Johnny Gaudreau’s family issue Winter Olympics | Sports News

The family of the late Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau has revealed they virtually skipped the Winter Olympics earlier than reconsidering, pushed by what they believed the brothers would have wished.

Such was Johnny’s impression on the Team USA squad that they hung his jersey of their locker room initially of the event. The 2026 Games finally culminated in Team USA claiming a historic gold medal, defeating Canada 2-1 in additional time within the males’s ultimate.

Following the victory, Team USA’s gamers gathered on the ice for a group picture with Gaudreau’s kids, holding up his jersey while sporting their gold medals.

Although the Gaudreau family was current to witness the gold medal match, they not too long ago confessed that they had come close to skipping the journey to Italy, discovering it virtually too overwhelming to bear. “When we were first invited to Milan for the Olympics, we said no. It felt like more than we could handle. But we kept thinking about what John and Matty would say if they knew we turned it down. We knew the answer,” the Gaudreau family wrote in a assertion on X.

“John loved representing his country. From the time he was little, he dreamed of competing at the Olympics. In that final summer, he was working harder than ever, pushing himself with everything he had to earn a spot on that roster. He was going to be there.

“Sitting with that information while watching these Games was not straightforward – however being current for them, surrounded by people who actually cared about John and Matty, made it one thing we’ll at all times treasure.

“Every person we encountered took the time to ask about the boys – who they were, what they meant to us, the kind of people they were away from the ice. What struck us most was realizing that John and Matty’s impact reaches so much further than we sometimes see in our own grief.

“They are carried by so many people – in locker rooms, in conversations, in quiet moments we’ll by no means even learn about. That means every part to us. And then Team USA gained gold. When Zach [Werenski], Auston [Matthews], and Matthew [Tkachuk] carried John’s jersey round that ice, we had been overwhelmed – they made sure he was there.

“And then to see Noa and Johnny – on Johnny’s second birthday – carried out onto the ice to be part of that gold medal photo – there are no words for what that felt like.”

The assertion concluded: “John and Matty should have been there, and in that moment, they were. Thank you to every member of that team for loving John and Matty – and for making sure they were part of something historic.

“And thanks to everybody at @NBCOlympics and @usahockey on your kindness, your generosity, and for bringing our family to Milan to witness it. You gave us a reward we did not know we needed. With love and gratitude, The Gaudreau Family.”