Katie Gaudreau is already exposing her newborn son, Matthew, to hockey life.
“Thursday mornings are for hockey with our people. 🏒🤍🖤,” Katie, 27, wrote via Instagram alongside photos of her family visiting her late brothers Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau’s ice rink, Hollydell Ice Arena, in Sewell, New Jersey. “According to Pop-Pop, baby Matthew has to get the smell of the rink in his lungs … we don’t make the rules, we just follow them. 🤍.”
Katie concluded, “There was no better place for MJ’s first rink visit than Uncle John and Uncle Matty’s rink.”
The photos showed Katie and husband Devin Joyce holding their baby boy on the ice and underneath a “Gaudreau” sign. (One of the arena’s rinks was renamed the Gaudreau Rink in Johnny and Matthew’s honor following their deaths in August 2024.)
Katie and Joyce, 28, welcomed baby Matthew — their first child, named after Katie’s brother — on June 20.
“He’s here. 💙,” Katie wrote via Instagram on Tuesday, June 23. “Matthew Guy Joyce. June 20, 2026 • 9:00 AM • 7lb 10oz • 20inches. The moment our hearts grew bigger than we ever imagined. Welcome to the world, sweet boy. 🤍.”
The dance teacher announced her pregnancy in February, seven months after she and Joyce tied the knot.
“Our favorite news to share,” she and Joyce captioned the joint post at the time.
Kate and Joyce’s July 2025 nuptials came after the couple previously postponed the wedding following Johnny and Matthew’s deaths in a biking accident in August 2024. The ice hockey players were 31 and 29, respectively.
Sean M. Higgins was accused of causing the accident that killed Johnny and Matthew. In December 2024, he was indicted on two counts of first-degree aggravated manslaughter, two counts of second-degree reckless vehicular homicide, one count of tampering with physical evidence (fourth-degree) and leaving the scene of a fatal accident (second-degree). Higgins pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Katie paid tribute to her brothers via social media after their deaths.
“To know these two was to love these two,” she wrote in September 2024. “There are absolutely no words I have to express the bond my family shared. The entire world knows there would never have been a John without Matty or Matty without John. The absolute best big brothers a little girl could have asked for. This will never be a goodbye post because I will never stop saying your names and honoring you both.”
