Meredith Gaudreau only brought her eldest two children, Noa and Johnny Jr., to support Team USA’s men’s hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics for one reason.
“I felt so bad, [but] Carter didn’t have a passport,” Gaudreau said on the Thursday, March 12, episode of Kylie Kelce’s “Not Gonna Lie” podcast, referring to her youngest son who will turn 1 next month. “He was watching from home.”
Meredith shared Noa, 3, and Johnny Jr., 2, with late husband Johnny Gaudreau, who was killed in a bike accident in August 2024 at age 31. Shortly before Johnny’s death, Meredith found out that she was pregnant with baby No. 3. Carter was born in April 2025.
In light of hockey star Johnny’s tragic death, both Meredith and his hockey peers have continued to honor his legacy. The American men’s hockey team even invited Meredith, her kids and Johnny’s parents to travel to Milan for the Winter Olympics last month. (Both the men’s and women’s hockey teams eventually won gold.)
“I was telling Noa, especially when we went out to Milan, I was like, ‘These are all Daddy’s friends, and I think if he were here, he would probably be on this team,’” Meredith said on Wednesday’s podcast episode. “She recognizes some of the guys, and I said, ‘I think Daddy would be on that team. Those are all his friends.’”
According to Meredith, she explained to Noa that attending the Olympics would be “something special [that they were] doing” for the toddler’s late dad.
“She sees his jersey and knows that’s his. She’s only 3, so I try to give her a little credit but she can read No. 13,” Meredith added. “She knows that’s for him, and [the Olympics team] was all his friends, they love and miss him too, and this is something special we’re doing for him. She’s starting to seem very proud of that fact.”
After the men’s team beat Canada in the gold medal game, the American athletes skated around the rink with Johnny’s jersey. They also brought Noa and Johnny Jr. onto the ice for the official team victory portrait.
“It just meant the world to me just when I saw it in the locker room, and once they won and had his jersey out, seeing that was so surreal,” Meredith tearfully recalled. “All of a sudden I see Matthew Tkachuk on his phone, and my sister goes, ‘Your phone keeps ringing.’ He called me [and] said, ‘Want to get a picture with the kids.’ I was, like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s so cool.’”
She continued, “I was very proud of John, very proud of the guys for making it a special moment for my kids [in] honoring John the way they did. You know, they just won the gold medal, they don’t need to be thinking about that right now.”
