{"id":470666,"date":"2026-02-25T04:49:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T04:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/470666\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T04:49:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T04:49:15","slug":"johnny-gaudreaus-family-was-conflicted-about-olympics-invite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/470666\/","title":{"rendered":"Johnny Gaudreau’s family was conflicted about Olympics invite"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before Jane and Guy Gaudreau \u2014 the parents of the late Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau \u2014 hopped on a plane to Milan, they were hesitant to accept USA Hockey\u2019s invitation<\/a> to watch the U.S. men\u2019s Olympic hockey team in the semifinals against Slovakia, according to a new report.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before his tragic death<\/a> in 2024, when he and his brother were killed by an alleged drunk driver, Johnny was expected to make the 2026 Olympics team, and he had already begun making plans to increase his training to make the push for a spot, his sister Katie recalled in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last Tuesday, a rep for USA Hockey invited the Gaudreau family to attend the semifinals and the final, if the Americans advanced.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AustonAuston Matthews, Zach Werenski and Matthew Tkachuk of Team United States celebrate the victory and Gold Medal with a jersey of Johnny Gaudreau on February 22, 2026 in Milan, Italy. Getty Images<\/p>\n

At first, Jane and Guy declined the offer, as they felt it would\u2019ve been a tough trip to make, knowing their son wasn\u2019t there and that their daughters, Katie and Kristen, couldn\u2019t go.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The feeling changed the next day, Katie explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom was like, \u2018I really didn\u2019t sleep,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201c\u2018I think John would want us to go. I think we should go.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Katie knew the trip could be an emotional one for her parents, but she told her mother she could always skip the gold medal game if the first contest was too hard for them. But not being there at all meant they wouldn\u2019t have the chance to honor Johnny or Matthew.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018So this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to honor the boys. And keep their legacy alive. And that\u2019s what we do, every day. We wake up and we just want to honor the boys\u2019 legacy,’\u201d Katie recalled telling her mom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jane and Guy, along with Johnny\u2019s widow, Meredith, and their two oldest kids, Noa and Johnny Jr., made the trip to Italy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TheThe family of the late Johnny Gaudreau celebrate after the Men\u2019s Gold Medal match between Canada and the United States on day 16 of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on February 22, 2026 in Milan, Italy. Getty Images<\/p>\n

The family was in the stands when the United States beat Slovakia<\/a> and then again when they captured gold in a thrilling 2-1 overtime win over Canada<\/a> on Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After capturing the gold, Team USA carried a jersey around the ice with Gaudreau\u2019s name and invited Noa and Johnny Jr. onto the ice to be part of the team photo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018There\u2019s no way they\u2019re going to do that. There\u2019s no way,’\u201d Katie said. \u201cWhen they did that, I lost it. I\u2019m so proud. I\u2019m so happy that the kids got to experience that, because this is what John wanted. The team did an amazing job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnny and Matthew were tragically killed in New Jersey in August 2024 when a purported drunk driver struck them while riding their bicycles.\u00a0They were home in Oldmans Township for Katie\u2019s wedding that was supposed to take place the next day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both brothers died at the scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The case against<\/a> the driver is still in court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before Jane and Guy Gaudreau \u2014 the parents of the late Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau \u2014 hopped on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,3265,4,2602,43,422,2787,31286],"class_list":{"0":"post-470666","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-johnny-gaudreau","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-olympics","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-usa-hockey","14":"tag-winter-olympics","15":"tag-winter-olympics-2026"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116129469498362774","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470666","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=470666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}