South Jersey's Gaudreau giving Flames a spark

CALGARY - Johnny Gaudreau spent half his summer at home in South Jersey and the other half in Boston as he works toward finishing his degree in communications at Boston College.

He still has four courses to go at the school, which allowed him the avenue to dazzle hockey fans all over the world. Gaudreau, who won the Hobey Baker Award in 2014, said after Thursday's morning skate in Calgary - before his Flames took on his hometown Flyers - that he'll likely be finished his degree in about two or three summers.

So forgive him if he still "has a little bit of the school mentality," as his teammate and roommate Josh Jooris says.

Jooris means Gaudreau still likes to play video games - which the two do together at home, only on opposite floors with headsets on - and eat easy meals like mac-and-cheese. Gaudreau isn't necessarily becoming a Top Chef in his second year living with Jooris. They rent a place in the Kensington section of Calgary.

"I don't think he's very willing," Jooris said of Gaudreau's cooking skills. "I think he's more on the lazy side. He just likes to heat things up."

Lazy is a term not frequently associated with Gaudreau, the diminutive, 5-9 winger. The Flames list their All-Star forward, in his second full season in the NHL, at 157 pounds. Gaudreau said he weighs 162.

Whatever the weight, the Carneys Point, N.J., native has turned heads in the NHL largely because of his work ethic, which goes perfectly with his blazing speed and skill level.

Gaudreau, 22, has followed up a 64-point, All-Star season by leading Calgary with 13 points in 13 games entering Thursday night's game.

"There were many question marks about his size, about whether he'd be able to sustain an 82-game schedule, but look at the answer he's provided us," Flames coach Bob Hartley said. "He just keeps getting better and better."

Gaudreau said he had the sophomore slump notion planted in the back of his head. But he tried his hardest to fight it by just working harder.

"The most important thing is just feeling a lot more comfortable with myself on the ice, not second-guessing myself and thinking where I should be out on the ice," he said. "In the defensive zone, not running around like my head's chopped off."

Thursday night, he said, a bunch of family and friends would be watching at home throughout the Philadelphia area. Some were probably still rooting for the Flyers, whom Gaudreau loved, until playing his first game as a member of the Flames. He was a big fan of fellow "smaller guy" Danny Briere.

He's still getting used to life in Calgary.

"It's a little bit more colder here, obviously," Gaudreau said. "You wake up looking onto mountains rather than, where I live, it's out in the country."

The ride from Kensington to the rink is nothing like the one he took up I-295 to get to Gloucester Catholic. And he's still getting used to life far away from the home of Jane and Guy Gaudreau.

Jooris says he's a good roommate, though. And the checking-line winger still has trouble putting his body on Gaudreau in practice.

"I remember playing him in college like, 'I'm going to run this little guy,' " said Jooris, who played against Gaudreau's Eagles while at Union College. "You just can't get to him. He's just so quick.

"I don't see him slowing down anytime soon."

Maybe it's the mac-and-cheese.

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