GLOUCESTER CITY – Family, friends, clergy and those from the Gloucester Catholic High School community gathered Sept. 6 to mourn Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau and honor the two men who were known for their goodwill and generosity.
A line snaked out the door of the high school as hundreds filed into the gym for the Night of Remembrance for Johnny Gaudreau, a National Hockey League seven-time All-Star, and his brother Matthew, who had recently coached at Gloucester Catholic. Both were struck and killed Aug. 29 while bicycling not far from where they grew up in Salem County.
Photos, banners and jerseys were displayed around the gym, and cards lay on tables for mourners to leave messages of comfort.
“All the overwhelming support, love and prayers from Gloucester Catholic, South Jersey and across the country and Canada means the world to the Gaudreau family,” Father Allain Caparas said during the prayer service as the Gaudreaus’ parents wept.
Both brothers were former students of Gloucester Catholic High School and had deep ties to the community. Each year, Johnny Gaudreau hosted a golf fundraiser for Gloucester Catholic to help students with tuition.
Father Peter Gallagher, part-time director of Catholic Identity at the school, led a prayer service for members of the hockey team the day before. “Coming together as a team, they could honor their coach and pray for their coach,” he said of Matthew Gaudreau. “After they prayed, I felt they were a little stronger as they continue to face this situation.”
Pat Murphy was Gloucester Catholic’s athletic director when the Gaudreaus’ father, Guy, was coach of the ice hockey team. He said the Gaudreau brothers helped put high school hockey on the map not just for South Jersey, but the state.
“We wanted to honor them in a respectful way,” he said of the Night of Remembrance. “We’re trying to mourn the loss of these fine young men, but our Catholic faith also teaches that we have to try to celebrate their lives.”
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