Christmas. And I was like, oh no, that is so not gonna work. I was like, who's gonna make sure he does his homework?

Who's gonna make sure? And and I remember just it was a really hard for me to grasp. I just thought, like, how could we do that? And then I understood, about the, more explanation, I just didn't know any of this about the Bill program and different things like this.

John Boruk: And it was still hard, but I was gonna say it had to worry you in the sense that can he be responsible? His parents aren't gonna be looking over his shoulder every day. I think the hard the thing that why it was hard for me also, like when we dropped them off I, my heart sank, but I knew that both boys were at the level now they wanted to play college hockey.

Guy Gaudreau: And I knew that if they were gonna make it, [00:52:00] they had to be there. And I didn't think John would make it. I thought for sure he'd call up and say, come and get me out.  

Jane Gaudreau: Yeah. He was more homesick. He didn't, he was more of a homebody. Maddie was a little bit more adventurous. He just, but for them to go, I didn't want them to come back and say to me, dad, you didn't let me go to USHL and I didn't play college hockey was, she didn't gimme a chance to go there.

Guy Gaudreau: We felt, and we were really like, no, you're not going right. But then we decided, Hey, listen, we, this is their thing. They've worked hard to get here, if that's what he wants to do. We let him go. And we thought that for sure John had come back, but yeah, we didn't, I didn't, we didn't think he would make it.

He made it. And then Maddie, same thing.  

Jane Gaudreau: And we, it was a little rough in the beginning for both boys because they both went in. Matty went in as a junior, so he had two years there. John went as a senior, but you have to go in, it was like the second week of August. So all their friends are still having their [00:53:00] summer and they're still, doing things for the summer and there's no hockey.

You're living out here and you're going to school and both boys did, fairly well fine in school, but school was not their passion. When they were out there living away from, their school, I've yet to meet one that is, but yeah. 

John Boruk: Yeah. That's right. They're away from their parents and their siblings and their friends and they're going to school.

Jane Gaudreau: And there was no hockey. The first couple weeks was a little rough for both boys. Maddie, by the, his senior year, he figured, I, you know what? I gotta get through this three weeks and then hockey starts. So it was yeah, Omaha Nebraska were like, the school started like the fifth of August.

Guy Gaudreau: Like they were there for a whole three weeks before they even got on to get on the ice. Yeah. But yeah, but that was hard. I feel like that was probably one of the hardest times of my life trying to make that decision. And when Gee was on board, I still [00:54:00] wasn't. And then until he said 

John Boruk: So when Johnny got homesick, what did you try to do to persuade him ride things out?

Guy Gaudreau: He never called up and said, I wanna come home. Okay. 

Jane Gaudreau: Yeah. He didn't, there. He was, he, we could always tell him if he was gonna have a good camp or bad camp. When he would call us, like from development camp, if we got a call multiple times in the same night, we're like, Nope, not working. It's not gonna be a good camp for him.

So he had a hard time when he was younger. Once he went to Dubuque, I think being, and there is like no other, and I can't even, I can't even, except for I've seen it with my boys. There is no other comfort level than having hockey. Team, like those kids do everything together. And that became his, and we were still his, their family, John and Mattie's family of course.

But that became their family. So they ate together, they played together, [00:55:00] they went to school together. And then it was the same thing, even when they went to college, it was the bond they had. And we laugh because a typical high school kid probably wouldn't necessarily sleep in a double bed with another friend or another guy.

But the hockey world, like that's just what they did all the time. Like they were always together and it was it was just like, I feel then I realized it made me feel better cuz he was comfortable. I think I was, of course I would miss him. That was part of it. But each year when they left for college, it would be like the same thing.

I would be crying, I'd be so upset and it would be, I find that it's the anticipation of them leaving once they left and I'd gotten to a week of it, I'd be like, okay, this is okay. We're gonna go see game. But when they went to the US L I said to Gee, I said, if they're gonna do this, we are going to be able to at least one of us.

Like sometimes Guy [00:56:00] would go with Guy and I together. Sometimes gee would go with my mom or one of, like the girls. But we would never go more than a month without seeing them. So just think about how old's your son now? 12. 11. He just turned 11. Okay. Five years from now, son. Five years.

Guy Gaudreau: Yeah. You can't even picture, I can't picture that. You can't picture that. It's like I can't I, and I can't, certainly can't picture that he'll have the maturity and responsibility of taking that on. It's, and it's really strange how that works. I didn't think he, they'd be ready for it, but I didn't want either one of my sons to come back to me 10 years later and say, if you would only let me go to USHL.

I might have had a better shot of doing whatever I wanted to. I didn't wanna be the, but if they called up and said, dad, I wanna come home, I'd be on that. I'd be on that plan. Go get him so quick and bring him back home. Yeah. Make your head spin. I wanted him home. Yes. I love being around my kids. I didn't wanna do that, but I didn't wanna be didn't want to have my son say, Hey dad, you [00:57:00] didn't let me go.

I, I, I could have done better if I'd have went to l like if John didn't go to L he would've never got drafted. Yes. And he may have made it to the NHL, maybe not, but playing l is the highest level of juniors that there is in the United States. In the United States. Yep.

And they do, draft 40 kids outta that poor program or every year. So and he was very lucky. Jim Montgomery loved them, and again, that's the roadmap. If you wanted to play at the collegiate level, the USHL was the preceding step that was the place to go. And it still is. Yeah. And the USHL was very good about coming out and explaining, like they said, to me, because again, I think it's just the not knowing, like I'm thinking he's just going out there living with some parents, and they do a really good job of screening the parents. Both boys have excellent, had excellent billets. Like John had Mike and Aaron, and [00:58:00] came to their wedding, still do things. Matty, when he went, he had Deb and Colin even went to, and he was he was affiliated with the church out there, but he came, did the New Jersey where he could he officiated Matty's wedding.

Jane Gaudreau: Yeah. So we were super lucky, but I have to say to us, l they do an extremely, yery awesome job with just getting like the kids into the families and if it doesn't work they'll work until it does work for them. Yeah. So that gave a comfort level. When we went out, we would take their bill to dinner, we, they would invite us to their house.

It was just very, it was like a family. So it was, that I think was definitely a help for both of us, cuz we realized that, but on the flip side, there was some of the boys that didn't have the as luxury, some of those people do, they'll take three, four kids, stick 'em in the basement [00:59:00] just to make money.

Guy Gaudreau: And they don't feed 'em as well as they should be fed and all that stuff. But our boys were with really good families. Families that just did it because they wanted to do it for the kids. Help the kids out and we've stayed friends with all 'em. We go to vacation with 'em.

And we, we do stuff that's, we do stuff with 'em.

Jane Gaudreau: They'll fly in from and, go to, when both boys were at college, both bill of parents flew up, saw them play John's bill of parents, they still, come out and, we go out to Calgary for Yeah. A long weekend. We were really lucky.

When you asked me like, how was it in the beginning, it was really hard. How would I have thought when they were younger? I could have done that. No, but then, you realize you, you evolve with them in different things and you find out what you know works best for them.

And at no point did I want them ever coming back and saying, if I had went to the [01:00:00] US h I might have been able to play college hockey. So Do you consult with Johnny now, obviously he's got an agent every lot of people, I'm sure in his ear. But now that he's at the highest level making some very big decisions like he had to do this summer, how much did you guys consult with him?

Jane Gaudreau: Yeah, he came home. Actually it's funny because I went to work that day, the day of free agency, because prior to that we thought that John was definitely staying with Calgary. I know Calgary fans don't believe that, some of 'em, but up until the 12th hour, we thought he was staying with Calgary.

So gee actually went up to visit his mom in Vermont. They. So he was eight hours away and he would've never left if he knew John was like struggling with this. So he left. We thought, it was gonna be Calgary, it was gonna be and it was the night before. And when I tell you he was a wreck, like he was so upset.

He didn't [01:01:00] know what to do. A lot of things happen, transcribe, it just, just a lot of different things that day. And that's when he decided, maybe I will do free agency. And I was like, oh, wow. Dad's eight hours away the next day. And he said, can you stay home from work?

And, this is gonna be a big decision, and of course it was between, him and his wife. Were they married? Yeah. Yeah, they were married. Yeah. Him and his wife. But he still we helped him out through the whole, I still believe that no one is ever going to be the best person for, someone as their parents.

, the parents are always going to be like, there's no other agenda. There's no, there's no money. There might be with like, like agents or 

John Boruk: Absolutely. There's no, you have their best interest at heart all the time. How much did you consult with Johnny during free agency because that was a very stressful time.   

Jane Gaudreau: Yes. There's no team that's gonna promise you [01:02:00] this. As parents, I was like, absolutely, I'll stay home.

His sister came, she also works at a school and we have a summer school. She came home that day and everyone was there. But who was in Vermont, who had no idea that this was happening that day. So it was, when I tell you it was a stressful day, it was unbelievably stressful day. Like I just had, it was nothing how I thought it was going to be.

Because like I said, we thought he was gonna Calgary everything was gonna be fine. And even when he decided, I'm still not sure if I'm. Not saying, I'm not going to Calgary, I just want to test free agency. And it wasn't until, that night, about six o'clock at night.

John Boruk: The word or the perception was, is that he wanted to be closer back home. You went, had some health issues, he wanted to see you guys, I think more often being on an Eastern conference team, that was, [01:03:00] I think that was what the word that, that was discussed. 

Jane Gaudreau: Yeah. And that did go back and forth.

But again, he was thinking, I'd like to be back home. I'd like to be closer to my family and also to Meredith’s family. But at the same time, the people in Calgary for the, for the most part, especially the fans and a lot of the people in the organization were so good to him that he said, like, how do I, it was a hard decision.

And he had said, it's funny cuz the summer before had they offered him a contract even remotely close. He said this would've been a non-issue. I would've been in Calgary for eight more years, but Wow. Yeah they, for whatever reasons, I don't know how the politics of that work, but, I guess maybe they didn't feel they were ready to offer him a contract like that.

They offered him a contract. A contract, but it wasn't anywhere, like any, been close to what he was. [01:04:00] Sure. His agent thought he market value, it wasn't even, it was a joke. He, he was really embarrassed. And I'm not gonna say what it was, but it really embarrassed him. He was upset.

It was like a whole different kind of scenario for us. And it was, but again, he played well that year. Calgary loved him and then he actually, he thought he was going back and we were really kinda surprised. Like we, he, we knew he always wanted to come home, but he really did love Calgary. His wife liked Calgary. She had friends there. It was, things work out for a reason. As I say, his moms like to say yes. I said to him, I said, listen, John, everything works out for a reason. Yep. And he loves Columbus. He's happy, he loves the town.

It's a great place for him to him and his wife to raise, a family. We're just really proud of him. Yes. That, he really [01:05:00] thought about, let me think about just not myself and how easy it would be to stay in Calgary and play there. Let me think about, the family I'm going to have and my wife and her family because, our family, we were used to that.

We were used to our son being 2,600 miles away. Sure. So there was a lot he had to take into consideration. And when I say it came down to the wire, it literally came down to the wire. He was not anywhere near, like when John called him up, he was like, it's so funny.   

John Boruk: He's been, you've been part of every little decision along the way, and here you are, the biggest decision at the biggest stage, and you're out in the woods somewhere.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah, like when I left, I he was like, I thought for sure he was gonna go. It was, a nice offer. They finally came up with an offer and and I thought that's where he is gonna go. And then and I know he wanted to play home, [01:06:00] but I said, I didn't, it didn't, I was up there and he goes, Dad, I'm gonna go to free agency.

Guy Gaudreau: He go, what? He goes, it was surprised to me like anything else, I'm like, Wow, I wish I'd have known that I wouldn't have went up to Vermont. He goes I didn't, whatever. So it was, and still that day when we, I remember my daughter, she went to school that day and she came home from work and he said, she goes John, I can't believe it.

Jane Gaudreau: She goes, you're, I, and he goes I'm not sure. He goes, I'm not saying I, I could still go back to Calgary. And we were like, and Kristen, she's yesterday you could have had a Calgary for eight years and this year, today you only have him for second seven years and you're still thinking about it, but he was just like really confused.

John Boruk: You just, there's, that's big decisions, thousands of thoughts swirling in your mind, right? And so much to take into consideration and so many people in his ear and he's trying to really minimize that filter. Yeah. And that's why he you'd [01:07:00] consult with parents and to try to get that perspective.

So when do we get all four kids together now? Everybody's got their own lives. When does, cuz that family's getting bigger. 

Jane Gaudreau: When do we get 'em all together? Here's a funny story. Last year after Nadia was married and then John was married. So we, I think I had mentioned before when we built the house, we live in the country, so we build a mother-in-law suite.

So my mom was in her mother-in-law's suite. In the mother-in-law suite. My mom ended up getting really sick and so she came over to our side of the house cuz it was a lot easier for me to, take care of her and get a help out. So my daughter was selling her house and she said, Hey when I sell my house, can I stay in the mother-in-law suite temporarily till we find a house Covid hit.

Oh yeah. Every time they went for a house, someone would outbid 'em. They could not find a house. So they stayed there. But what was great for Guy and I, because we had our, we got to see, our daughter, our son-in-law, and especially the two granddaughters, like every [01:08:00] single day. So they're living in the house like there's only a little door.

, there's a laundry room that separates the two houses. So then of course Katie, she just graduated from college, so she's living a home, so she's with us. Then John, every year when he would come home, he would just live the summer with us. It was like the joke here, this guy, he'd work out at the ridge Dale.

Guy Gaudreau: Yeah. And then on the weekends he had a short place he'd go down the shore place, so he didn't feel like driving an hour at a Hollydell an hour and 10 minutes. So he'd just stay at our house. And so he would stay at our house.   

Jane Gaudreau: They this was like, in the beginning, he didn't have the shore house, so he would just stay with us.

Yeah. But once he had the shore house, he'd stay there. But, and then he got married and him and his wife would either stay at our house or stay at her house in Malvern. And then Maddie, he's going to, they were building a house. Building a house, yeah. So he comes and lives. So at one point last year, we.

Everyone under the roof. Oh, wow. In our same house everyone. And we were like, [01:09:00] and everyone would joke and they said, remember how you said you always wished your kids would never go away and they could live with you for the rest of your life? Do you still think of it? Do you feel, still feel that?

And I was like, most days, but some days, no. So it's nice. They're very close. We are so fortunate that they're all really close. When John had the baby my youngest daughter, she left after she was done teaching that day, she flew out. And then shortly after my oldest daughter, she came out.

She stayed there and then Maddie, they had a little bit of a break. So everyone's been out there, in Calgary they probably wouldn't have not been able to do that because of the flights. 

John Boruk: Oh sure. Yeah. It's tough. I trust I was, when I was covering the team, it was, you had to fly Toronto, Montreal, get a connector.

It's not easy. Not getting easy getting out to Western Canada. But it was fun having them all together. So I have to say, they do get to spend a lot of time together and in the summer, and like I said, John has the shore house and when Gee had. Part incident. [01:10:00] John came home and he said, I wanna buy a shore house.

Jane Gaudreau: I wanna buy a family shore house where we can all go and spend the summers together. And and that's what he did. And of course, they're married, mattie's, married everyone. We're not down there every weekend like we used to be. But for the most part, we, spend a lot of time together as a family.

And that's you. That's, summer time. Always important to us. 

John Boruk: Yeah. Summer time. That's the only time when I think you can probably get all four families together, which is great.

Jane Gaudreau: Yeah. Now we're all going out for Thanksgiving with exception of Matty because his team has to play. So he's not going out for Thanksgiving, but John and Meredith are hosting Thanksgiving and we're all gonna go out there.

John Boruk: Tell 'em how much fun you had on this podcast. Cool. Maybe in the off season we'll get Johnny on here and his wife and they can talk about Oh yeah, they would love it. Experience. Yeah, it's been good. I think this is terrific. You give insight into what it was like as parents.

This is valuable information that a lot of parents [01:11:00] will have access to. It's great. And you guys have been just tremendous parents. And to see the thank the kids and how you've raised them, I think says a lot. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. As we typically do at the end of every show, we have our quote or our line of the day.

This week, our quote goes pick this one up off of a coach off Twitter. The value of sports is that they build your character. The reality is that they will also reveal your character. Nobody will remember how many points you scored, but they will remember how hard you worked and what kind of teammate you were.

Like it or not. Your character is your legacy. A reminder, please subscribe to us wherever you listen. Spotify, Google Apple Podcast, Amazon Music. We'd greatly appreciate it. Our success is determined by your subscriptions.