A ‘miracle’ for Johnny Hockey

By: Andrew Nowel, Sports Layout Editor

46 years ago, the U.S. won the greatest game of hockey ever played in U.S. history, but all those years later, one moment stood out from the rest as the U.S. men’s ice hockey team celebrated their third-ever gold medal at the Olympics. The kids of Johnny Gaudreau were brought onto the ice to celebrate a win not just for a country, but for a family.

Gaudreau was born in 1993 and quickly showed why he was a natural hockey player. The Jersey-born kid caught the eyes of the hockey world as he neared age 18 when the 2011 Entry Draft came around and was picked 104th overall by the Calgary Flames. Committed to Boston College, Gaudreau dazzled in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), leading the Eagles to a national championship in his freshman season with 44 points in 44 games. He improved to 51 points in only 35 games the following year and the National Hockey League (NHL) was about to come calling.

However, Gaudreau wasn’t ready to join the Flames in the NHL yet because his brother, Matthew, joined Boston College that season, and it fueled Johnny to put up 80 points in 40 games, the highest mark in over 10 years for the NCAA. In 2014, it was finally time for “Johnny Hockey” to make his NHL debut.

In the final game of the 2013-14 regular season for Calgary, Gaudreau would score the only goal on his first professional shot, opening eyes around the league for when Gaudreau began the 2014-15 season later that fall. During his rookie season, Gaudreau amassed 64 points, became the youngest player to record a hat trick in Calgary’s franchise history in almost 40 years and his 50+ points as a rookie were the most in almost 20 years since Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla did it in the 1996-97 season.

Gaudreau’s success in the NHL turned heads throughout the league, but the American story started when he began to represent the U.S. in the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championships in which he did so five times. Gaudreau holds the record for most points by a U.S.-born player in the IIHF World Championships with 43 points and was set to make the 2026 U.S. men’s ice hockey Olympic roster, but one day changed everything.

On the evening of Aug. 29, 2024, Gaudreau and his brother were cycling in Oldmans Township, N.J. when they were struck by a drunk driver, killing them both. A hockey story that hadn’t hit the climax had ended abruptly. Johnny Hockey was gone.

Immediately after the death of the Gaudreau brothers, the sports world paid tribute to the family. The most touching moment, though, came at the start of the 2024-25 NHL season when the Columbus Blue Jackets, the team Gaudreau had been with the last couple of seasons prior to his death, opened their season at home with only four men on the ice instead of the normal five, leaving a spot open for Johnny Gaudreau. The Blue Jackets and their opponent that night, the Florida Panthers, let 13 seconds trickle off the clock in memory of the number that Gaudreau wore. It was one of the single greatest tributes the sports world has ever seen, and Blue Jackets TV play by play announcer Steve Mears captured the moment perfectly stating, “there are no dry eyes in the building.”

Fast forwarding to a week ago, the U.S. men’s ice hockey team took home gold, defeating Canada 2-1 in overtime at the Olympics. As the U.S. celebrated, Zach Werenski and Dylan Larkin went to where the Gaudreau family was sitting and brought Johnny’s kids onto the ice for the team picture, recognizing the memory of Johnny Hockey. The moment captured the greatest thing about hockey: family. Werenski, teammates with Gaudreau in Columbus, understood the importance of Gaudreau’s connection with his family, and gave the kids a memory that they’ll never forget in memory of their dad.

Johnny Hockey will live forever in the hearts of hockey fans as an inspiration to young players everywhere in the game of hockey, but also with the important things in life. Gaudreau never let hockey get in the way of his family. “He was one of America’s very best,” U.S. Head Coach Mike Sullivan said after the gold medal game. “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.” This game was a moment no one will ever forget, but it means more with Johnny Gaudreau being the “miracle on ice” 46 years later.