The Flames and Blue Jackets honored South Jersey’s Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau on Wednesday night:

Great turnout, that’s really nice to see. Both teams streamed their respective events, and judging from the overhead shots there had to be a least a couple of thousand people in the house, total.

Johnny Gaudreau played nine of his 11 NHL seasons with the Flames, so more goals, more assists, more ice time, more memories there. You see that respect for his contribution in the Saddledome turnout. He was going into year three with the Blue Jackets while Matthew last played for the Worcester Railers of the ECHL. Maybe coincidentally, his best hockey season came when he played closest to home in 2019-2020, bagging 11 goals and 29 assists in 38 games for the Reading Royals.

There’s a funeral for the brothers taking place in Delco on Monday. Meantime, Sean Higgins, the suspect charged with two counts of vehicular homicide, had reportedly been placed on leave from the job he worked at a local addiction treatment facility.

The Columbus Dispatch notes that Higgins, 43, was also “charged with operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, reckless driving, consuming alcoholic beverages in a motor vehicle, having an open alcoholic beverage in a vehicle, improper passing and executing an unsafe lane change.” 


His pre-trial hearing was delayed:

Here are some more pictures of the vigil in Columbus, from USA Today: