The family of the late Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau said it was ‘overwhelmed’ that the USA men’s hockey team celebrated those players after winning the gold medal.
Players carried Johnny Gaudreau’s jersey on the ice and brought out his children, Noa and Johnny, for a team photo. Gaudreau, a seven-time NHL All-Star, frequently suited up for the USA in international tournaments before he and his brother died on Aug. 29, 2024, when hit by a driver while they were bicycling in New Jersey.
The Gaudreau family members said in a statement on Saturday, Feb. 28, that they initially turned down an invitation to go to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan because it would have been hard on them.
‘But we kept thinking about what John and Matty would say if they knew we turned it down. We knew the answer,’ the family said. ’John loved representing his country. From the time he was little, he dreamed of competing at the Olympics. In that final summer, he was working harder than ever, pushing himself with everything he had to earn a spot on that roster. He was going to be there.’
The family members – parents Guy and Jane, plus Johnny’s widow Meredith, went to Milan – said they were comforted by the fact that so many people cared about the brothers.
‘Every person we encountered took the time to ask about the boys — who they were, what they meant to us, the kind of people they were away from the ice,’ the family said. ’What struck us most was realizing that John and Matty’s impact reaches so much further than we sometimes see in our own grief. They are carried by so many people — in locker rooms, in conversations, in quiet moments we will never even know about. That means everything to us.’
Team USA, which displayed Gaudreau’s jersey in the locker room for the 4 Nations Face-Off and the world championships, did the same at the Olympics. The Americans beat Canada 2-1 in overtime for the country’s first men’s hockey team Olympic gold medal since 1980.
‘When Zach (Werenski), Auston (Matthews) and Matthew (Tkachuk) carried John’s jersey around that ice, we were overwhelmed — they made sure he was there,’ the family said. ‘And then to see Noa and Johnny — on Johnny’s second birthday — carried out onto the ice to be part of that gold medal photo — there are no words for what that felt like.
‘John and Matty should have been there, and in that moment, they were. Thank you to every member of that team for loving John & Matty – and for making sure they were part of something historic. And thank you to everyone at @NBCOlympics and @usahockey for your kindness, your generosity, and for bringing our family to Milan to witness it. You gave us a gift we didn’t know we needed.’
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