Meredith Gaudreau spent her first birthday since the death of her husband, Johnny, surrounded by her children and loved ones.
The birthday celebration happened on Monday, January 20, nearly five months after Johnny, 31, and his brother, Matthew, 29, were killed by a drunk driver while riding their bicycles in Oldmans Township, New Jersey in August 2024.
In a photo shared via Instagram by her sister, Lily, Meredith was seen blowing out birthday candles while holding her daughter, Noa, 2 months, and son, Johnny, 22 months.
“Happy birthday Dith!!” Lily wrote, as Noa and Johnny looked on wide-eyed.
Meredith Gaudreau found a poignant way to keep her late husband’s legacy alive permanently. Following the death of Meredith’s husband, NHL star Johnny Gaudreau, in August 2024, she recently received tattoos to commemorate Johnny using his ashes in the ink. “A month ago, a client reached out to me for a cremation tattoo,” tattoo artist […]
In another photo shared by Lily, which was reposted by Meredith, she and Johnny were seen fast asleep on the floor.
“Birthday naps,” Lily wrote.
Meredith was also on the receiving end of birthday messages from some of her best friends, including some famous hockey WAGs.
Claudia Mangiapane, the wife of Calgary Flames star Andrew Mangiapane, shared a picture from her wedding day standing alongside Meredith. Andrew and Johnny played together for four years in Calgary.
“Happy birthday to the person who knows me better than I know myself and who’s been there through every high and every low (and every dinner table high-low),” Claudia shared via her Instagram Story. “I’m forever grateful for you, for John, and for the kids. Our chosen family. Even luckier to call you my best friend. Sister actually.”
Claudia continued, “Here’s to a lifetime of laughs and tears together. Love you more than words can even say.”
Ryen Hendricks, the girlfriend of Boston Bruins defenseman Ryan Peeke, called Meredith “the most beautiful woman inside and out” in a birthday message posted via her Instagram Story.
At a memorial service for Johnny and Matthew in September 2024, Meredith revealed she was nine weeks pregnant with her and Johnny’s third baby.
In October 2024, Meredith celebrated her daughter Noa’s 2nd birthday with help of the Columbus Blue Jackets family, the team Johnny was playing for at the time of his death. More than a dozen players as well as their wives and girlfriends attended Noa’s party, which came exactly two months after Johnny’s death.
“We love you all,” Meredith wrote via Instagram alongside a picture from the party. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart 💙really special group that will forever be family to me and my babies.”
The party was also attended by Johnny’s sisters, Katie and Kristen, and Matthew’s wife, Madeline. In December 2024, Madeline gave birth to the couple’s first baby, a boy named Tripp.
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