Matty Gaudreau, a former Worcester Railer, and his brother Johnny, a long-time NHL star, were struck while biking on the eve of their sister’s wedding. The Railers community mourns the loss of a beloved player and his remarkable legacy
WORCESTER—At 134 pounds, Matty Gaudreau was by far the lightest player to ever step on the ice for the city’s three pro teams: IceCats, Sharks and Railers.
“There was a ton of grit in those 134 pounds,” Railers Chief Operating Officer Mike Myers said Thursday night as he tried to process the news that both Matty Gaudreau and his brother Johnny had been killed in New Jersey Wednesday night while riding their bicycles.
The brothers were run down on a rural road, struck by a driver who is alleged to have been drunk. Their sister was to be married on Friday.
Matty Gaudreau was 29 at the time of his death. He played 89 games for the Railers and tallied 24 goals and 36 assists for 60 points. He is tied for ninth on the team’s all-time points list with Trevor Cosgrove. His 24 goals are tied for 12th in Railers history.
Gaudreau broke in with the Railers on Oct. 31, 2017-18, assigned to Worcester by Bridgeport. He missed a month due to injury and wound up playing 38 games.
He played 50 games here the next year then returned for one game in 2021-22. Gaudreau was called out of retirement to help Worcester assemble a roster for a game in Reading after they had run out of players due to injuries and Covid restrictions.
Matty reached as high as the American Hockey League. Johnny, the older brother, played 11 years in the National Hockey League and had 743 points in 763 games. He spent the first nine years of his career with Calgary and the last two with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The brothers both went to Boston College and spent part of one season, 2013-14, on the same team. They were very close and kept in constant touch when Matty skated for Worcester. Their schedules did not allow for them to get together very often as pros, but Johnny did see Matty play at least once at the DCU Center.
The brothers were remembered with a moment of silence before Friday night’s WooSox games. Myers was asked if the Railers planned to remember Matty when their season starts.
“This is unimaginable,” he answered, “one of the most awful and bizarre things I’ve ever heard of. We will be doing something, but it’s too soon to know exactly what that will be.”
Myers particularly recalled how Matty Gaudreau helped get the Railers through their roster crisis, driving up to Reading on New Year’s Eve of 2021.
“My heart goes out to the Gaudreau family,” Myers said. “I can’t imagine how devastating this is for them. He was such a big part of getting the team off the ground and will always be a part of our Railers family.
“One of the biggest testaments to the kind of person that Matty was, was when he came out of retirement during a Covid-stricken year to help our team out for one game on the road in Reading.”
Myers said that he texted Matty on a Wednesday night for a Friday afternoon game, with Matty at first turning him down because he didn’t think he’d be helpful to the team.
“When he found out we would potentially not be able to play the game if he didn’t play, he showed up and was able to wear a Railers jersey one last time,” said Myers. “He really enjoyed it. He was so grateful after the fact. It brought him back to that joy he would get from playing. He was just a kid who loved playing hockey.”
Matty Gaudreau’s pro career spanned 143 games, 89 of them in a Railers uniform.
“It was not easy for him,” Myers said. “He had to follow in his brother’s footsteps and he didn’t have size but he didn’t let anything stop him.”
Gaudreau will be remembered as an original Railer and one of the team’s best players in its early years. He wasn’t the biggest Railer but left a large legacy.
Bill Ballou covered the Red Sox for the Worcester Telegram from 1997 through 2018. He has covered pro hockey in Worcester since 1994 and currently does a weekly column for the Worcester Red Sox. Ballou can be reached at vetgoalie@aol.com
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