Eleven days after their sudden and tragic deaths, a funeral was held for Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau on Monday where they were remembered as loving fathers and husbands who always put family first while sharing an incredibly close bond as brothers.
“The fact that you are both together now in heaven gives me a little bit of comfort,” Meredith Gaudreau, John’s widow and the mother of their children, said while speaking to mourners at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Media, Pa.
“I know John would not be able to live a day without his brother.”
John, 31, was an NHL hockey star and Matthew, 29, also played hockey professionally.
John, better known in the sports world as “Johnny Hockey,” and Matthew died in New Jersey on Aug. 29 after they were struck by an SUV while riding their bicycles.
Police have said investigators suspect the driver of the vehicle was impaired. The crash took place the night before John and Matthew were to be groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding.
Both Gaudreaus spent time playing for Boston College before turning pro. Meredith noted that John delayed his NHL career so he could spend a season of college hockey to play with his brother.
“Matty was so excited to play alongside his brother,” said Matthew’s widow Madeline, who also spoke at the funeral. “They were attached at the hip.
“They slept in the same room up until college and neither of them wanted that to change.”
John would go on to become a household name in the sport, spending years as a fan favourite with the Calgary Flames.
John, who was by physical standards very small for a professional hockey player, shrugged off concerns raised by hockey scouts and analysts over whether he would be able to compete against much larger players and put up huge offensive numbers with the Flames. In 2022, he signed a contract to join the Columbus Blue Jackets, saying that he and his family wanted to be closer to relatives in New Jersey.
Matthew also played professional hockey in the ECHL and AHL.
Madeline said the days since the two brothers died have felt like she is “trapped in a nightmare.” As police suspect the driver of the SUV that hit the Gaudreau brothers was impaired, she urged people to not to drink and drive.
“The 14 years we spent together will never be enough … but I will always cherish them.”
Madeline is expecting her and Matthew’s baby Tripp to arrive in December. She said her husband was an enthusiastic father-to-be, reading as much as he could about parenthood and asking his older brother John for advice.
“I am so grateful I forced him to start the nursery,” Madeline said. “I can feel him every time I go in it.
“He was born to be a dad.”
Meredith recounted how she and John met in 2018 and how she knew right away they were destined to be together.
“He was and still is my soulmate,” she said. “He made all my dreams come true.”
Meredith described John as a doting husband and father who would get up early even on game days to help her with the children and would sometimes head to the Columbus arena with a baby mess on his clothes without any regrets.
“Zero ego, quiet, sweet and shy,” she said. “He didn’t have a bad bone in his body. He never spoke badly about anyone.
“Every day I strive to be more like him.”
Meredith spoke of the joy and pride John had in being a father to Noa and Johnny, and also told the mourners that she is currently pregnant with their third child.
“You have the best daddy in the world,” she said as she addressed her children, crediting John and Matthew’s parents with making them “family first” men.
In a particularly touching moment, Meredith read part of a text John sent her, explaining that he was grateful they were able to provide their children with a summer home on the shore, “a big house and the nice things,” but how much he adored that what Noa seemed to appreciate most was the time they got to spend with their parents, siblings and extended family.
“There aren’t even words that can touch on how to describe my love for John,” she said, also speaking of the special bond the Gaudreau brothers shared with their sisters.
Johnny Gaudreau’s widow offers gratitude to hockey community
Meredith spoke at length about the close bond John had with his teammates, particularly former Flame and now Blue Jacket Sean Monahan and fellow NHLer Kevin Hayes.
“You’ve both known John longer than I have,” she noted. “He looked up to you both, on and off the ice. You are his brothers, which means you are my brothers too.”
Monahan was traded by the Flames to the Montreal Canadiens during the same off-season that Gaudreau signed with the Blue Jackets. After injuries took their toll on his career, Monahan was able to find his form on the ice again and signed a contract to join the Blue Jackets this off-season.
“You made John the most excited for hockey that I’ve ever seen when you signed with Columbus,” Meredith said as she addressed Monahan, who was also at the funeral. ” I think you are as close as it gets to being just like him — whatever you did, he copied.
“You got a golden doodle, John got a golden doodle…. If you were leaving the party, John was grabbing me to leave also.”
Meredith also spoke about her and John’s love for Calgary and Columbus.
“Calgary had such a special place in John’s heart and mine,” she said, adding she has been “blown away” by Calgarians’ love and support in the wake of her husband’s death. “But also not surprised at all.
“I got to experience first-hand what kind people you are.”
She said John will “forever be a Flame” and that she plans to make sure her children all get to know Calgary too, a place her husband called home for about a decade.
Speaking about Columbus, Meredith said it is “the most underrated city,” saying she cherishes here memories made in Ohio and calling her family’s time there “the best years of my life.”
Among those in the hockey community who were seen arriving at the funeral were NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and former Calgary Flames hockey executive Brian Burke.
In addition to former teammates of Johnny’s, other NHL players also turned up at the funeral, including Cole Caufield. Like Johnny, Caufield has found his way as an NHL goal-scoring threat for the Montreal Canadiens despite his size. Last week, he revealed he plans to change his jersey number to 13 in honour of Johnny.
The two played together for Team USA at the IIHF World Hockey Championship this past May.
“He was the most welcoming, genuine, and funniest guy I have ever met,” Caufield said while speaking about Johnny last week.
Rev. Tony Penna, the director of the campus ministry at Boston College, also spoke at Monday’s service and said the Gaudreau brothers’ parents, Guy and Jane, would likely be comforted by the large numbers of people who have shown their support for the family in recent days.
“By the overwhelming presence and overwhelming number of people here today, they’re sending a message to you loud and clear that John and Matthew’s lives mattered, that they were noticed on this Earth, they were loved on this Earth and they were valued on this Earth,” he said.
Last week, thousands of people gathered at candlelight vigils in Calgary and Columbus to honour the lives of the two brothers whose deaths have shaken the sporting world.
One of the people who spoke at Wednesday’s vigil in Columbus was Blue Jackets defenceman Erik Gudbranson, who was an NHL teammate of John’s in Ohio and also in Calgary. He spoke about how kind John was and what a loving husband and father he was. He also shared some memories of being on the same team as John and some of their traditions.
“A little thing I did with John is I’d pick him up and give him a bear hug, and I wouldn’t put him down until he told me he loved me,” Gudbranson told people at the Ohio vigil. “He wouldn’t tell me for a long time. I know up here it was because he enjoyed the hug.
“You will continue to inspire me to be just like you.”
At a vigil held in Calgary on the same day, fans who had gathered outside the Flames’ arena for the memorial spontaneously chanted “Johnny! Johnny!” at times.
Flames captain Mikael Backlund was among the speakers at the Alberta vigil. At times he almost appeared overcome with emotion and recounted that John “always had a smile on his face, on and off the ice.”
“I’m going to miss that smile,” he said. “I’m going to miss Johnny chirping me about everything like he always loved to do.
“He would always be all over me about anything. ‘Come on, Backs, talk to the coach and get us a day off. Come on Backs, have a beer. Come on Backs, loosen up. Come on Backs, it’s just hockey.’
“I know I’m not as chill as you were, Johnny, but I’m working on it.”
A massive makeshift memorial outside the Scotiabank Saddledome continuously grew in the days since the Gaudreaus’ death and attracted a steady stream of visitors, some who drove several hours to see the Calgary site and pay their respects.
The memorial featured jerseys, flowers and an enormous stretch of concrete covered in tributes written in chalk to honour both John and Matthew.
Whitney Mandel told Global News last Sunday that she had come after making the two-hour drive from Duchess, Alta.
“We had to come and say goodbye to Johnny,” she explained. “He was my whole 20s — watching Johnny play hockey.”
“It’s a lot, but it’s really important to come down and grieve together,” Jacqueline Cornett said while spending time at the Saddledome memorial.
While gazing at all the tributes written in chalk, Nick Haddow described the memorial as “powerful.”
“It’s surreal,” the hockey fan said. “I’m glad Calgary shows what Johnny meant to us.”
— with files from The Associated Press’ Dan Gelston And Stephen Whyno