Meredith Gaudreau expressed her overwhelming gratitude for the way the Blue Jackets and the NHL honored him during the Stadium Series game.

If longtime NHL star Johnny Gaudreau hadn’t tragically had his life taken from him last summer, he would’ve been a prominent part of the league’s Stadium Series game involving his Columbus Blue Jackets at Ohio Stadium.

The Stadium Series game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday promised to have it all: a crowd of more than 90,000 — making it the second largest in NHL history — and an electric atmosphere inside the iconic Ohio Stadium.