“John and Matty did not even deserve that, particularly the way in which it occurred. It retains me up at night time,” Johnny’s spouse, Meredith, stated within the emotional interview, whereas Matthew’s spouse, Madeline, shared, “There is no therapeutic while you did not get a goodbye.”
The widows {of professional} hockey gamers, Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, are opening up in regards to the tragic loss of their husbands forward of the one-year anniversary of their passings.
Throughout an interview with ABC Information, which aired on Tuesday, Meredith Gaudreau, the spouse of NHL star Johnny Gaudreau, and Madeline Gaudreau, the spouse of Matthew Gaudreau — Johnny’s youthful brother, who performed skilled hockey within the ECHL and AHL — broke down in tears as they spoke about their grief, and the ultimate phrases they shared with their husbands.
Meredith Gaudreau Particulars Second She Discovered Husband Johnny Died In Heartbreaking Open Letter
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On August 29, 2024, Johnny, 31, and Matthew, 29, have been biking of their house state of New Jersey when a drunk driver, Sean Higgins, allegedly mowed them down, killing the pair, who have been on the town for his or her sister Katie’s wedding ceremony, through which they have been set to function groomsmen. Higgins now faces six costs, together with aggravated manslaughter and reckless vehicular murder. He has pleaded not responsible; Each Meredith and Madeline have been pregnant on the time of their husbands’ deaths.
When ABC Information’ William Reeve requested Meredith what she remembers of the day she misplaced her husband, she replied tearfully, “He kissed all of us goodbye — simply within the driveway at his dad and mom’ home. And that was the final time I noticed him.”
“Our youngsters did not deserve this,” Meredith stated. “John and Matty did not even deserve that, particularly the way in which it occurred. It retains me up at night time.”
“There is no therapeutic while you did not get a goodbye,” added Madeline, who was pregnant together with her and Matthew’s first youngster on the time. Their son, Tripp, was born 4 months after her husband’s dying.
Meredith — who shared Noa, 2, Johnny Jr, 1, and Carter, 4 months, with Johnny — revealed on the brothers’ funeral that she was anticipating the couple’s third youngster.
Whereas talking with ABC Information, she turned emotional as she recalled what she informed Johnny as he was laid to relaxation.
“[I said] I’d care for our youngsters, and I thanked him for such an amazing life,” she stated.
As she wiped away tears, Madeline — who famous that she was 4 months pregnant on the funeral — stated child Tripp “was kicking lots, so I simply held Matt’s hand on my stomach for Tripp.”
“I did not wanna say goodbye to both of them as a result of I do know I am going to see them once more at some point,” she added.
The pair’s TV interview comes two months after Meredith opened up in regards to the unimaginable ache she endured after Johnny’s dying in an emotional letter revealed on the Gamers’ Tribune and recalled the second she came upon her husband had handed.
“You kissed all of us goodbye and stated you’d see us later. And that was that,” she recalled. “Katie referred to as, and he or she stated one thing had occurred however she did not know what precisely. My dad drove me over to your dad and mom’, and I used to be considering the entire time about how I used to be going that can assist you via no matter it may very well be that had occurred to Matty. After which I walked up the entrance porch and discovered absolutely the worst had occurred and that it was each of you.”
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“I used to be in shock. I used to be keeled over for days sick to my abdomen,” she wrote. “It is utterly indescribable. The one one that can relate to me is my very own sister-in-law. I see her and my coronary heart breaks for her.”
“To go from preparing for a fantastic wedding ceremony all week together with your sister, to being in a funeral house with Madeline making an attempt to determine all this stuff out — it simply damage a lot,” Meredith went on. “It was bizarre and it was terrible. I needed to go to the physician for our third child. The primary of my appointments the place you were not holding my hand.”
She added that she “checked out Noa and child Johnny and I felt a ache that I hadn’t felt earlier than.”
“Our two infants who must develop up with out their dad, with out their wonderful uncle,” she wrote.
Meredith described the crushing weight of grief that adopted, writing that it obtained so unhealthy, she might hardly arise.
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“I considered our child inside me. I could not arise,” she admitted. “I used to be awake and having nightmares. Considering of you in that second. Considering of Matty. It is simply the worst factor I might have ever imagined. And right away, I missed you greater than I knew was doable.”
Regardless of the sorrow, Meredith stated the assist from the hockey world introduced her some consolation. Johnny’s former workforce, the Columbus Blue Jackets, honored him earlier than their first preseason sport of the 2024–25 season, and gamers wore helmet stickers with doves and the numbers 13 (Johnny) and 21 (Matthew, who performed for Boston Faculty) on them. Patches have been additionally added to jerseys firstly of the common season.
“The hockey world, the sports activities world, they confirmed up for us, too,” she wrote. “To see individuals go from simply understanding about ‘Johnny Hockey,’ to listening to about how wonderful of a father you have been, of an individual you have been? I do know that is what would have mattered to you.”
In late June, Meredith was honored on the 2025 NHL Draft, saying the Columbus Blue Jackets’ choice.
