She eulogized John Gaudreau through tears that would not be held back, her stories punctuated by sniffles, even an occasional laugh about falling in love with a young man with a mohawk, and the immeasurable heartbreak over a life that ended “way too soon.”

Meredith Gaudreau had more to share about her husband than tales of his modest start on ice and rise to NHL stardom — their family of four was soon to become five; she recently revealed to John he would be a father again.

“John and I had the best six months as a family of four,” she said. “These will forever be the best six months of my life.”

Meredith Gaudreau announced at the funeral for her husband and his brother, Matthew, both killed when they were struck by a suspected drunken driver while riding bicycles, that she was nine weeks pregnant with the couple’s third child.

She called the pregnancy a blessing, yet the jolt from the disclosure at the Catholic church in the Philadelphia suburbs served as one more heart-wrenching reminder of the joyous futures lost when the brothers were killed in New Jersey on the eve of their younger sister’s wedding.

John and Matthew Gaudreau were remembered as loving brothers and husbands who put family above hockey and everything else at a tearful funeral held Monday at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Pennsylvania. Matthew’s widow, Madeline, and Meredith each described how the brothers enjoyed an inseparable bond from twin-sized beds they used in a shared room in their childhood home in Carneys Point, New Jersey, to their playing days together at Boston College to summers spent at family parties at the Jersey Shore.

Side by side — just how their coffins sat in the church.

“God really did draft the best two boys,” Madeline Gaudreau said. “Linemates forever.”

John was 31 and Matthew 29.

“Everything was always John and Matty,” Meredith Gaudreau said. “I know John would not be able to live a day without his brother. He loved him so much.”

WNBA

Reese talks injury >> Angel Reese took to social media to explain her season-ending injury — a small crack in a bone in her wrist that will require surgery on Tuesday.

“I fell on my hand when I got the and-one, when I fell back (and) fell on my hand and it is a small crack in my bone,” Reese said in a video posted to her TikTok late Sunday night.

“Basically, the doctors told me that I could either not get surgery or have surgery. The risk of not having surgery — I could literally have arthritis at 22 years old. That wasn’t an option. The bone could literally crack and completely shatter. Right now, it’s like a hairline… They’re going to put a small screw in it. And I wasn’t going for it getting any bigger.”

Reese, the No. 7 pick in the WNBA draft, said she’ll be in a hard cast for four weeks and then a soft cast for two. She finished the season averaging 13.6 points and 13.1 rebounds, with the rebound average the highest in WNBA history. Reese also set the rookie record with 26 double-doubles — her last coming in a 92-78 win over Los Angeles on Friday night.

Motorsports

Jordan doesn’t sign deal >> After more than two years of contentious negotiations over a new revenue agreement, NASCAR last weekend finally got 13 organizations — all but two — to sign a new deal. The agreement was reached less than 48 hours before NASCAR’s playoff opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and multiple teams told The Associated Press they felt pressured to take what was presented as a “take it or leave it final offer.”

Michael Jordan and the 23XI Racing team he co-owns refused to sign the deal Friday night. Front Row Motorsports, a much smaller organization, surprisingly took the same stance.

23XI and Front Row are the only two current chartered organizations that did not sign extensions that run through 2031. 23XI is largely represented by co-owners Denny Hamlin and Jordan confidant Curtis Polk, who arrived at Atlanta with two typed pages of notes he read to reporters to explain why the team did not take NASCAR’s offer.

Polk described the fight as “David facing Goliath,” with NASCAR essentially threatening to eliminate the charters if the deal wasn’t accepted by midnight. He said other teams “may have felt pressured and compelled to sign the agreement under significant duress.”

The position at 23XI was that the terms were “particularly harmful to our operations and our ownership group’s interests and intellectual property rights.”

Tennis

New rankings >> U.S. Open men’s runner-up Taylor Fritz returned to the top 10 in the ATP rankings at No. 7 on Monday, and women’s runner-up Jessica Pegula rose to No. 3 in the WTA list, while semifinalist Emma Navarro climbed to a career-best No. 8.

Men’s champion Jannik Sinner nearly doubled his lead as the ATP’s No. 1 — a spot he’s held since June -- after beating Fritz in straight sets. Women’s champion Aryna Sabalenka stayed at No. 2 in the WTA behind Iga Swiatek, who lost to Pegula in the quarterfinals.

Sabalenka briefly supplanted Swiatek at No. 1 after finishing as the runner-up to Coco Gauff at last year’s U.S. Open. Sabalenka is the only woman to collect more than one Grand Slam title in 2024; she won the Australian Open in January.

College football

Bears honored >> Teddye Buchanan and Nohl Williams both earned Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Week honors for their performances in Cal’s 21-14 road victory on Saturday at Auburn.

Buchanan was named linebacker of the week after he had a team-high 11 tackles, three for loss — including two sacks — while also forcing a fumble. Williams, the defensive Back of the week, had two interceptions, with his second pick coming at 2:15 of the fourth quarter.

Also Monday, the ACC announced that Cal’s game at Florida State on Sept. 21 will start at 4 p.m., with the game on either ESPN or ESPN2. The Bears (2-0) host San Diego State this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.