The U.S. men's hockey team had one of the sweetest postgame celebrations in recent sports history in large part because of two NBC executives.
Meredith Gaudreau, the widow of former Calgary Flames star Johnny Gaudreau, was in attendance last Sunday to watch Team USA defeat Canada in the men's ice hockey final. Her late husband was honored after the gold medal game was over, as members of the U.S. national team skates around the ice while holding up his No. 13 jersey.
Team USA also had Meredith and Johnny's children join them on the ice for the postgame celebration.
"They didn't have to do that," she told ABC News. "I was just very, very proud, and I'm very thankful to them for including my kids in it, and just honoring my husband the way they do. It's the classiest thing. They do all these really kind gestures and include our kids in everything, because I know that's exactly what John would want."
© Geoff Burke-Imagn Images.
How did this beautiful moment come about?
Brian Roberts, the CEO of NBCUniversal owner Comcast Corp., helped orchestrate this unforgettable experience for the Gaudreau family. He suggested the idea of flying the Gaudreaus to Milan to Gary Zenkel, the president of NBC Olympics.
Unsurprisingly, Zenkel was more than happy to sign off on this plan.
"The humanity after the awful tragedy shown by our men’s Olympic hockey team was so incredibly thoughtful and many of us didn’t know it was going to happen," Roberts told Front Office Sports. "As soon as I read about it, I immediately called Gary to see if we could help by inviting the family to be there in person—and the beautiful moments that followed we will never forget—it’s what makes the heart and the emotion of the Olympics so special. We were grateful to play a small part."
NBC deserves a lot of credit for flying the Gaudreau family to the Olympics. It made Team USA's triumphant win over Canada that much sweeter.