USA Hockey honors Johnny Gaudreau after winning 2025 IIHF World Championship

Johnny Gaudreau has been in the hearts of the hockey world this season – and on Sunday evening in Sweden, USA Hockey got to honor him in the best way possible.

Minutes after beating Switzerland 1-0 in overtime to win the 2025 IIHF Men’s World Hockey Championship, the team’s leadership group honored their friend by placing a team jersey with Gaudreau’s name and No. 13 on top of the trophy to kick off the celebration.

Team USA accepts the #MensWorlds trophy with a Johnny Gaudreau jersey in hand 🥹👏 pic.twitter.com/oVYKMmXoWJ

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) May 25, 2025

Gaudreau had built a resume as one of USA’s top players at the World Championship. The former Columbus Blue Jackets forward skated in five tournaments, scoring 13 goals and 43 points over five tournaments. While he never won gold, Gaudreau did take home a bronze medal in 2018. Gaudreau’s last high-level hockey action came at this tournament last year, where he had 11 points in eight games to finish third in team scoring.

Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew, were struck and killed by a drunk driver in New Jersey on Aug. 29, 2024. The driver was arrested and charged with death by auto, and pleaded not guilty back in January.

Gaudreau’s jersey had hung in the USA’s changeroom at various tournaments throughout the year, including this past January when the team won gold at the World Junior Championship.

USA beat Finland and Sweden to advance to the final for the first time since 1934. The Americans last won gold at this tournament back in 1933, marking a 92-year absence without touching the top spot of the IIHF men’s podium. USA won the 1960 Olympics, which counted as a World Championship victory at the time, but it was not a standalone event like 1933 was.

USA Hockey will now turn its focus to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy – with NHLers set to participate for the first time since 2014. Gaudreau made his NHL debut to close out the 2013-14 regular season with the Calgary Flames, just shortly after the last time NHLers participated in the Olympics. Gaudreau represented Team North America at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, finishing with four points in three games as one of the team’s top players.