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CALGARY—Tim Haney is a third-generation Calgarian and lifelong Calgary Flames fan. For decades, he has watched their games and cheered their victories. But on the evening of Sept. 4, he was silent.
He joined thousands of other fans outside the Saddledome arena to hold a 13-minute vigil for hockey star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew who were killed by an alleged drunk driver while cycling in New Jersey on Aug. 29. The vigil was 13 minutes long, in honour of Gaudreau’s jersey number.
“[Johnny Gaudreau was] everything that a hockey player, a Flame, and a Calgarian should be,” said Haney, who shares his Flames passion with his father, nieces, and nephew. He told The Epoch Times that Johnny Gaudreau “did it all for the right reasons, for the love of the game, and just being a good person all around.
“I hurt so much when he left, and that’s why it hurts so much now,” he added, holding back tears.
On the night of the accident, he had seen rumours online and went to bed hoping they were not true. The next morning he was “shocked and in disbelief.”
Johnny, 31, and his brother Matthew, 29, had been riding their bicycles in Oldmans Township when they were struck by an SUV. New Jersey police charged Sean Higgins, 43, who allegedly told authorities he drank five or six beers before the accident.
Matthew Gaudreau did not play for the NHL but played professionally for teams in the American and East Coast hockey leagues.
Audrey Buston, 26, has been a Flames fan since she was a child. Tears welled up in her eyes as she approached the memorial.
“I used to watch the games with my dad, and he recently passed away too a couple months ago, and Johnny was always our favourite,” she told The Epoch Times. “So, it made me sad for a couple of reasons, but it was also nice to think about all the memories that he gave us.”
Buston is attending nursing school and coaches kids’ summer hockey. She learned the tragic news the morning after the incident, before leaving for her hockey lessons. She said she’ll always remember when Gaudreau scored an overtime winning goal against the Dallas Stars. “One of the coolest hockey moments I’ve ever seen,” she said.
Buston attended the vigil with her friend, Ali Cassels. Although not as big a fan as her friend, Cassels said she was inspired by the way the Flames brought the city together.
“It just shows that this city comes together like no other, and I think that Gaudreau was such a big part of that for so long,” she said. “He made this city come alive.”
Flames general manager Craig Conroy was among the speakers at the event. He shared memories of when he first met “Johnny Hockey”—Gaudreau’s popular nickname—and how his first impression was that Gaudreau was too short to be a good hockey player. Gaudreau eventually proved him wrong.
Paige Liebreich, a Calgary fan of the Edmonton Oilers, said despite the rivalry between her team and the Flames, unity within the hockey community is strong, noting that fans from both teams support each other in times of tragedy.
Liebreich, 22, praised Gaudreau’s humility and kindness. “When you get so famous, it’s hard, you lose a sense of yourself,” she told The Epoch Times. “I feel like he was always really genuine, always really nice … you could feel in his eyes how kind of a person he was.”
Flames fan Kyra MacDonald attended the vigil with her Oilers-supporting friend, Liebreich. She said she heard Gaudreau’s name a lot growing up because her father is a “die-hard Flames fan.”
For MacDonald, Gaudreau’s passing was a hard loss, especially for the many children for whom he was an idol. “I know so many people who have loved him and have looked up to him for so long,” she said. “He was a Calgary legend.”
As the fans began to leave after the vigil, Tim Haney reached down to the ground, chalk in hand, and wrote a tribute to Gaudreau, adding to the sea of messages that fans have chalked over the days on the concrete next to the arena.
“Just keep cheering,” was Haney’s message to Flames fans. And just like the blazing ‘C’ on his jersey, Haney said he will be a “flaming ‘C’ for life.”
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