Gaudreau takes bite out of his cheesy nickname

Notoriously picky eater adding to his palate, writes Kristen Anderson

Before he was Johnny Hockey, he was Johnny Ham-and-Cheese.

At least that’s what buddies from Boston College used to call Johnny Gaudreau, a notoriously picky eater who rarely steps outside of his comfort zone, especially when it comes to his personal cuisine.

And while he’s admittedly gotten more adventurous as he’s been living on his own in Calgary — he turned 25 this summer — the Flames winger explained the nickname’s origins, which likely started how one would expect.

“When I was in college I’d just get ham and cheese on, like, wheat bread,” Gaudreau said sheepishly with a chuckle. “I’d take it to the locker-room and eat it. I’d eat it seven days a week, every day. Before practice, I’d come in with my ham-and-cheese sandwich.

“I guess that’s one that is going to stick with me.”

So much so that word got around to the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast during a summertime episode featuring former NHLers Ryan Whitney, Paul Bissonnette and Gaudreau’s former Boston College teammate Kevin Hayes, who revealed one particular instance when Gaudreau, during a sushi dinner in Milton, Mass., opted to go across the street, purchase a plain ham-and-cheese sandwich from a questionable sub shop and brought it into the restaurant to eat.

Gaudreau chuckled when reminded of the tale.

“We were going for sushi,” Gaudreau said with a grin.

“And I went across the street because I didn’t like sushi at the time and brought over a hamand-cheese sandwich to the sushi place. Guys gave me a hard time about it.

“I was picky when I was younger. I like sushi a little more now. I’ve kind of grown into it a bit.”

His penchant for plain food — pasta with butter was one of his go-to pre-game meals — has not gone unnoticed at the NHL level.

Throwing a wrench in his eating habits, too, is the Flames’ trip to China next week for a twogame exhibition series against the Boston Bruins.

While the team will be travelling on a chartered plane with North American-standardized food for the players and most likely have Western food available to them throughout their trip as they’re entering the opening stages of training camp, there could be opportunities to venture out and experiment with the local cuisine.

Then again, there’s always ham-and-cheese sandwiches.

“I’ll probably stick more to my diet,” Gaudreau said, chuckling. “I’m a pretty picky eater, so I’ll probably just stick to pasta, chicken and rice. But maybe I’ll try some different food, who knows?”