Wildcats coach Gardiner MacDougall reflects on family tragedy at Memorial Cup
Moncton Wildcats head coach Gardiner MacDougall speaks to media following a Memorial Cup hockey game in Rimouski, Que., on Monday, May 26, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov
RIMOUSKI — Taylor MacDougall was expecting to see his team hit the ice at the Memorial Cup on Monday when he received a devastating phone call.
Instead of watching his Moncton Wildcats take on the Medicine Hat Tigers, the hockey club's general manager met with the RCMP to identify his father-in-law, who had died suddenly of a heart attack.
Gardiner MacDougall, Taylor's father and Moncton's head coach, reflected on the tragedy on Wednesday.
'You never want that phone call,' he said. 'My son, as a general manager, this is the highlight of his career. This should be the most joy he's ever had. He gets a call that will change his life 20 minutes before (that game).
'You don't have a manual or manuscript for that type of thing. He's handled it amazingly.'
Patrick Buckley had arrived in Rimouski from Fredericton that afternoon and checked into his hotel with Taylor MacDougall's help. His son-in-law was the last family member to see him.
Buckley drove to a nearby golf course for a round ahead of Moncton's game and was later found in his car.
'That day (Buckley) was in Fredericton. So Taylor's daughter, Lily, is four years old. He drove her to daycare that day. He kissed her goodbye, and she loved her granddad,' Gardiner MacDougall said. 'That's the last time she'll ever kiss her granddad, so it puts things in perspective.
'And then he drove, and he probably wasn't feeling 100 per cent, but he was so excited to come watch us. He came to all our playoff games.'
The veteran coach held back tears when he announced the news of Buckley's death during a news conference after Monday's 3-1 loss to Medicine Hat, calling it the most difficult game he'd ever coached.
Taylor flew home to Fredericton after the game to be with his wife's family. Gardiner, meanwhile, began preparing for Wednesday's must-win matchup against the Rimouski Océanic.
It was Moncton's most important game of the season. But hockey, in many ways, took a back seat.
'Whatever happens tonight, we're going to live tomorrow,' Gardiner MacDougall told a group of reporters at Colisée Financière Sun Life.
He also recalled a life-changing moment of his own from 1997.
At the time, Gardiner MacDougall was coaching the OCN Blizzard of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. He was behind the bench for a game in Portage la Prairie, Man., when he learned his sister's husband — a military member stationed in Petawawa, Ont. — had been in a serious accident.
MacDougall flew to Ottawa the following day to support his sister. After her husband spent six days in intensive care, the family made the difficult decision to pull the plug on his life support.
'That changed my life,' he said. 'Hey, I'm as competitive as any guy, but I had a sister. She had a five-year-old, a three-year-old and a one-year-old, and she lost her husband in 1997 just like that.'
'We'd like to hang around Rimouski. That's our goal,' MacDougall added. 'But I think that's given me an amazing perspective. It certainly changed me as a human, it really changed me as a hockey coach in 1997, that seven days in intensive care in Ottawa with my family around me and that type of thing.
'It was another bitter call that Taylor got to have changed his life.'
Moncton and Rimouski — both winless through two games at the junior hockey showcase — played the final round-robin game Wednesday with a spot in the semifinal on the line.
Moncton captain Markus Vidicek didn't know Buckley, but said the Wildcats felt the loss deeply.
'When it happens to one person in our team, it happens to everyone,' he said. 'So for us, it was a lot.'
FOE, as in 'family over everything,' is a phrase you'll hear a lot around the MacDougalls.
Taylor's message to Wildcats players back in August, when both he and his father joined the franchise, was that 'great teams are tight teams.'
'He said, 'We have to be the tightest team ever,'' Gardiner MacDougall recalled. 'When we took the job over, when you talk to other coaches, maybe the Wildcats weren't as tight as you want to be, and certainly this year they've proven (they are).'
'Patrick was just the greatest family guy,' he later added. 'We can't control some parts of life, so we just got to make the best of it today, and there's a hockey game to be played tonight.'
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2025.
By Daniel Rainbird
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
7 minutes ago
- CBC
Camryn Rogers wins women's hammer throw for 2nd Kuortane Games title in 3 years
Camryn Rogers continued her unbeaten week and winning season on Saturday. The Canadian hammer thrower captured the women's event in Finland, defeating her friends and Finnish teammates Krista Tervo and Silja Kosonen at the 86th Kuortane Games. Rogers, the reigning world and Olympic champion, threw 76.45 metres at Kuortane Central Sports Field to edge Tervo (76.98) for her fourth victory in five competitions this outdoor season. Kosonen was third (72.90). Rogers fell 12 centimetres shy of matching her stadium record set two years ago in a victory over Kosonen at the World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze track and field meet. The 26-year-old Rogers fouled on her first of six attempts Sunday but rebounded with her best throw on her next try. She also didn't record a distance on her fifth attempt. On Tuesday, the Richmond, B.C., athlete prevailed despite three fouls with a 74.59m top throw at the 68th Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, about 315 kilometres south of Kuortane, where she beat Kosonen (second) and Tervo (ninth). Rogers will return to Canada to prepare for the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League event on July 5 in Eugene, Ore. She has a best throw of 78.14 this season and 78.62 personal best. Rogers won an Olympic gold medal last Aug. 6 in Paris after securing her first world championship title in 2023 after silver the previous year. WATCH | Rogers takes women's hammer throw at 68th Paavo Nurmi Games: B.C.'s Camryn Rogers places 1st in women's hammer throw competition in Turku 5 days ago Duration 0:33 The Richmond, B.C. native scored 75.59-metres on her 5th throw to clinch the women's hammer throw competition at the World Athletics Continental Tour meet in Turku, Finland. For more information on athletics events streaming live on CBC Sports this season, click here to see the full broadcast schedule.
CTV News
16 minutes ago
- CTV News
Lemonade stands to selling toys: A Belle River family fights ‘king' of cancers
Landon Bevan, 6, and members of his family organized a lemonade stand in Belle River on June 21, 2025 to raise funds for their Grandpa's pancreatic cancer treatment. (Robert Lothian/CTV News Windsor) In a day of blistering heat, six-year-old Landon Bevan was all smiles as he stood on his driveway handing out lemonade; after all, he knew it was for an important cause. Bevan and his brother Rhyen crafted the idea to host a lemonade stand in an effort to help their grandpa, Roy Knight, pay for medical treatment for pancreatic cancer. 'We had to, like, pull up the tents and put the balloons on the side of the garage,' Landon explained. 'I made a couple of the signs that my mom stuck into the ground.' The aspiring doctor also pitched ideas to create a stand where he tells jokes for money, or even sell his toys if need be. 'He's pretty smart for a six-year-old,' Knight said with a smile. Throughout Saturday afternoon, visitors stopped by the Belle River home to grab a lemonade or a raffle ticket. Funds support Knight's efforts to travel to Florida and receive NanoKnife surgery, a form of treatment not regularly offered in Canada. The stay is estimated to cost about $80,000. While Knight is seeking community help to try and prolong his life, Roy and his daughter Ashley Bevan believe his story shines a spotlight on the need for added pancreatic cancer research and support in healthcare. Treatment In Canada, pancreatic cancer is often treated by chemotherapy, radiation, or the Whipple procedure. Knight began chemotherapy in the days after receiving the diagnosis in February and has been seeing medical experts in London. 'Chemo really takes a toll on somebody, you know, out of the two weeks, I only have four good days in those two weeks,' Knight explained. Since his diagnosis, Knight has stayed with Ashley, a nurse practitioner, to ensure he was receiving the care he needed. 'Having pancreatic cancer is awful,' Ashley said 'Hearing that that's the cancer that it is, knowing that it's the king of all cancers.' Through countless hours of reading, she learned it's 'very muddied waters' when it comes to pancreatic cancer research and treatment. According to the Canadian Cancer Society, in 2024 pancreatic cancer was expected to be the third most deadly form of cancer in the country. 'There really does need to be more research done on pancreatic cancer treatment guidelines,' Ashley said. The family learned of 'NanoKnife,' a treatment which uses pulses of electricity to destroy cancer cells without damaging nearby organs and cells, per Ontario Health. Currently, the procedure is used in Canada for prostate cancer. However, the surgery is not regularly available in Canada for pancreatic cancer, and Bevin said clinical trials require requests from Canadians. 'When I asked, how do we request them to do a research trial? [The research coordinator] said, there needs to be a need and that the public needs to ask for it,' she noted. The family wants to see the treatment reconsidered for clinical trials, and if successful, used as a regular response to pancreatic cancer. 'I think to myself like we're just one family of many who are going through this exact thing,' Ashley said. Diagnosis Ahead of his cancer diagnosis, Knight said he spent many months with abdominal pain. He went to an emergency room on multiple occasions, but the cancer was not detected until they urged medical officials to do a biopsy. 062225 From left, Ashley Bevan, Landon Bevan, and Roy Knight spoke to CTV News about the need for more cancer research and treatments in Canada. (Robert Lothian/CTV News Windsor) 'They assured us that it was not cancer. Then we got the call on his birthday that it was,' Ashely said. The family wants to see more procedures and resources available to ensure Canadians have access to screening processes, which could help lead to early detection for some forms of cancer. As for Knight's surgery, they've tentatively set it for July 24th in Florida, pending they raise enough money. 'You know you just want to go on as long as you can, and hopefully this NanoKnife helps to see the kids grow up,' Knight said.
CBC
27 minutes ago
- CBC
'The spirit of African communities' on display at multicultural Winnipeg soccer tournament
A year after the fatal shooting of a soccer player at the Canada African Cup of Nations, the soccer tournament returned to the pitch on Saturday to a crowd of supporters from across Winnipeg's African diaspora. The Canada African Cup of Nations kicked off at Shaughnessy Park soccer field, with about 400 registered players across 12 teams. The tournament will run on weekends from June 21 until Aug. 2. Now in its seventh year, the Canada African Cup of Nations features Manitoba-based athletes representing their home countries of Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, South Sudan and Tanzania. Haiti and Ukraine have also been invited to play alongside teams from the African diaspora. Gode Katembo, the tournament's founder and president, said he hopes to see even more countries join them in 2026. "Our goal for next year, especially being the World Cup year, we are opening the borders to everyone," he said, adding they are aiming to have at least 16 teams register next year. Saturday kicked off with a match between Ghana and Haiti, followed by Ukraine vs. Senegal, and ending with Ivory Coast vs. Kenya. On the sidelines, there was an artisan market, live music and many food trucks for soccer fans to enjoy, on top of a wildfire relief fundraiser. At the same time, 16 teams are facing off in the Ontario African Cup of Nations. Katembo also heads that tournament, which is in its second year. Seidu Mohammed, vice-president of operations for the Manitoba tournament, said the Cup of Nations is one of the biggest and well-supported events of the year for African communities across the province. "That's what the Canada African Cup of Nations is about, it's bringing all of the communities together to unite because that's the spirit of African communities. Soccer is a thing that can bring us together and is the language that we all speak," he said. "We want people to come out and support their countries, support their flags … We want everybody to come out and come and watch." Tournament increasing security after tragic shooting last year Katembo said the community came together after an athlete representing Eritrea was fatally shot in the parking lot outside of the Ralph Cantafio Soccer Complex in the city's south end after playing a game in last summer's tournament. Mohamed Yusuf Abdullahi, 22, was rushed to hospital in critical condition and was pronounced dead on July 13. Two men — Norbert Kipala, 27, and Tresor Horimbere, 22 — have been connected to the killing. Kipala has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder while police are still looking for Horimbere. A third man's murder charges were stayed last month after prosecutors decided his involvement in Abdullahi's death was "different than the co-accused in this situation." Katembo said the community bolstered support for the tournament immediately following Abdullahi's death. "We saw the community come out at large to stand together as one in solidarity as one after what happened," he said. This year, the tournament has partnered with the city to have more security guards patrolling the area, including the parking lot, Katembo said. "We don't want the thing that happened last year to happen this year again," said Mohammed. "We are trying to make sure that we keep everybody safe."
