NHL player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew were struck and killed by a suspected drunk driver in New Jersey on Thursday night on the eve of their sister’s wedding, prompting an outpouring of grief that extended beyond the hockey world.
The Gaudreau brothers were struck from behind while riding bicycles in Oldmans Township, N.J., on the eve of their sister Katie’s wedding. The driver hit Johnny, 31, and Matthew, 29, as he attempted to overtake a pair of vehicles around a half-hour after sunset, said police, who also said the driver failed a sobriety test.
Sean M. Higgins, 43, was charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a vehicle. He told police he had had five or six beers before the incident and said he had been drinking alcohol while driving, Associated Press reported.
The Gaudreau brothers, who had been slated to serve as groomsmen at the wedding, were pronounced dead at the scene. Johnny Gaudreau is survived by his wife Meredith and two young children, while Matthew is survived by his wife Madeline, who is expecting their first child.
“Last night we lost two husbands, two fathers, two sons, two brothers … two brothers-in-law, two nephews, two cousins, two family members, two teammates, two friends but truly two amazing humans,” the brothers’ uncle, Jim Gaudreau, said in a statement. “We want to let everyone know we are receiving your messages of love and support and we appreciate your continued thoughts and prayers. We ask for your continued respect and privacy during this very difficult period of grief.”
Fond remembrances of the two hockey-playing siblings flooded in from all corners of the hockey world. What was perhaps less expected was that condolences also came from famous athletes in other sports, superstars who have rarely, if ever, laced up skates.
That luminaries such as basketball’s LeBron James and baseball’s Mike Trout also took to social media to commemorate the Columbus Blue Jackets forward – known as Johnny Hockey for his skills and unselfishness on and off the ice – and his brother says much about their ability to influence others.
Los Angeles Lakers star Mr. James, an Ohio native, offered “thoughts and prayers,” while Mr. Trout, who, like the Gaudreaus, hails from New Jersey, said he was “devastated.” The Los Angeles Angels star also sent “condolences and love” to the Gaudreau family. Some fans laid flowers outside the home rink of the Blue Jackets in Columbus, while there was a moment of silence in Cincinnati before a Major League Baseball game between the Reds and Milwaukee Brewers. There were also flowers and tributes placed outside the Calgary rink where Johnny Gaudreau had played for eight of his 10 full NHL seasons with the Flames.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said that “he was more than just a dazzling hockey player,” while hockey Hall of Famer Hayley Wickenheiser summed it up succinctly with a broken-heart emoji and the message: “Every day is a gift.”
Johnny Gaudreau had an infectious joy in playing his chosen sport, friends and colleagues said, whether it was playing alongside his brother Matthew – which he did for a season at Boston College – or alongside the best players in the world.
While Matthew went on to a career spent mostly in the minor leagues, Johnny was well known by hockey fans, especially in southern Alberta. Though he had played the past two seasons in Columbus – following a free-agency decision to be closer to his hometown of Carneys Point, N.J. – he left an indelible mark on the Flames.
Mr. Gaudreau, at five-foot-nine and 180 pounds, was part of a generation of hockey players who thrived in an era of speed and skill that made being undersized less of a disadvantage. Winner of the Lady Byng Trophy in 2017 for sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of play, he scored 20-plus goals six times and was a 115-point player in 2021-22 as a first-time NHL all-star when he had a career-best 40 goals and 75 assists. He averaged almost a point a game and was fifth on the Flames’ career-points list with 609 points in 602 games.
Away from the NHL, Mr. Gaudreau left an outsized mark on international hockey as well, leading the United States to world junior gold in 2013, and establishing men’s world championship career marks for the United States with 30 assists and 43 points.
Drafted 104th overall in the 2011 draft, Mr. Gaudreau made his NHL debut three years later, coincidentally on the same day he received the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in U.S. collegiate hockey. He scored on his first shot as a professional – against future Flames teammate Jacob Markstrom – in a 5-1 Calgary loss to close out the season.
But that was only the beginning. A berth on the NHL’s all-rookie team was next, followed by a succession of all-star game appearances.
He added to his burgeoning legend at Calgary’s Saddledome in the 2021-22 post-season, becoming just the third member of the Flames franchise – after Joel Otto and Martin Gélinas – to score a Game 7 overtime winner, eliminating the Dallas Stars and setting up a long-awaited Battle of Alberta playoff matchup with the Edmonton Oilers.
Mr. Gaudreau chose to relocate in the summer of 2022 to start a family, one that grew to four last February as he, his wife Meredith and daughter Noa welcomed Johnny.
His role as a family man was foremost among many of the outpourings of emotion that Friday’s news generated.
Calgary Flames fans stopped by the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary to pay tribute to Johnny Gaudreau, 'Johnny Hockey', with bags of Skittles, bottles of purple Gatorade, flowers and hand-written notes. Gaudreau and his brother Matthew were killed by a suspected drunk driver while cycling near their childhood home in New Jersey.
The Canadian Press
“The Columbus Blue Jackets are shocked and devastated by this unimaginable tragedy,” the Blue Jackets said in a statement. “Johnny was not only a great hockey player, but more significantly a loving husband, father, son, brother and friend.”
While the Flames echoed those thoughts, the former mayor of Calgary, Naheed Nenshi, chose to focus on Mr. Gaudreau’s impact on the community during his time with the Flames.
“Johnny had a huge impact on the people of Calgary,” Mr. Nenshi said on social media. “Not just as an exceptionally skilled hockey player who proudly wore the Flames jersey for nine years but as a man with a big heart who cared about this city.”
Jay Feaster, the Calgary Flames general manager who drafted Mr. Gaudreau, and Brad Treliving, another former Flames GM, both mentioned his “infectious smile” in their statements on the tragedy. Another former Calgary GM, Brian Burke, also discussed the player’s attachment to his sport.
“There are few players in hockey history that matched his passion and love for the game of hockey,” Mr. Burke’s statement said. “His talent on the ice was enhanced, not diminished, by the fact that he was having fun out there.”
Mr. Gaudreau’s love affair with the sport was well documented, right from the moment his dad Guy put him on skates and laid down a row of Skittles on the ice to get his son interested in skating. His coach at Boston College, Jerry York, says Mr. Gaudreau and his brother will be sorely missed.
“Everybody knows how gifted they were on ice, especially Johnny – an all-world type of Olympic player and college all-star,” Mr. York said in a statement. “They left tremendous impressions on all of us. We’ll miss the hockey exploits they always had with us but more important how they were as young guys.”
