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Shortly after successful America’s first gold medal in males’s hockey in 46 years, members of Workforce USA honored Johnny Gaudreau, a former Workforce USA member who tragically died in August of 2024.
Zach Werenski, who performed alongside Gaudreau throughout his ultimate NHL seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets, held up Gaudreau’s Workforce USA jersey together with workforce captain Auston Matthews and assistant captain Matthew Tkachuk shortly after he fed Jack Hughes for the game-winning purpose in opposition to Canada.
The gesture occurred with members of Gaudreau’s household trying on within the stands.
After receiving their gold medals, Werenski and Dylan Larkin, who performed with Gaudreau at a number of world championships, introduced Gaudreau’s younger kids out to the ice for a workforce photograph.
“It means the whole lot — everyone knows he must be right here with us,” Larkin mentioned of Gaudreau previous to the gold medal sport. “He must be with us. We love him, and I like that we proceed to consider him and I would not think about it every other method.”
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Johnny and his youthful brother Matthew Gaudreau had been killed after being caught being an alleged drunk driver whereas biking in New Jersey. Like his older brother, Matthew Gaudreau was additionally an achieved hockey who performed professionally within the AHL and ECHL earlier than turning into a coach.
A seven-time NHL All-Star, Johnny Gaudreau was a six-time All-Star for the Calgary Flames. He was the 2017 recipient of the Woman Byng Memorial Trophy, which is given yearly to an NHL participant “adjudged to have exhibited the very best kind of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct mixed with a excessive commonplace of taking part in potential.”
In 2022, Gaudreau shocked a lot of the hockey world by deciding to signal with the Blue Jackets as a free agent. He was named to his seventh and in the end ultimate All-Star workforce throughout his first season in Columbus, who has continued to honor his legacy following his premature demise.
Gaudreau helped Workforce USA win the gold medal on the 2013 IIHF Junior World Championships. He most lately performed on Workforce USA in the course of the 2024 IIHF World Championship. He by no means received an opportunity to play within the Olympics, although, because the NHL didn’t take part within the earlier two Olympics.
“He needed to be on this workforce,” his father, Man Gaudreau, mentioned in the course of the third interval of the America’s win over Slovakia. “And it could’ve been good if he’d been right here.”
Members of the Gaudreau household made the journey to Italy after being invited by Workforce USA.
“Our two daughters, for twenty-four hours, they simply saved at us: ‘You must go. The boys would need you to do that. This is able to imply a lot to John,'” mentioned Gaudreau’s mom, Jane. “It simply means a lot to our household, and we’re so excited to recollect what our boys meant to hockey.”
Their presence was actually felt by Workforce USA.
“It is nice having them right here, and it is tremendous particular,” Werenski mentioned previous to Sunday’s sport. “We’re completely happy that we made it to the gold medal sport to allow them to watch that and be part of it. It is on us to make them proud.”
Gaudreau served as inspiration all through the Olympics for Workforce USA. His uniform was on the locker room all through the Olympics, and it was on the ice on Sunday when the Individuals made historical past by successful the gold medal for under the third time.
“He was certainly one of America’s best,” mentioned Workforce USA coach Mike Sullivan. “He is only a good individual on the ice and off the ice, and I feel he is an inspiration to our gamers to this very day.”
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