Auston Matthews, Zach Werenski, and Matthew Tkachuk skated the No. 13 jersey around the ice in Milan on Feb. 22 after Team USA defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime to win its first Olympic men’s hockey gold medal since 1980. The jersey belonged to Johnny Gaudreau, the late NHL star who was supposed to be wearing it.
Gaudreau and his younger brother Matthew were killed on Aug. 29, 2024, when a suspected drunk driver struck them while they were cycling near their hometown in New Jersey. The brothers were there on the eve of their sister Katie’s wedding. Johnny was 31, and Matthew was 29.
A Look at Johnny Gaudreau’s NHL Career and the Olympic Dream He Was Chasing
John Michael Gaudreau was an American winger who spent 11 NHL seasons with the Calgary Flames and the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Flames selected him in the fourth round, 104th overall, of the 2011 NHL draft out of Boston College, where he won a national championship in 2012 and the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey’s best player in 2014.
Gaudreau scored on his first shot in his first NHL game with Calgary and never really slowed down. In nine seasons with the Flames, he put up 210 goals and 399 assists across 602 games. His breakout 2021-22 campaign produced career highs of 40 goals and 115 points. He won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy in 2016-17 and earned the nickname “Johnny Hockey” for a style built on elite stickhandling, creativity, and an ability to generate offense despite standing just 5-foot-9.
You don’t have to be a hockey fan — or even a sports fan — to appreciate and savor how special this moment was. 🙏🥇🇺🇸
(📷: @BarstoolBigCat) https://t.co/MfIl2hwunb pic.twitter.com/quBa2vic1m
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) February 22, 2026
In the summer of 2022, Gaudreau left Calgary in free agency and signed a seven-year deal with Columbus to play closer to his New Jersey roots. He totaled 134 points in 161 games across two seasons with the Blue Jackets. For his career, Gaudreau finished with 243 goals, 500 assists, and 743 points in 763 regular-season games.
But the number that matters most to this Olympic story is 43. That’s how many points Gaudreau recorded in 40 games across six international events for Team USA, including five IIHF World Championships. He’s the all-time leading scorer in U.S. men’s IIHF history.
The cruel twist of Gaudreau’s Olympic dream was timing. The NHL did not send its players to the 2018 PyeongChang Games or the 2022 Beijing Games due to scheduling conflicts and the COVID-19 pandemic. Milano Cortina 2026 represented Gaudreau’s first real opportunity to compete on hockey’s biggest stage. USA Hockey confirmed to the Gaudreau family that Johnny would have been selected to the roster. Head coach Mike Sullivan left no room for doubt.
“He was one of America’s very best,” Sullivan said. “He’s just a good person on the ice and off the ice, and I think he’s an inspiration to our players to this very day.”
How Team USA Built a Tradition Around Gaudreau’s Memory
The gold medal celebration in Milan wasn’t spontaneous. It was the culmination of a tribute that USA Hockey has been building and deepening across three consecutive international events since Gaudreau’s death.
It started at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February 2025, where USA Hockey invited Guy Gaudreau, Johnny and Matthew’s father, to take part in practice as a guest coach. Both brothers’ numbers were displayed.
Three months later, at the 2025 IIHF World Championship in Stockholm, the tribute expanded. The U.S. hung Gaudreau’s No. 13 jersey in the locker room throughout the tournament. After Tage Thompson scored in overtime to beat Switzerland for the gold, Werenski brought the jersey out onto the ice for the trophy presentation. It was likely Werenski’s idea. He’d been Gaudreau’s teammate in Columbus and at the 2024 Worlds, the last time they shared ice together.
In Milan, the jersey hung in its own space in the U.S. locker room for every game. Matthew’s No. 21 sat alongside Johnny’s 13 on the wall. And as the tournament progressed, the family arrived. Johnny’s widow, Meredith, along with their two oldest children and Johnny’s parents, Jane and Guy, flew to Italy after their daughters pushed them to make the trip.
“Our two daughters, for 24 hours, they just kept at us: ‘You have to go. The boys would want you to do this,'” Jane Gaudreau told ESPN. “‘This would mean so much to John.'”
The youngest Gaudreaus are in the gold medal pic… 🥹❤️💙 pic.twitter.com/O7s0z3CjHS
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) February 22, 2026
The family connections between Team USA’s roster and the Gaudreaus run deep. Noah Hanifin played with Johnny in Calgary. Werenski played with him in Columbus. Charlie McAvoy and Dylan Larkin skated alongside him at the World Championships. These weren’t gestures from strangers. They were tributes from friends.
“Johnny was close to a lot of guys in that room,” Hanifin said. “We know he’d be here with us, so we’ve been thinking about him and carrying him with us.”
After Jack Hughes scored at 1:41 of 3-on-3 overtime to beat Canada, after Connor Hellebuyck turned away 41 of 42 shots in a performance that kept the Americans alive through relentless Canadian pressure, the first thing the team’s leaders did was bring Gaudreau’s jersey onto the ice. Matthews, Werenski, and Tkachuk carried it for a victory lap with the Gaudreau family watching from the stands.
The team won its first Olympic gold in 46 years. They made sure Gaudreau was part of it.
“It means the world to us, probably means the world to them, and we’re doing our best to make ’em proud,” Werenski said.
Gaudreau never got to play in the Olympics. But across the 4 Nations Face-Off, Stockholm and now Milan, USA Hockey has ensured that his presence in the program didn’t end with his tragic death. It lives on in a locker room stall, in a number on the wall, and now in a jersey held high during the greatest moment in American hockey in nearly half a century.
