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    • Columbus Blue Jackets star Johnny Gaudreau mourned during the home opener
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    Columbus Blue Jackets star Johnny Gaudreau mourned during the home opener

    Vaseline Posted on

    The Columbus Blue Jackets’ home opener Tuesday looked a lot like the first holiday without a loved one.

    The rituals were all familiar, the traditions enshrined in more than two decades of NHL hockey at Nationwide Arena. Fans in jackets, jerseys and hoodies poured in, lining up for burgers and beer, and grabbing new merchandise. They shouted “Lion!” for anthem singer Leo Walsh. They chanted “CBJ! CBJ!” and “Let’s go, coats! Let’s go, coats!”

    But nothing was the same. Many people wore No. 13 Tuesday night as the Jackets began their 41-game home schedule for 2024-2025. But No. 13 himself was missing from the ice.

    “I’m devastated,” Cathy Kaplan said as she fought back tears she said she had shed many times since the Aug. 29 deaths of Blue Jackets star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew, who were struck and killed by a suspected drunken driver. Director. while riding their bikes near their family’s home in New Jersey.

    Johnny Gaudreau: Here’s the latest on the investigation into the NHL star’s death

    Tuesday was an emotional evening for many who lingered at a tribute to the Gaudreau brothers in the arena’s lower concourse. Four jerseys — from their days at Boston College, Johnny’s time on a U.S. national team and with the Dubuque Fighting Saints — flanked his Jackets number 13. More than 100 hockey sticks left outside the arena after the star’s death leaned against a window. There were also signs, hockey pucks and other tributes on display.

    “It’s not the normal, uplifting opening night,” said Paula Hammer, who was with her husband and daughter. But it was comforting, she said. “We’re all here for Johnny.”

    But there were also happy memories. As Jacob Barker perused the merchandise at a kiosk in the lower concourse, he recalled purchasing a Blue Jackets jersey with Gaudreau’s name and number in the summer of 2022 and having it signed during a meet-and-greet greeting in the preseason.

    Gaudreau’s wife, Meredith, was expecting their first child at the time, and when Barker got his moment at the autograph table, he told Gaudreau that he was a new father, too.

    “His face lit up,” Barker said. “He was a family man.”

    “It was right there,” he said, pointing to the area where the Gaudreau Monument now stands.

    More: Meredith Gaudreau announces pregnancy in emotional eulogy for Blue Jackets star Johnny Gaudreau

    One of the biggest cheers during a pregame video tribute to Gaudreau came when the footage changed from his time with the Calgary Flames to the day in July 2022 when he stepped off a private plane in Columbus and wore a Blue Jackets jersey for the first time attracted. .

    Three years after Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky stepped off the plane in Miami and leading scorer Artemi Panarin landed in New York, Gaudreau was a top free agent who decided to come to Columbus. And he did it for a reason that earned him a place in the hearts of Jackets fans forever.

    He liked it here.

    Among the hockey sticks, pucks and posters that make up the memorial for Gaudreau, several were engraved with the same message from fans.

    “Thank you for choosing Columbus,” they said.

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