Hockey star Johnny Gaudreau’s widow is pregnant with the couple’s third child, she revealed at his funeral Monday.
Brother Matthew Gaudreau, who was killed along with Johnny when an allegedly drunk driver slammed into the pair as they rode their bikes in New Jersey on Aug. 29, had already known he was about to be a first-time father with wife Madeline Gaudreau.
The inseparable brothers were remembered both tearfully and joyfully on Monday, a week and a half after Sean Higgins, 43, hit them from behind with his Jeep Grand Cherokee as he tried to pass another vehicle. Johnny, 31, and Matthew, 29, were both killed. They had been in town to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie Gaudreau’s wedding the next day.
Mourners arrive for a funeral for Columbus Blue Jackets hockey player John Gaudreau Gaudreau and his brother Matthew Gaudreau at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Media, Pa., Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
The double funeral brought together family, friends and the hockey world to mourn their loss and celebrate their bond, remembering them as loving brothers and husbands who valued family above all else.
“Everything was always John and Matty,” said John’s wife, Meredith Gaudreau, revealing her pregnancy during her eulogy. “I know John would not be able to live a day without his brother. He loved him so much.”
The brothers’ caskets were side-by-side in St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church just outside Philadelphia for a service attended by hundreds, including children wearing Gaudreau No. 13 jerseys, the number of the player known as “Johnny Hockey.”
Both brothers played hockey at Boston College. Johnny Gaudreau then played for several seasons with the Calgary Flames before signing with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Matthew Gaudreau competed in the minor leagues for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers and Stockton Heat, part of the American Hockey League, and then played for the Worcester Railers and Reading Royals, part of the ECHL.
Guy Gaudreau looks into a hearse containing the remains of his son Columbus Blue Jackets hockey player John Gaudreau after his and his brother’s Matthew Gaudreau funeral at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Media, Pa., Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
They were riding bicycles along county Route 551 in Oldmans Township when they were hit by Higgins, who told cops he had drunk five or six beers before getting behind the wheel — and drank while driving. Charged with two counts of death by auto as well as reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle, he remains jailed ahead of a Sept. 13 hearing.
With News Wire Services
