Former NHL stars Johnny, Matthew Gaudreau honored with New Jersey 5K race that over 1,000 attended

Less than a year after died tragically, more than 1,000 people gathered to pay tribute to the memory of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau. On Saturday morning, the Gaudreau Family 5k Walk/Run and Family Day family was held at the Washington Lake Park in the south of New Jersey.

Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau often visited the Washington Lake Park as children. He was around the corner of Hollydell Ice Arena, where they started playing youth hockey as children.

It is estimated that 1,100 people participated in the walk in person with more than 1,300 participants practically throughout the United States, Canada and around the world.

“I think he speaks to them as a family, the proximity they had and how everyone loved to be around,” stars in Ottawa Senators Said Brady Tkachukwho was one of the various Nhl Players who attended the Saturday event. “You only see the support of this community and other players here and traveling. He only says a lot about Johnny, Matty, his legacy and this family in general, the support they have because they are such amazing people.”

Tkachuk, the defender of the blue jackets of Columbus, Erik Gudbranson, the striker of the blue jackets, Zach Aston-reeese and the defender of the New York Islands, Tony Deangelo, were among the NHL players attending the charity event in honor of the Gaudreau brothers, who died both of them car in a bicycle accident last year.

“Our family would not have lost this,” Gudbranson added. “Hockey is a very tight community. It is still a tragedy. We miss the boys.”

The aim of the charity event was to raise money for a playground accessible to Archbishop Damiano School in Westville, where Jane Gaudreau and his daughter, Kristen, work. Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau had volunteered at New Jersey southern school in the past.

Archbishop Damiano School is a non -profit school that welcomes 135 students with disabilities. However, the school needed a new playground.

“I want to thank everyone for coming,” said Johnny and Matthew’s father, Guy, said after the race. “It really means a lot to Jane and the girls and the family. We miss the boys, and it really means a lot to have you here to honor my boys. Thank you.”

The Gaudreau family wants the charity event to be an annual occurrence with the future quotas that can be held in Calgary and Columbus. Johnny Gaudreau played the blue jackets in his last two seasons of the NHL after spending the nine previous campaigns with the Calgary flames.

Many attendees paid teams that paid tribute to the Gaudreau brothers, including Tkachuk, who carried a “Johnny Hockey” hooded sweatshirt with a number 13 on the back. The event also included a NHL memoir auction, which included signed t -shirts from several NHL players.

The Gaudreau family came in on Saturday with $ 400,000 collected and could certainly have reached their $ 600,000 target that was fixed before the event.