President Donald Trump has invited the U.S. men’s and women’s Olympic hockey teams to attend his State of the Union address on Tuesday, after each claimed overtime gold against rival Canada at the Milano Cortina Games.
Trump praised its goaltender.
“By the way, your goalie played not bad. I have seen hockey goalies have slightly worse games. That team is pretty good you played.”
Trump then floated flying them in for what he called “the coolest night” in Washington.
“I just told my people two minutes ago … we’re giving the State of the Union speech on Tuesday night. I can send a military plane or something,” Trump told the players before they cut him off with, “We’re in.” One player jumped in to ask, “Can you pick us up in Miami on Tuesday morning?”
Trump replied that “we’ll get Kash or we’ll get the military to get you guys over,” adding: “you don’t have to worry about the weather or landing. We don’t care if it’s snowing or the worst blizzard, we’ll be sailing through just like you did on the ice rink.”
“We’ll do the White House the next day,” the president said. “We’ll just have some fun. We have medals for you guys.”
During the call, Trump also said the women’s team should be part of the festivities.
“We’re going to have to bring the women’s team,” the president said, joking that skipping them would risk impeachment.
The women, who completed a 7-0 tournament and reclaimed Olympic gold with Megan Keller’s winner last week, said Monday that they could not appear because of “timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games.”
“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,” the team said in a statement. “They were honored to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgment.”
The White House did not immediately confirm whether either team will ultimately appear in the House chamber.
Logistics are tight even for players who want to make the trip. Many of the women’s team members were not scheduled to land back in North America until Monday evening on a commercial flight into Atlanta, while the men’s squad traveled by charter to Miami earlier in the day.
The NHL season restarts with five games Wednesday, and the Professional Women’s Hockey League resumes Thursday.
All of it follows a landmark stretch for U.S. hockey. The women captured their third Olympic title on Feb. 19 by edging Canada 2-1 in overtime, riding Keller’s sudden-death goal and a late equalizer from captain Hilary Knight, who set U.S. records for career Olympic goals and points.
Three days later, the men snapped a 46-year drought by beating Canada 2-1 in overtime for the country’s first men’s gold since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice,” with Jack Hughes scoring the winner and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck stopping 41 of 42 shots.
“It’s been a whirlwind, it’s been amazing. It’s a dream of ours, it was such an amazing way to unite the country,” hockey player Matthew Tkachuk said after arriving in Miami. He added that the team was “so excited to be back in the greatest country in the world and so excited to celebrate” and called it an honor to hear from Trump, saying they were “definitely honored to represent him and the millions and millions across the country.”
Vice President JD Vance, who attended two of the U.S. women’s preliminary-round wins with his family during the first week of the tournament, is expected in the chamber Tuesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
