COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2014 The sticks have been brought in from the front porch. The memorials have mostly been picked up and packed away. As the Columbus Blue Jackets make their way through the NHL this season, there won\u2019t be moments of silence or heart-wrenching ceremonies before games.<\/p>\n
Today is the first anniversary of the tragedy that took the lives of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau. The sports world will pause, remember their lives and solemnly look back on that horrible day when the unthinkable became real and all of the emerging details just made the tragedy that much more devastating.<\/p>\n
The Gaudreau family will never be able to \u201cmove on\u201d from their loss, and neither will the close friends and former teammates of Johnny and Matthew. That\u2019s the thing about grief: you can\u2019t ever put it away, you just learn how to carry it. And sometimes it gets heavy.<\/p>\n
But, as has so often been the case over the last 12 months, the rest of us can take our cues from the strength and grace of Meredith Gaudreau, Johnny\u2019s widow.<\/p>\n
It was Meredith at the memorial service last September who delivered a stirring and powerful eulogy, one that allowed Johnny Gaudreau\u2019s former teammates to find meaning and, yes, joy in coming to the rink every day last season and play with a purpose.<\/p>\n
And it was Madeline Gaudreau, Matthew\u2019s wife, who recently told The Athletic\u2019s Peter Baugh what her main objective is now. There will never be a way to make sense of such a tragedy, but there is great power and meaning in finding a way forward with purpose.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of times when Matt and John are spoken about, it\u2019s with a lot of sadness and heaviness, and rightfully so,\u201d Madeline told Baugh<\/a>. \u201cBut I want to change the narrative, and rather than talking about the tragic way we lost them and how they should be here, talking about the foundation and what we\u2019re doing with it is what I\u2019m trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n In the wake of the tragedy, fans all over the hockey world were shocked and saddened. The kind people of the world expressed a strong desire to do something \u2014 anything \u2014 that could help in any way possible, even though it seemed like there was nothing that could be done.<\/p>\n There were vigils in Columbus and Calgary, where Johnny was a star NHL player. There was a vigil in Boston, where Johnny and Matthew starred for Boston College. There were vigils in southern New Jersey and Philadelphia, the area where the brothers were raised.<\/p>\n Then, as the hockey season played out, there was tribute after tribute to the brothers \u2014 the NHL, the Blue Jackets and Flames, Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off, the World Championship, etc. Several NHL coaches, starting with former Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella, have had the brothers\u2019 father, Guy, join their clubs for off-day practices and even morning skates.<\/p>\n The Blue Jackets hung No. 13 in the rafters of Nationwide Arena and in the dressing room, where it remains. The Gaudreau family \u2014 parents, wives, siblings, kids \u2014 led the Blue Jackets out onto the ice at Ohio Stadium before the outdoor game against the Detroit Red Wings. Meredith announced the Blue Jackets\u2019 first-round draft pick earlier this summer.<\/p>\n In a Blue Jackets season full of highlights and surprises, was there anything more beautiful or memorable than the crowd in Nationwide Arena singing happy birthday to Johnny and Meredith\u2019s son, Johnny Gaudreau Jr.?<\/p>\n The Gaudreaus have acknowledged repeatedly that all of these remembrances and outreaches, though some have been difficult emotionally, have helped remind them of how much Johnny and Matthew are loved and how much they meant to the hockey world.<\/p>\n It is important to Meredith that Johnny and Matthew always be remembered, that their legacy in the hockey world and beyond not fade over time. That\u2019s her promise and it\u2019s our directive \u2014 fans and players together. It\u2019s already begun, too.<\/p>\n At his wedding earlier this summer, Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski and his wife had Johnny and Meredith\u2019s daughter, Noa, serve as their flower girl and asked guests to make donations to the John and Matthew Gaudreau Foundation<\/a> in lieu of gifts.<\/p>\n