Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau's Childhood Ice Rink Renamed After Their Deaths: 'They'll Continue to Inspire'

The late Johnny and Matt Gaudreau will continue to “inspire countless hockey players” at their local childhood ice rink in Sewell, New Jersey, which was renamed after them on Friday evening, the arena's owner said.

The Gaudreau family gathered at the Hollydell Ice Arena, the building which holds the newly named “Gaudreau Rink,” for a memorial ceremony before a junior hockey game between the Philadelphia Rebels and the Northeast Generals on Friday, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Johnny and Matt Gaudreau were killed late last month when a suspected drunk driver crashed into them while they were riding bicycles together the night before their sister Katie Gaudreau’s wedding. 

Johnny, an 11-year NHL star with the Calgary Flames and the Columbus Blue Jackets, was 31. Matt, a former NCAA hockey star with Boston College who became an assistant head coach for the Rebels in recent years, was 29.

The newspaper reported that Katie spoke during the ceremony on the ice before Friday’s game.

“This rink has been a home to our family for many years,” Katie said, according to the Inquirer. “So many of you here today have watched Johnny and Matty grow up here on this ice. Hollydell Ice Arena will forever be a place where we feel closest to them. Thank you not only for being here, but for your love and support these past 15 days.”

Several Rebels players skated up to the Gaudreau family and delivered them bouquets of flowers on the ice, a CBS Philadelphia video shows. The Inquirer reported there was a “shrine” of hockey sticks outside the arena with messages honoring the Gaudreau brothers sent in from teams around the country. On the ice during the ceremony, two giant bouquets of flowers with Johnny and Matt’s old jersey numbers were on display, as well.

“They meant everything to this community,” Bill Malandrino, a gear shop employee at the arena, told the Inquirer.

The newspaper reported that Jim Mackey, the building owner, told fans during the pregame ceremony that the rink inside the arena where kids begin to learn hockey will be renamed the “Gaudreau Rink.”

“In the midst of an awful situation, I can smile thinking of our next generation of players learning the game and experiencing its joy on a sheet of ice named after Matthew and John Gaudreau,” Mackey said. “I have no doubt they’ll continue to inspire countless hockey players.”

The newspaper also reports that Matthew’s widow Madeline participated in the ceremony, dropping the ceremonial first puck before the game.

The Gaudreau brothers were both expecting children with their wives when they died.

A GoFundMe set up to help Madeline with her and Matthew’s first child, baby Tripp, was set up in the days following their death, raising nearly $800,000 in the first two weeks.

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Johnny’s widow Meredith announced during the brothers’ joint funeral last week that she is pregnant with the family’s third child. The couple shared two other children together: daughter Noa, who turns 2 in October, and son Johnny, who is 7 months old.

ESPN reported on Friday that Sean Higgins, the 43-year-old man charged in the Gaudreau brothers’ deaths, had a 0.87-percent alcohol level at the time of the Aug. 29 crash.