Flames donate benches made from sticks left at Gaudreau memorial

Hundreds of hockey sticks were left at the Gaudreau memorial outside Scotiabank Saddledome in September, each of which has now found a permanent home around the Calgary community.

The Calgary Flames announced that those 229 sticks from the memorial were used to make benches, which were donated to local arenas. The first bench was donated on Monday, with the Gaudreau family in attendance.

Each bench has a plaque that reads: “This bench was handcrafted using hockey sticks left by the C of Red on the steps of the Scotiabank Saddledome in tribute to Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau. May their memory live on forever.”

Johnny, a forward for the Flames and Columbus Blue Jackets, and his brother Matthew, a former pro hockey player, died Aug. 29 when they were struck by an alleged drunk driver who has been charged with two counts of death by auto, while riding bicycles near their home in Salem County, New Jersey.

The Gaudreau family will be in attendance for the Flames’ game on Tuesday against the Blue Jackets. There will be a special pregame tribute for the brothers and ceremonial puck drop.

Johnny was drafted by Calgary in the fourth round of the 2011 NHL Draft and ranks fifth in franchise history with 609 points (210 goals, 399 assists) in 602 regular-season games.

On Monday, Johnny and Matthew’s father, Guy Gaudreau, served as honorary coach at Flames practice.

"Johnny was a dear friend and Guy was more often than not around," said Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson. "The circumstances [stink], but it was good seeing him. I told him he's got to help us out there get our goal-scoring going and he had his own conclusion why we were not scoring. It was great. It was great just, you know, talking to him about that. That helps him going through what he's what he's going through.”

NHL.com independent correspondent Aaron Vickers contributed to this report