A former NHL player from Dubuque was killed in a bike accident

Dubuque, Iowa – He was riding his bike in his home state of New Jersey on Thursday night when he was hit by a car and killed. Gaudreau played for the Columbus Blue Jackets in the NHL. Thirty-one.

New Jersey State Police said that a car hit and killed two riders in Salem County, New Jersey. Gaudreau was one of them. Police revealed that Gaudreau’s younger brother Matthew, who is 29 years old, was also killed in the crash.

The Dubuque Fighting Saints were Johnny Gaudreau’s first team. He then went to Boston College and then to the NHL. Michael, his brother, also played in the USHL for the Omaha Lancers. On Friday morning, the league sent sympathy to the families.

The family from Carneys Point, New Jersey, was in the area for the wedding of their sister Katie in Philadelphia on Friday.

Police say that the Gaudreau brothers were riding their bikes on a road when a man driving in the same direction hit them from behind as he tried to pass two other cars. The police said they were dead at the scene.

Police said the driver, Sean M. Higgins, was probably drunk. He was charged with two counts of death by car and put in jail at the Salem County Correctional Facility.

That Gaudreau had died, the Blue Jackets said in a post on X Friday, “The Columbus Blue Jackets are shocked and devastated by this unimaginable tragedy.”

The post went on to say, “Johnny was a loving husband, father, son, brother, and friend. He was also a great hockey player.” We are very sorry for the sudden deaths of Johnny and Matt. Our thoughts are with his wife, Meredith, his children, Noa and Johnny, his parents, and their family and friends.

Johnny Gaudreau, better known as “Johnny Hockey,” has been a professional hockey player for 11 years. This was his third season with the Blue Jackets. He played for the Calgary Flames for nine years and became one of the best players in the sport and a fan favorite all over North America.

“Everyone who saw Johnny play hockey felt happy for him.” He loved hockey so much that he brought it with him to every team he played for, from Boston College to the Calgary Flames to Team USA to the Blue Jackets. The team said on X, “He made fans happy in a way that only Johnny Hockey could.”

Gaudreau was 5 feet 9 inches tall and 180 pounds. He was part of a group of hockey players who did well when speed and skill made being small less of a problem. His best season was 2021–22 when he had 40 goals and 75 assists and was named an NHL All-Star for the first time. That season, he scored 20 or more goals six times.

Gaudreau was picked by Calgary in the fourth round of the 2011 NBA Draft. He helped Boston College win the NCAA title in 2012 and was named the best college player in the country by the Hobey Baker Award in 2014.

In his first season as a pro, Gaudreau was named to the NHL’s all-rookie team. He also came in third place for the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year in 2014–15.

Since he joined the NBA, Gaudreau scored 642 points in 644 regular season and playoff games, which is one point per game. In 2022, he signed a new seven-year deal worth almost $69 million that put him and his young family in central Ohio, closer to his family in New Jersey.

With 30 assists and 43 points, he holds the U.S. men’s world championship records. Earlier this year, he broke the records that Patrick Kane had held.

Gaudreau’s death is the latest tragedy to happen off the ice for the team in the past few years. Matiss Kivlenieks, a goalie for the Blue Jackets at the time, died in July 2021 when a firework hit him in the chest while he was in Michigan for the wedding of Manny Legace’s daughter.

The Blue Jackets said in the post, “We will miss him very much and do everything we can to help his family and each other through this tragedy.”

At the end of the social media post, it said, “At this time, we ask that you pray for the Gaudreau family and show them respect as they grieve.”