COLUMBUS, Ohio — One year ago, on Aug. 29, 2024, Blue Jackets star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew, died after being struck while riding bicycles.
What You Need To Know
Blue Jackets star Johnny Gaudreau, and his brother, Matthew, were struck while riding bicycles near their hometown in New Jersey
It happened the night before their sister’s wedding
The Blue Jackets honored Johnny in a social media post a year after his death
The two were hit the night before their sister’s wedding near their childhood home of Carneys Point in New Jersey. Their deaths sent shockwaves through the family and the sports world and all the fans who loved to see Johnny play.
Memorials were quickly set up, including outside of Nationwide Arena, home of the Blue Jackets. Hockey sticks sat on front porches, and residents donned their “Gaudreau” jerseys in honor of the young brothers.
Johnny was 31 and Matthew was 29 when they died.
Since then, the Blue Jackets franchise and fans continue to mourn and pay tribute to their legacies. In April, the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the United States Hockey League raised Gaudreau’s No. 8 to the rafters with his family present. No. 8 represented the same number he wore for the Blue Jackets as well as the Calgary Flames, which is where he played before he came to Columbus.
A year after their deaths, the Blue Jackets posted a video on Friday in memoriam on its social media, saying. “forever in our hearts.”