The memorial on County Route 551 in rural Salem County, New Jersey, marks the site of a tragic event that deeply impacted two extended families and their surrounding community.
Surrounded by fields of corn and soybeans, the unexpected display of bouquets, miniature flags, and numerous hockey sticks serves as a poignant reminder of a loss that has resonated with many.
This roadside tribute stands out amid the quiet, rural landscape, symbolizing both the grief and the solidarity of those who come to pay their respects and remember those affected by the tragedy.
“It just couldn’t be any worse,” said Lee Ware, a local farmer who was once commissioner for Salem County and a local high school baseball coach of 46 years. He knows both families.
“I’ve lived here my whole life, and I know everyone in the county feels the same way. This is a rough one.”
On the evening of August 29, just after sunset, tragedy struck near a quiet rural road in Salem County, New Jersey. John Gaudreau, an All-Star forward in the National Hockey League, and his younger brother, Matthew Gaudreau, a former professional hockey player and coach at Gloucester Catholic High School, were out for a bike ride near their parents’ home.
The brothers, who were in the area preparing for their sister’s wedding in Philadelphia the next day, were struck and killed by a driver.
The sudden and heartbreaking loss of the Gaudreau brothers left a profound impact on their family, friends, and the local community, who gathered to remember them at a roadside memorial marked with flowers, flags, and hockey sticks.
John Gaudreau, 31, was a married father of two, with his second child born in February of this year. At his funeral, his wife, Meredith, shared the bittersweet news that she is pregnant with their third child.
His younger brother, Matthew, who was 29, was also expecting a new addition to his family. His wife is due to give birth to their first child in December.
The tragic loss of both brothers not only devastated their immediate family but also left their growing families and the wider community grappling with immense grief amidst these simultaneous moments of sorrow and anticipation for new life.
Sean M. Higgins, 43, of Woodstown, New Jersey, was arrested and charged by New Jersey State Police in connection with the fatal collision that claimed the lives of John and Matthew Gaudreau. Woodstown, a small village about 10 miles from the crash site where the memorial now stands, is now associated with this tragedy.
In memory of the Gaudreau brothers, similar memorials have been established in places where they played hockey, such as Calgary, Columbus, Boston, and the Hollydell Ice Arena in Sewell, New Jersey, where they first skated as boys.
According to the police complaint, Higgins failed a sobriety test and admitted to consuming “five or six beers” before driving his Jeep Grand Cherokee.
He is currently being held in a nearby jail pending a pretrial hearing scheduled for September 13.
The Gaudreau family, grieving this devastating loss, postponed their daughter Katie’s wedding, which had been planned for the day after the crash, and instead arranged for the funerals of her brothers.
“You keep asking yourself: ‘Why? Why did this have to happen?’” said Jerry York, who coached the brothers at Boston College. “There are no good answers.”
The Gaudreau brothers and Sean M. Higgins shared roots in the same verdant area of Salem County, New Jersey, a picturesque stretch south of Philadelphia where small towns are nestled among lush fields of grain, connected by winding two-lane roads.
All three men were athletes and embodied the qualities of all-American boys growing up in this rural setting. Higgins, around 12 years older than the Gaudreau brothers, was a standout high school baseball player who later served in the Army National Guard.
John and Matty Gaudreau grew up about 10 miles west of Woodstown, in Oldmans Township.
Despite being undersized, they were highly skilled young hockey players, nurtured by their father, Guy Gaudreau, a former hockey player from Vermont. Guy coached at Hollydell Ice Arena, where the brothers first took to the ice, and later at Gloucester Catholic High School, where John and Matty attended.
Matty had recently returned to Gloucester Catholic to continue his father’s legacy as a coach, instilling the love of the game in a new generation of players.
