Gaudreau Family Event Helps Grieving Process As Participants Share Untold Stories Of Johnny And Matthew

Relatives and friends are making sure the Gaudreau brothers continue to be remembered.

Johnny Gaudreau, 31, the swift-skating left winger who made seven NHL all-star teams while playing for the Calgary Flames and Columbus Blue Jackets, and his brother, Matty, 29, a former pro player, were killed while bicycling and struck by an alleged drunk driver nearly 21 months ago. 

The brothers' altruistic nature is being kept alive with hockey-related fundraisers, thanks to those connected to the beloved young men.

At the same time, they are honoring their legacies.

"I don't want them ever to be forgotten," Jane Gaudreau, the brothers' mom, said recently.

The next fundraiser – the Gaudreau Family 5K and Family Fun Day – will be held Saturday at South Jersey's Washington Lake Park in Sewell, N.J., starting at 8 a.m. and lasting until 2 p.m.

Spots for the 5 km. (500 participants) and two-mile walk (800 participants) are filled to capacity, but there are still openings for the diaper dash and the kids' dash, along with the virtual run/walk. Virtual participants pledge they will compete in a race and send in their times and photos.

The virtual races are expected to have participants from every U.S. state and every province in Canada.

Funds from the day's events support hockey initiatives.

In last year's inaugural event in South Jersey, 2,374 people participated in person or virtually; the event raised nearly $550,000, which was used to buy adaptive playground equipment for the Archbishop Damiano special-needs school in Westville, N.J., where Jane Gaudreau and the late brothers' oldest sister, Kristen, have been employed for a combined six decades.

The Gaudreau family – Jane, her husband, Guy, and daughters Kristen and Katie – is deeply involved in the event. The event was started last year by their friends, Debbie and Jim Vasaturo, whose son, Charlie, played youth hockey with Johnny Gaudreau. There is a 21-person committee that works tirelessly on planning things.

This year's event is targeted to have more participants than in 2025.

"Guy and I and our daughters are so honored that people think this much of John and Matty and our family to continually be there for us and for them," Jane Gaudreau said. "And they're so welcoming. When we go to the 5K, it's so nice for Guy and I and Kristen and Katie because people come up to us and tell stories about the boys – stories that we would have never heard."

At last year's event, Jane said she learned that Matty had helped one of the players he was coaching get past a difficult period in his life. The player had gotten in with the wrong crowd after his brother was killed, and Matty had many heart-to-heart conversations with him and steered him on the right path. His parents told Jane and Guy that he may have saved their son's life.

Jane said the player is now playing hockey in college and has gotten his life in order.

"Matty just really helped turn him around, and we had no idea," she said. "So we get to hear all these stories from people that are either in the 5K or are in hockey, or even people from around the world – whether it's parents who lost children or other parents that reach out to us.

"I don't think they know how much they've helped us by saying so many nice things."

Johnny and Matty "loved children, so we wanted to make the family 5K fun and have things for the children, and this year we're having even more," Jane said. "We're having an entertainment company come in, and they're bringing a Bluey (character), and they're going to have facepainting and glitter and just all kinds of fun things. We're having inflatables and a bouncy house and a slide. It's all free."

There will also be a balloon artist and a stilt walker at the event, along with mascots like the Phillie Phanatic (Phillies), Gritty (Flyers) and the Gloucester Catholic Ram from the high school the Gaudreau brothers attended. In addition, an all-star dance team, directed by John and Matty's youngest sister, Katie, will perform, and a small train for toddlers will be available.

Being involved in the event's planning – Jane said the committee of friends does most of the work – has helped her and Guy; it's a distraction from their unimaginable loss and the day honors their sons.

Time, Jane said, has not reduced their pain.

"I was really looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas. I thought it would be easier than the previous year because it was the first year (without the boys), and I actually think it was harder," Jane said. "I didn't expect it to be as hard, and each day I grew increasingly more depressed and sadder."

"Sometimes, Guy will have a bad day or a bad night, and luckily I might have an OK day and then I can kind of help him out. Or vice versa. If I'm having a really bad day, he'll be able to help me," she said.

Jane said she and her husband "don't have anyone who depends on us, so it wasn't as easy to come to grips and say, you know, 'Get up, you have to do this.' "

Spending time babysitting their grandchildren, she said, has been beneficial. Almost every day, Guy babysits Tripp, who is nearly 17 months old. Tripp, the son of Matty and Madeline, was born four months after his father's death. 

Guy, a one-time highly successful youth coach, smiles softly when he says he will have the toddler on the ice and will teach him how to skate when he's about 20 months old. 

For more information on participating in the events, go to runsignup.com/Race/NJ/Sewell/GaudreauFamily5K.

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