The Group USA males’s hockey workforce felt Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau’s spirits once they took residence the gold on the 2026 Winter Olympics.
“Johnny and Matty must be right here and that’s nonetheless the most important loss that each one of us at USA hockey, their households [and] our household, has gone via,” Dylan Larkin advised reporters after the Sunday, February 22, gold medal sport. “Johnny [is] household first.”
Group USA beat Group Canada 2-1 in a sudden-death additional time win on Sunday, the American squad’s first gold medal victory since 1980’s famed “Miracle on Ice.”
“I feel a part of the puck not getting in our web was in some way, that he’s standing there doing one thing,” Larkin, 29, stated, including that he photos Johnny and Matthew laughing as they “simply in some way they put a spell round [the Team USA] web the place that puck didn’t go in.”
Group USA males’s hockey stored the late Johnny Gaudreau of their hearts once they formally grew to become gold medal champions on the 2026 Winter Olympics. Group USA beat Group Canada 2-1 within the gold medal sport on Sunday, February 22, the place they sweetly honored Gaudreau upon their victory. (The American victory marks the primary time that […]
Johnny and his brother, Matthew Gaudreau, had been struck and killed by an alleged drunk driver whereas biking in New Jersey in August 2024, simply days earlier than their sister Katie Gaudreau’s wedding ceremony. The brothers had been 31 and 29, respectively.
The siblings are survived by their mother and father, two sisters and respective wives and youngsters. Matthew was married to Madeline Gaudreau, with whom he shared son Tripp. Johnny, for his half, is survived by his spouse, Meredith Gaudreau, and their three youngsters.
Meredith attended the gold medal sport together with her youngsters and in-laws.
“You need to be right here, John, and I’m so sorry you aren’t,” Johnny’s widow wrote through her Instagram Tales on Friday, February 20. “So pleased with you and your legacy.”
Auston Matthews, Zach Werenski and Matthew Tkachuk maintain up a ‘Gaudreau 13’ jersey. Gregory Shamus/Getty Photographs
As Group USA celebrated their victory, they held up an Olympics jersey with Johnny’s final identify and invited his youngsters Noa, 3, and Johnny Jr., 2, onto the ice to have fun with the workforce. (Johnny and Meredith additionally shared son Carter, who was born in April 2025.)
Larkin, for his half, advised reporters that “simply felt proper” to ask Johnny’s youngsters onto the ice.
The Olympic victory additionally coincided with Johnny Jr.’s birthday.
“2-22 is child Johnny’s birthday!! Particular date picked by his daddy resulting from journey on the time,” Meredith wrote through Instagram on Saturday, February 21. “Joyful 2nd birthday to our child Johnny boy! We love you a lot. I’m so pleased with you. Couldn’t consider a greater method to spend your 2nd birthday than for a enjoyable day tomorrow.”
Group USA had the total assist of the Gaudreau household on the 2026 Winter Olympics. Johnny Gaudreau’s widow, Meredith Gaudreau, and his mother and father had been noticed within the crowd in the course of the males’s hockey semifinal matchup in opposition to Slovakia on Friday, February 20. (Group USA in the end received the sport, advancing to the gold medal championship spherical in opposition to Canada […]
Johnny’s mother, Jane Gaudreau, subsequently responded within the feedback part.
“Joyful Birthday Child Johnny! Mother-Mother & Pop-Pop love you a lot and we are able to’t wait to spend the day with you,” Jane wrote. “Love you to the moon and again!”
Johnny was a ahead for the Columbus Blue Jackets and had ambitions to symbolize Group USA on the Olympics forward of his demise.
“He was decided to earn his spot on that Olympic roster,” the Gaudreau household wrote in a social media assertion earlier this month. “Whereas it breaks our hearts that John received’t be there to stay out that dream, we all know he will likely be so very current with Group USA and all of his shut associates competing all through these video games. Although the Olympics will likely be bittersweet for our household, we discover consolation understanding that within the hearts of his teammates, associates, and everybody who beloved watching him play, John will likely be proper there.”
