The Gaudreau brothers will be honored with life-saving equipment at a South Jersey park
Johnny and Matty Gaudreau once skated just miles away from Washington Lake Park. Now, years after their father's own cardiac incident, AED equipment honors the late brothers.
Washington Lake Park sees more than 100,000 visitors every year. Now there’s a new way to keep them safe — and it honors the lives of two South Jersey hockey players.
The Aliver Foundation, a nonprofit that works to promote cardiac arrest prevention, donated outdoor automated external defibrillator equipment to the Gloucester County park in the spring. AEDs analyze the heart’s rhythm and deliver an electric shock to help recalibrate the heart if necessary, according to the American Red Cross.
The bright yellow enclosure, which keeps the AED in a climate-controlled environment, features a small plaque memorializing Johnny and Matty Gaudreau, Salem County natives and brothers who used to skate at a rink not far from the park.
Johnny, an NHL player, and Matty, an American Hockey League alumnus, died in 2024 when they were struck and killed while riding their bikes in Salem County. Johnny was 31, and Matty was 29.
Jane Gaudreau, Johnny and Matty’s mother, said she’s glad that something used to save lives is honoring her sons.
“My sons were always there for everybody else. They always wanted to help other people,” Jane said. “They would take their shirts off their backs for someone.”
Although the equipment has been up and running for months, the AED will be officially dedicated to the Gaudreaus at a community celebration at Washington Lake Park on Hurffville-Cross Keys Road on Sunday, from 10 to 11 a.m. There will also be AED and CPR demonstrations, children’s activities, and the chance to engage with first responders.
Placed on the brick wall of Washington Lake Park’s ranger station, the AED equipment is in the same park where the Gaudreau family hosts an annual memorial 5K run, and less than two miles from Hollydell Ice Rink in Sewell, a place the brothers used to skate and where their father, Guy Gaudreau, teaches skating lessons for kids.
To access the kit, visitors in need must call 911 to get a code to open the AED enclosure.
Barbara Moore, Washington Lake Park’s events coordinator, said the park already has an AED, but the equipment isn’t outdoors and public-facing.
“With the amount of youth sports, daily visitors and community events taking place at the park, having readily accessible outdoor AED equipment is an important additional safety measure that can be accessed while emergency responders are en route,” Moore wrote in an email.
Five years ago, Jill Pall, Aliver’s founder, experienced cardiac arrest at a park in North Jersey. Her friend did CPR for nearly 15 minutes, and because there was no AED on site to use, Pall had to wait for first responders to arrive with the equipment.
Since then, Pall’s organization has helped place more than 185 outdoor AEDs in 12 states, with the majority located in New Jersey.
The Gaudreau family once needed the emergency equipment, too.
In 2018, Guy collapsed while running up a hill during Philly’s annual Love Run, Jane said. Luckily, there was an AED on a nearby golf cart, and after a few days in an induced coma, he recovered.
Jane said her husband still runs the Love Run, but he doesn’t push himself so hard on the hills. And now, runners who pass through Washington Lake Park for the Gaudreau 5K every spring will have life-saving equipment close by, too.
“Anything we can do to keep John and Matty’s legacy alive, we’re for it,” Jane said.
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