![\"Johnny](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2262981671-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMILAN \u2013 In the hours leading up to Sunday\u2019s gold medal game, Columbus Blue Jackets captain Zach Werenski and Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin came up with the idea.<\/p>\n
If the United States won gold, they wanted a team picture with the late Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau\u2019s family on the ice.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to get the whole family on, but it was kind of hard with the gate, so we figured we\u2019d grab the kids,\u201d Werenski, Johnny\u2019s former Blue Jackets teammate, said. \u201cBut it was a special moment seeing (their parents) Guy and Jane.\u201d<\/p>\n
So after Werenski, Team USA captain Auston Matthews and Matthew Tkachuk paraded Gaudreau\u2019s Team USA jersey around the ice after winning their country\u2019s first men\u2019s hockey gold medal in 46 years, Werenski and Larkin found Johnny and Meredith Gaudreau\u2019s 3-year-old daughter Noa and son Johnny Jr., who turned 2 on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly felt (Johnny\u2019s presence) the whole tournament. Felt he was here,\u201d Werenski said. \u201cI felt that feeling a lot in Columbus, and I felt it at the world stage, World Championships last year, now here at the Olympics. I feel like that he\u2019s following us, and he\u2019s got our back.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is something John would have been at. And to see his family here supporting us and seeing his kids, bringing them on the ice, we talked about playing for him, making him proud and I think we did that.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n The late Johnny Gaudreau\u2019s family made the trip to Milan for the men\u2019s Olympic hockey tournament. (Elsa \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The beloved \u201cJohnny Hockey\u201d and his brother, Matthew Gaudreau, died after being struck by an alleged drunk driver while riding their bicycles home after their sister\u2019s rehearsal dinner in August 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cJohnny and Matty should be here, and that is still the biggest loss that all of us, USA Hockey, their family, our family, has gone through, and to have Johnny Jr. and Noa out there, it just felt right,\u201d Larkin said. \u201cJohnny\u2019s family first.\u201d<\/p>\n
The United States beat Canada 2-1 in overtime Sunday despite being outshot dramatically. Connor Hellebuyck was valiant in net, and Canada had missed chance after missed chance, including when Nathan MacKinnon blew a wide-open cage in the waning minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think part of the puck not going in our net was somehow (Johnny) standing there doing something, laughing with Matty, just somehow they put a spell around our net where that puck didn\u2019t go in,\u201d Larkin said before smiling wide. \u201cAnd, ironic, because it\u2019s on the defensive side, he would never have been back there. But we miss him, and we love him. We love his family and we can\u2019t wait to celebrate with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
United States defenseman Brock Faber\u2019s eyes welled up seeing the scene on the ice with Larkin and Werenski\u2019s two kids sitting on their laps during the team photo.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust shows the lasting impact he\u2019ll forever have on this team,\u201d Faber said. \u201cHis jersey will always be hung up in this locker room, and just really puts things into perspective when you see those kids on the ice and his family in the stands. His legacy will live on, and even though he is not here, he\u2019s a part of this team, a huge part of this team.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s had a big impact on a lot of guys in our room,\u201d Matthews said. \u201cA lot of guys grew up with him. Played with him. Spent a lot of time with him. Whether that\u2019s the NHL or World Championships, different setting like that. We\u2019ve had his jersey in our room last year in the 4 Nations. Had his jersey in the room here at the Olympics. Just a subtle reminder that him and his brother are with us in spirit. To be able to get it done like that, to win, to have his jersey out there in the team photo, have his kids come out and be with us. we\u2019re obviously thinking of him. Just felt like the impact that he\u2019s had on so many guys in this room is special.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was with us in spirit the whole tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN \u2013 In the hours leading up to Sunday\u2019s gold medal game, Columbus Blue Jackets captain Zach Werenski…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5108],"tags":[3644,5180,897,230,5179,5,54125,151,4,2602,56],"class_list":{"0":"post-467223","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-columbus-blue-jackets","8":"tag-blue-jackets","9":"tag-bluejackets","10":"tag-columbus","11":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","12":"tag-columbusbluejackets","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-mens-olympic-ice-hockey","15":"tag-new-jersey-devils","16":"tag-nhl","17":"tag-olympics","18":"tag-philadelphia-flyers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116116111040282902","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}