The United States men’s hockey team was invited to Tuesday’s State of the Union address and to the White House by President Donald Trump after winning the gold medal at the Milan Cortina Olympics, the program’s first in 46 years.
The U.S. women’s hockey team, which also beat Canada in overtime to win the gold medal, declined Trump’s invitation to the State of the Union because of “previously scheduled academic and professional commitments.”
Trump spoke to the men’s team through speaker phone via FBI Director Kash Patel, who was seen celebrating with players in the locker room at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena after the U.S. defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime on Sunday, per video posted on X.
In his congratulations to the team, Trump called it an “unbelievable game” and said goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, who made 41 saves in the win, “played not bad.”
Patel shouted, “You boys are going to the State of the Union!”
Members of the women’s team will disperse as the PWHL regular season resumes Thursday. The women’s college season continued through the Olympics, leaving select players off of those teams.
In his call to the men’s team, Trump joked he “probably would be impeached” if the women’s team wasn’t invited to the White House.
The men’s team was scheduled to take a charter flight to Miami on Monday morning after a blizzard affecting New York City caused them to change their original return plans.
One player yelled, “We’re in!” in response to the invitations, while another asked if they could be picked up in Miami on Tuesday morning.
“The nice thing about being president is I can tell you, you don’t have to worry about the weather or landing,” Trump said. “We don’t care if it’s snowing, or if it’s the worst blizzard, you’ll be sailing through that sucker just like you did on the ice today. We’ll do the White House the next day. We’ll just have some fun. We have medals for you guys.”
Players are expected to report to their NHL teams on Tuesday ahead of the resumption of the schedule Wednesday.
Almost half of the 25-man roster is scheduled to play in games on Wednesday, including Hellebuyck for the Winnipeg Jets, who play in Vancouver, and overtime hero Jack Hughes for the New Jersey Devils, who are hosting Tage Thompson’s Buffalo Sabres.
Another 12 games on Thursday feature 16 players from the roster.
“We are sincerely grateful for the invitation extended to our gold medal-winning U.S. Women’s Hockey Team and deeply appreciate the recognition of their extraordinary achievement,” a USA Hockey spokesperson said Monday. “They were honored to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgment.”
–Field Level Media
