September 09, 2024
Adam Cairns/USA TODAY Network
Meredith Gaudreau, in the middle in blue, watches with friends and family as a hearse carries away the casket of her husband, Johnny Gaudreau, after his funeral at Saint Mary Magdalen Church in Upper Providence.
At Monday's funeral service for Johnny Gaudreau and his younger brother Matthew — both killed last month when they were hit by a suspected drunk driver while biking in New Jersey — the former NHL star's widow revealed that she's pregnant with the couple's third child.
Hundreds of people attended the memorial at Saint Mary Magdalen Church in Upper Providence, Delaware County, to honor the lives of the two brothers who had been pillars of the hockey community. During her tearful eulogy, Meredith Gaudreau said she learned she's pregnant about a week before the brothers were fatally struck in Salem County.
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"I'm in my ninth week of pregnancy with our third baby," Gaudreau said. "A total surprise, but again John was beaming and so excited. I was so nervous because again, this was a total surprise, but his reaction was just immediately kissing me and hugging me."
The couple had a daughter in 2022 and a son earlier this year. Matthew also was expecting his first child with his wife, Madeline, in December. More than $650,000 has been raised on GoFundMe to support Madeline and her baby.
Johnny, 31, an 11-year NHL veteran, and Matthew, 29, also a former professional hockey player, died Aug. 29 while cycling on a road in Oldmans Township a day before their sister Katie's wedding. The brothers grew up in nearby Carneys Point Township and played hockey at Gloucester Catholic High School, where Matthew was most recently a hockey coach.
Sean Higgins, the 43-year-old driver who struck the brothers, allegedly told police he had five or six beers before he collided with the cyclists when he passed a slower-moving car, nj.com reported. Higgins is charged with death by auto, reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and several of Johnny's Columbus Blue Jackets teammates attended the service on Monday, the Associated Press reported.
The Rev. Tony Penna, the director of campus ministry at the Gaudreau brothers' alma mater Boston College, told the family that Monday's service showed how significant the pair were to the people who knew and admired them.
"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," Penna said.
Meredith recalled her husband and his brother as sharing an inseparable bond.
“Everything was always John and Matty,” she said. “I know John would not be able to live a day without his brother. He loved him so much.”
