From hard-hitting sacks to tackling electrical

Most professional football players don’t ride off into the sunset on their own terms.

Shayne Gauthier was well aware of that, but it didn’t make it sting any less when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers informed the veteran linebacker that they weren’t bringing him back for 2026.

“I was really hoping to play one more (season) because it would have been my 10th season, so, I’d say it didn’t really end the way I wanted,” Gauthier recently told the Free Press.

“It left a little sour taste in my mouth, but that’s part of pro sports. If everybody got the ending that they wanted, then it wouldn’t really work.”

It might not have been a storybook sendoff for the 34-year-old from Dolbeau-Mistassini, Que., but he can take solace in the fact that he had one hell of a career.

After winning back-to-back national championships for the Laval Rouge et Or, Gauthier was selected in the fourth round, 28th overall, by the Bombers in 2016.

When he first arrived in Winnipeg, he had no expectations. He could also barely speak English.

“People would kind of look at me weird. ‘Who is this Frenchman, not saying a word and looking like he’s going to kill us?’ I just didn’t know what to do. But when I was on the field, they saw I was doing what I was asked to do. I was a good football player, and that’s how you earn respect at the beginning,” said Gauthier.

“And I accepted my role as a special teams guy. I wasn’t mad about just doing special teams, I just (embraced) it. I think that’s what led me to having a long career like that.”

The Bombers might not have ended their Grey Cup drought in 2019 without him.

In that year’s Western Final in Regina, Gauthier made a clutch tackle on a punt return in the final minutes of the game to preserve the Blue and Gold’s 20-13 lead over the Saskatchewan Roughriders — which ultimately ended up being the final score.

The Riders pulled off some trickery that allowed for Nick Marshall to spring free down the sidelines but Gauthier sprinted across the field to trip him up.

“If that’s how I’m remembered in Winnipeg, I can’t ask for more than that,” he said.

Gauthier also had his moments on defence — especially in the 2023 Grey Cup. He stuffed a third down gamble on the goal line by the Montreal Alouettes to close out the first half. Then with the Bombers leading 24-21 in the fourth quarter, he sacked Cody Fajardo to put the Als in a second-and-18 near midfield with just over a minute remaining.

Despite the setback, Montreal still found a way to score the game-winning touchdown three plays later.

“For sure, I think about how it would’ve been if we had won. But I’ve got two Grey Cups, I’m good with that,” said Gauthier, who was also a member of the 2021 team that won it all.

Up until a few weeks ago, Gauthier was still hoping an opportunity would come up with another CFL team. While he’d certainly pick up the phone and listen if a club expressed interest, he doesn’t need football and is doing just fine without it.

When the 2020 CFL season was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, his brother-in-law Marcus Hoch influenced him to consider being an electrician.

“I was as green as you can be as an electrician,” said Gauthier.

But he dove in headfirst, and continued with it in the following years during the off-season.

“The first couple years of playing, I knew I could get cut at any time. So, my head was going back and forth on what I could do. Should I train people? Do I want to coach? Do I want to work in a trade? My brain was all over the place,” he said.

“But when COVID hit, it was a good time to really make a decision and start something to know if I like it and it ended up working for me.”

Hoch, a Red Seal Journeyman, and Gauthier started their own business two and a half years ago called Haut Electrical. They offer residential and commercial electrician services, and have had no problem finding work.

“I’m very grateful I spent all my years here in Winnipeg. Those nine years here are really helping me out right now with my company,” said Gauthier, who recorded 64 defensive tackles and 78 special teams tackles in 123 games played.

“People kind of know who I am, and it’s fun to chat with customers who are Bomber fans and I’ll tell them, ‘I’m Shayne Gauthier,’ and they’re like, ‘Really?’”

Gauthier sold his house in Quebec a few years ago and now calls St. Adolphe home with his wife, Katie-Rae, who he met here in 2018.

She’s a resource teacher and helped Gauthier become fluent in English as they would FaceTime every day when he was out East.

“I love Manitoba. It’s fun to live here,” he said.

“There’s really good people. And I get to go to Quebec once in a while anyways so I’m pretty happy with how it ended up.”

Even though he had a successful business to fall back on, Gauthier admits it wasn’t easy being on the outside looking in at the start of the football season. He didn’t attend a game in person until last week’s Banjo Bowl and, afterwards, visited the locker room, where a conversation with head coach Mike O’Shea helped him be at peace with things.

“He said to me, ‘I know it didn’t end the way you would have hoped for, but something I’m going to tell you is I knew you were going to do well after. I knew you wouldn’t have any issue to make the transition because you plan ahead and you’re that kind of person. You have a good circle around you that supports you,’” Gauthier said.

“I like how he presented that to me.”

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