'Thank you for the best years of my life', Johnny Gaudreau's wife posts on Instagram

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — On Saturday morning, the wife of Johnny Gaudreau posted her first comments since Thursday night's tragedy.

Meredith Gaudreau took to Instagram, posting pictures of their family.

One post spoke of Johnny as a husband.

The other talked about their children.

The tributes were accompanied by a video she posted to her stories later that day describing how Johnny would like to be remembered in Calgary, where he played his first 9 seasons.

"When my time does end here, you know, I hope people will remember me as a good person off the ice, a good teammate, and just a good person, I think," Johnny said.

On August 29, Johnny and his brother Mathew were killed by a suspected drunk driver. Fans have been paying tribute to Johnny since the Blue Jackets announced the news Friday morning.

On Sunday afternoon, fans continued to stop by to leave their hockey sticks, candles, cards, signs and even purple Gatorade bottles. There were also fans from other teams leaving memorabilia, showing a united hockey community.

Teams from around the city paid tribute to the brothers on Saturday, with Ohio State and the Crew holding a silence during their games.

A "Johnny Hockey" chant started at Lower.com Field.

EA Sports NHL24 created a graphic for the brothers while postponing a video about features of NHL 25.

Fans told ABC 6 just how much Johnny impacted them, some saying he gave them the inspiration to play the sport.