Johnny Gaudreau put family first, never forgot South Jersey roots even as NHL career blossomed
Hockey fans had yearned for Johnny Gaudreau to come home and play for either New Jersey or Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Johnny Gaudreau was finally home in New Jersey, the NHL star with showstopping skills back again this week for a big assist for his family as a groomsman in the wedding of baby sister Katie.
Little brother Matthew was part of the wedding party, too. So was the eldest of the four Gaudreau siblings, sister Kristen, the maid of honor. All were looking ahead to one more glorious day in a life seemingly filled with them as the first family of hockey in South Jersey.
The wedding was set for Friday at a Catholic church in New Jersey. Tragedy came the night before when Johnny, 31, and Matt, 29, died after they were hit by a suspected drunken driver while riding bicycles in the Delaware River country south of Philadelphia, police said.
The wedding was put off in a hurricane of grief and shock. Far beyond the rink, the siblings had been as intertwined as any family could be, united as they were while smiling in the upper deck of a 2014 Philadelphia Phillies game. Or at a Boston College hockey game from earlier that same year, when the two brothers played for the Eagles.
