United States honours late Johnny Gaudreau in locker room
Team USA is honouring the late Johnny Gaudreau at the 4 Nations Face-Off in a very special way.
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Team USA is honouring the late Johnny Gaudreau at the 4 Nations Face-Off in a very special way.
Following their 6-1 rout of Finland on Thursday night, the United States hung up a Gaudreau jersey in Brady Tkachuk’s locker room stall after the Senators captain was named player of the game by his teammates.
“He’s with us every step of the way, their whole family is,” J.T. Miller said after the game.
Gaudreau had been a part of USA Hockey for his entire career, beginning with his tenure at the USHL. He represented the red, white and blue several times, winning gold with the national junior team at the 2013 World Junior Championships in Russia and making four appearances at the IIHF World Championships, including in 2024.
Gaudreau played the last international best-on-best tournament back in 2016 when he was tapped to play for Team North America at the World Cup of Hockey, a team composed of the NHL’s best talent under the age of 23. Gaudreau finished the tournament with the most points on the team.
USA Hockey also invited Guy Gaudreau, the father of Johnny and Matthew, to participate in the team’s pre-tournament practice and team dinner.
“Johnny and Matthew were a big part of USA Hockey and a tremendous loss. They’re with us in spirit. I just think it was important that Guy was there. The coaches wanted him out for practice, and the players wanted him in the picture. He’s an amazing guy, we love having him around,” team general manager Bill Guerin told Sportsnet’s Eric Engels on Tuesday.
Johnny and his brother Matthew Gaudreau were killed on Aug. 29 when they were struck by a vehicle while riding their bikes on a rural road in New Jersey.
