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There will be two iconic photos from the celebration after Team USA’s overtime victory in hockey on Sunday. In one, the man who scored the golden goal, Jack Hughes, smiles in the stands, his front teeth knocked out, his fist raised in celebration, a flag draped over his shoulders – the picture of courage and glory.
But elsewhere on the ice, at that moment, two of his teammates were planning the iconic second shot. After the Star-Spangled Banner sounded, the team gathered to shoot at center ice. Zach Werenski and Dylan Larkin skated toward the stands, waving to the family of their fallen former teammate, Johnny Gaudreau. Each man hoisted a dark-haired child over the tracks and onto the ice. They included Gaudreau’s children, Noa, 3, and Johnny Jr., 2, in the team photo while Gaudreau’s widow, Meredith, and her parents watched from the stands.
Auston Matthews (34) of the United States, Zach Werenski (8) of the United States and Matthew Tkachuk (19) of the United States hold up John Gaudreau’s jersey after defeating Canada in the men’s ice hockey gold medal game during the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at the Milan Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on February 22, 2026. (Amber Searls/Imagn Images)
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Sunday’s hard-fought victory against rival Canada seemed fateful in many ways. It was performed on George Washington’s birthday, America’s 250th birthday. It was a year after the United States lost to Canada in the final of the 4-nation showdown, creating an Olympic grudge match for the ages. It was also the 46th anniversary of the 1980 Miracle on Ice, the last time U.S. men won gold in hockey, at the Lake Placid Olympics. And for many in the arena, it came down to Johnny, whose family had been enveloped in this way by the “hockey brotherhood,” as Hughes called it in a post-game interview, since his tragic death in 2024.
On August 29, 2024, Gaudreau and his brother Matthew were on a bike ride in New Jersey when life took a horrible turn. The Columbus Blue Jackets phenom, known as “Johnny Hockey,” was in town with his family for his sister’s wedding when a suspected drunk driver attempted to pass a slower car and struck the Gaudreau brothers, 31 and 29, who were traveling on the right side of the road. Johnny and Matthew died at the scene, leaving behind two wives, two sisters, two parents and Johnny’s two young children. The driver will go on trial this month in New Jersey.
At the memorial service for the brothers, we learned that life had taken a different turn before their deaths. Meredith Gaudreau, Johnny’s wife, announced that she was pregnant with their third child, “a total surprise.”
Team USA poses for a group photo Johnny Gaudreau’s children during the men’s gold medal match between Canada and the United States on day sixteen of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at the Milan Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on February 22, 2026 in Milan, Italy. (RvS.Media/Monika Majer/Getty Images)
“John and I had the best six months as a family of four. It will forever be the best six months of my life,” she said at the memorial service. “There is specifically one week that I will cherish forever: It will be my favorite week of my life out of these six months. We are actually a family of five. I am in my ninth week of pregnancy with our third baby.”
Madeline Gaudreau, Matthew’s wife, was pregnant with their first child.
Since then, Carter Michael Gaudreau, Johnny’s son, and Tripp Matthew Gaudreau, Matthew’s son, have been added to the family list. The family marvels at how much they resemble their father, so much so that their mother Jane told the AP last year that it was as if God had given them back “John and Matty.”
Add to the list of those who survive the Gaudreau brothers, two children they will never know. But when the brothers couldn’t be there for them, the brotherhood was.
Johnny Hockey was a star, a decorated collegiate player at Boston College before turning professional with the Calgary Flames in 2014, where he scored the only goal of the night in the very first game of his CHECK career. He represented the United States on several World Championship teams and would have made the 2025 4 Nations team and the 2026 Olympic team had his life not been cut short.
USA Hockey has not forgotten him. Instead, they took Johnny with them wherever they played. Gaudreau had a locker during the 4 Nations puck drop, his jersey hanging inside. Before that final game in 2025 — a crushing 3-2 overtime loss for Team USA — Mike Eruzione, of the 1980 Olympic gold medal team, wore Gaudreau’s jersey as honorary captain.
There were 5Ks to raise money for their childhood school, which needed a new playground, and tributes at NHL games in Canada and the United States, with chants of “Johnny Hockey.” Their father Guy remained involved with the national team and with the Blue Jackets, who donned Johnny’s signature Avalon Surf Shop jeans, boots and hoodie for one of their games this year. These same teammates insisted that Jane go on the annual Blue Jacket Mom bonding trip in 2025.
But the path has not been easy. Their sister Katie postponed her wedding for 10 months after the day that changed their lives, with her mother encouraging her not to let the man who took her brothers away take another important thing from their family. When it came time for the Olympics, Katie returned the favor, urging her parents to go to Milan.
“Our two daughters, for 24 hours, just said to us, ‘You have to go. The boys would want you to do this. It would mean so much to John,'” Jane told Newsweek. “This means so much to our family and we are very happy to remember what our boys meant to hockey.”
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There’s a lot of talk these days about what masculinity means. The talk devolves into caricatures of low-T latte drinkers and traditional chads looking maxxing. But Team USA displays a pattern that has always existed between the poles: brutal men who like to get up at 4 a.m. in freezing weather to get stronger, who will gladly throw haymakers for their country and their friends, who are simple in their pride in Team USA. That these men can also be the ones who protect widows and comfort children is no surprise if you’ve met real men who were raised well (in this case, by the tough, loving hockey moms and dads in the stands).
American Matthew Tkachuk (19) carries Noa Gaudreau, following a men’s ice hockey gold medal game between Canada and the United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, February 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
These men are also unapologetic in their love for the achievements of the women around them. Hughes said one of the first things he thought of after putting his winner into the back of the net was his U.S. women’s team counterpart, Megan Keller, who did the same in her gold medal match. He had congratulated her in the cafeteria the day before her big moment. Megan’s teammate, Haley Winn, was raucously supported by her three older brothers, who became viral stars wearing screaming eagle masks, matching stars and stripes ensembles and fanning light beers from their brotherly utility belts. These ‘Merica-maxxing men also left their little sister a heartbreaking voicemail, declaring her their hero now that she’d achieved the goal they’d watched her work toward since she was rolling on skates before she could walk.
On the ice after the gold medal ceremony, the brothers came together again, demonstrating that mix of toughness and tenderness that the world truly needs to continue living well, even after life bites your teeth.
“We think about him, we played for him and we tried to make him proud,” Werenski said of Gaudreau. “It was an incredible moment to have his kids on the ice and this one was for him.”
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