The Gaudreau family is reflecting on their time attending the 2026 Winter Olympics more than one year after Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau were tragically killed.
“When we were first invited to Milan for the Olympics, we said no. It felt like more than we could handle,” the Gaudreau family wrote in a statement to X on Saturday, February 28. “But we kept thinking about what John and Matty would say if they knew we turned it down. We knew the answer. 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.”
He continued, “Sitting with that knowledge while watching these Games was not easy — but being present for them, surrounded by people who truly cared about John and Matty, made it something we will always 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.”
News broke in 2024 that Matthew and Johnny — a forward for the Columbus Blue Jackets and a favorite for the 2026 Olympic hockey team — died at age 29 and 31, respectively. The brothers were riding their bikes the day before sister Katie Gaudreau’s wedding in New Jersey when they were struck and killed by an alleged drunk driver.
Last month, Johnny and Matthew’s parents, Jane and Guy Gaudreau, attended the 2026 Winter Olympics where team USA’s men’s and women’s hockey teams both took home the gold. After the men’s team won their first gold in more than 40 years, players were seen holding up a jersey for Johnny before his children were brought onto the ice to celebrate. (Johnny shared Noa, 3, and Johnny Jr., 2, with wife Meredith. She gave birth to the couple’s third baby, son Carter, in 2025.)
The message on Saturday noted that the family was “struck” most by realizing that John and Matty’s “impact reaches so much further than [they] sometimes see in [their] own grief.”
“They are carried by so many people — in locker rooms, in conversations, in quiet moments we will never even know about. That means everything to us. And then Team USA won gold,” the statement read. “When Zach [Werenski], Auston [Matthews], and Matthew [Tkachuk] carried John’s jersey around that ice, we were overwhelmed — they made sure he was there.”
The statement continued, “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. John and Matty should have been there, and in that moment, they were.”
The family went on to thank “every member of that team for loving John & Matty,” and for “making sure they were part of something historic.”
“And thank you to everyone at @NBCOlympics and @usahockey for your kindness, your generosity, and for bringing our family to Milan to witness it. You gave us a gift we didn’t know we needed,” the statement concluded.
The message was signed, “With love and gratitude, The Gaudreau Family.”
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