Millions of hockey fans woke up early on the morning of Feb. 22 to watch Team USA defeat rival Canada, 2-1, on a thrilling overtime goal by Jersey Devil Jack Hughes to win gold at the winter Olympics.
During the games in Milan, Italy, the team had Johnny Gaudreau’s National Hockey League (NHL) jersey and Matt Gaudreau’s Boston College jersey in their locker room for inspiration, and the players felt the brothers’ presence during the nail-biting victory.
The Gaudreaus were killed in August of 2024 by an alleged drunk driver while riding their bicycles along Route 551 in Salem County. The men’s parents, Jane and Guy Gaudreau, traveled to Milan for the match, and Jane told reporters that she knew “John and Matty would be hovering over the ice” during the entire gold medal game.
In an emotional tribute immediately after their victory, Team USA players Matthew Tkachu, Zach Werenski and Auston Matthews carried the U.S. flag and Johnny’s jersey while skating around the ice to the cheers of fans at Milan’s Santaguilia Ice Hockey Arena. And the official team photo on the ice included his children, Johnny Jr. and Noa.
“The trip wasn’t in their original plans,” noted a Gaudreau Family 5K Facebook post, “but as Jane shared, their daughters, Katie and Kristen, reminded them, ‘The boys would want you to do this. This would mean so much to John.’
“Inside the U.S. team’s locker room,” the post added, “John’s blue No. 13 jersey hangs alongside Matthew’s No. 21, a reminder to every player on the team of who they’re carrying with them. And on Saturday, May 16, we’ll all have another chance to honor John and Matty – together – at the 5K in Sewell and across the globe.
“We hope you’ll join us.”
“We’re obviously thinking of Johnny,” Team USA captain Matthews told reporters, “and we just felt like the impact that he’s had on so many guys in our room was special. And he was with us here in spirit the whole tournament.”
“We miss him and Matty so dearly,” acknowledged team forward Tkachuk. ”Johnny would have been on this team. He’s touched everybody on that ice. We just wanted to show the Gaudreau family our support. He was so near and dear to a lot of us, and we miss him greatly, and we did it for them.”
“It meant everything,” Werenski said. “This is something John would have been at, to see his family here supporting us, seeing his kids, bringing them on the ice. We talked about playing for him, making him proud, and I think we did that. Super special to see them and to have his kids on the ice.
“He was a huge part of USA Hockey.”
Guy coached his two sons beginning in their youth at Hollydell Arena in Sewell and at Gloucester Catholic High School in Gloucester City, where their team won the 2010 NJSIAA South Ice Hockey championship. Guy, an ice hockey and soccer star in his youth at Norwich University in Newport, Vermont, was one of the state’s most prolific forwards in both sports at North Country Union High School.
A member of the Vermont Sports Hall of Fame and the Norwich Athletic Hall of Fame, Guy excelled at ice hockey, scoring 118 goals in high school and 88 at Norwich, where he graduated with a physical education degree in 1979. He then brought his love of hockey to South Jersey, where he and Jane settled and raised four children: Johnny, Matty, Kristen and Katie.
Guy almost single-handedly brought the sport to Hollydell and Gloucester Catholic. During a remembrance ceremony for the brothers at the arena on Sept. 13, 2024, NHL announcer Jim Jackson observed that “Hollydell opened in 1992 and Guy was the hockey director. When Johnny and Matty came along, it was a home away from home for them.”
Guy taught his sons well: “Johnny Hockey” was a seven-time NHL All Star and Matty played in the American Hockey League before returning to South Jersey to coach the Philadelphia Rebels and Gloucester Catholic.
Team USA won the Olympic gold in a nail-biter of a game with goal-tending by Connor Hellebuyck, play on defense-killing penalties and the golden goal in overtime by Hughes. Tears flowed in the arena and across the world during the celebration, with the presence of Johnny and Matty in mind as the team skated around the rink with Johnny’s jersey and brought his two children onto the ice.
The celebration “meant the world to me,” said Johnny’s wife, Meredith, during a Fox News interview on Feb. 25.
“It was really heartwarming and very touching,” she added. “I’m thankful to the guys. They are great friends and great teammates.”
