Johnny Gaudreau’s memory surrounded Team USA during Olympics

MILAN — Noa and Johnny Jr. are in all probability too younger to recollect it, however the world will.

The US males’s hockey workforce had simply completed posing on the ice, draped in gold medals and American flags, when Dylan Larkin and Zach Werenski informed them to attend only a second as they fetched the kids from the sidelines and carried them into the fray.

Johnny Gaudreau ought to have been within the picture along with his teammates. As a substitute, his 3-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son have been there as a substitute.

The reminiscence of Gaudreau and his brother Matthew hung heavy round this workforce because it chased this Olympic triumph with out them. The previous Boston School hockey gamers have been killed in August 2024 by a drunk driver whereas biking of their dwelling state of New Jersey the day earlier than their sister’s marriage ceremony.

Johnny was projected to make the roster for this Olympic workforce, US head coach Mike Sullivan informed his dad and mom Man and Jane.

“He was considered one of America’s perfect,” Sullivan stated earlier this week. “He’s only a good individual on the ice and off the ice, and I feel he’s an inspiration to our gamers to this very day.”

As a substitute, his No. 13 jersey has hung within the locker room, just like it did at the 4 Nations last year and on the 2025 world championships.

So it was no shock, however emotional nonetheless, to see Werenski, Auston Matthews, and Matthew Tkachuk skate with Gaudreau’s jersey of their arms as they celebrated their win. And because the gamers obtained their medals, there was No. 13 hanging over the boards in entrance of the US bench.

Werenski hasn’t let Johnny Gaudreau’s reminiscence fade. His closest good friend within the NHL and a teammate in Columbus for Gaudreau’s ultimate two seasons, Werenski stated he knew Gaudreau’s presence was with the workforce in Milan.

“It actually felt like that the entire match. Felt he was right here,” he stated after successful gold. “I felt that feeling quite a bit in Columbus, and I felt it on the world stage, world championships final yr, now right here on the Olympics.

“I really feel like he’s following us, and he’s acquired our again.”

Additionally in attendance was Gaudreau’s household: his dad and mom, his widow Meredith, and his two kids, the youngest of whom was born two years in the past Sunday — after Gaudreau died.

They virtually didn’t make it to Milan.

“Our two daughters, for twenty-four hours, they simply stored at us: ‘It’s important to go. The boys would need you to do that. This may imply a lot to John,’” Jane informed the Related Press on Saturday. “It simply means a lot to our household, and we’re so excited to recollect what our boys meant to hockey.”

As if anybody may ever overlook.