Jane and Guy Gaudreau with their grandchild at the 2026 Winter Olympics; Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau in 2014
Credit: Gaudreau5K/X;Richard T Gagnon/Getty I
NEED TO KNOW
The family of hockey players Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau thanked Team USA Hockey after being invited to attend the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy
The family said attending the Games was “a gift we didn’t know we needed,” revealing that they had not initially planned to go
Johnny, 31, and Matthew, 29, died after they were struck by an alleged drunk driver while biking in August 2024
The Gaudreau family thanked the Team USA hockey team for inviting them to the 2026 Winter Olympics in an emotional message, sharing that it was “a gift we didn’t know we needed.”
“When we were first invited to Milan for the Olympics, we said no,” the family wrote in a post on X on Saturday, Feb. 28.
“It felt like more than we could handle. But we kept thinking about what John and Matty would say if they knew we turned it down. We knew the answer,” they continued.
They shared that their son, the late NHL star Johnny Gaudreau — who died at age 31, along with his brother Matthew, 29, after they were hit by an alleged drunk driver while biking in August 2024 — had dreamed of playing in the Olympics. They added that he was training “harder than ever” at the time of his death.
“Sitting with that knowledge while watching these Games was not easy — but being present for them, surrounded by people who truly cared about John and Matty, made it something we will always treasure,” they continued.
Team USA hockey players pose with a Gaudreau jersey and Johnny Gaudreau’s two children at the 2026 Winter Olympics
Credit: Gregory Shamus/Getty
“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. 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,” they added.
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The family went on to share that Team USA Hockey’s historic win — and their inclusion of Johnny’s memory and legacy in the ensuing moments — meant the world to them.
“John and Matty should have been there, and in that moment, they were,” they said.
The family concluded their message: “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. With love and gratitude, The Gaudreau Family.”
The post included a photo of Johnny and Matthew’s parents, Guy and Jane Gaudreau, sitting in the stands at a Team USA hockey game with a grandchild.
The Team USA men’s hockey team made a point to bring Johnny’s memory into the festivities after they beat Canada and won the gold medal on Sunday, Feb. 22.
As the team posed for photos on the ice with their medals, forward Dylan Larkin and defenseman Zach Werenski brought over Johnny’s daughter Noa, 3, and son Johnny Jr., 2, whom he shared with wife Meredith Gaudreau.
Johnny and Meredith Gaudreau with their children.
Credit: Meredith Gaudreau/Instagram
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Winning and getting the chance to honor Johnny “was emotional,” Werenski, who was Johnny’s former teammate on the Columbus Blue Jackets, told reporters, including PEOPLE, after the game.
“It was good emotions. It was happy emotions. It was something John would’ve been at, and to have his jersey out there for all the fans, for all the people to see … His family was in the crowd. We brought his kids on the ice for the picture, I mean, it was just incredible. We wanted to make him proud, and I think we did that,” he said while describing the moment.
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