President Donald Trump’s joke on the expense of Group USA’s girls’s hockey staff has divided the sports activities world following the 2026 Winter Olympic Video games.
The controversy began after Group USA’s women and men’s hockey squads each received gold on the Milan and Cortina video games. On February 22, 2026, President Trump referred to as the boys’s staff of their locker room as they celebrated their time beyond regulation victory in opposition to Group Canada within the gold medal recreation. (Trump’s FBI director, Kash Patel, was partying with the boys’s staff of their locker room throughout the name.)
After inviting the boys’s hockey staff to his State of the Union tackle in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, February 24, Trump quipped: “We’ve got medals for you guys. I have to inform you, we‘re going to must deliver the ladies’s staff. [If I don’t invite them,] I do consider I most likely can be impeached.”
A number of members of the boys’s staff may very well be heard laughing at Trump’s joke. USA Hockey subsequently introduced that the ladies’s staff wouldn’t make a White Home go to or attend the State of the Union speech “as a result of timing and beforehand scheduled educational {and professional} commitments.”
Dave Portnoy is weighing in on the controversy surrounding President Donald Trump’s alleged “joke” in regards to the USA girls’s hockey staff after each the women and men took dwelling 2026 Winter Olympics gold in opposition to the Canadians. “Persons are mad, they’re going nuts. ‘How might the [USA men’s] hockey staff snicker, why are they speaking to the […]
One week after the preliminary snub, Group USA women and men’s hockey stars each appeared on Saturday Night time Reside with Heated Rivalry actor Connor Storrie to poke enjoyable on the drama.
Preserve scrolling for extra about what each the women and men’s hockey groups have stated in regards to the controversy.
Jack Hughes Provides a Patriotic Speech After Males’s Gold Medal Win
Group USA middle Jack Hughes scored the gold medal-winning objective within the males’s hockey finals in opposition to Group Canada on February 22, 2026 — a feat made all of the extra spectacular since he’d misplaced a number of enamel after being cracked with a excessive stick by Canada’s Sam Bennett within the third interval.
In a postgame interview, Hughes informed NBC Sports activities’ Kathryn Tappen that his staff’s Olympics success made him really feel “proud to be an American.”
“That is all about our nation proper now,” Hughes stated following Group USA’s win. “I like the USA. I like my teammates. It’s unbelievable. The USA hockey brotherhood is so sturdy. We had a lot assist from ex-players. I’m so proud to be an American at this time.”
Within the locker room, the boys’s staff spoke with President Donald Trump. The president joked that he was ”going to must deliver the ladies’s staff,” together with the boys, for a White Home go to or else he “most likely can be impeached.”
Group USA Girls’s Hockey Gamers Decline to Attend State of the Union Speech
In gentle of President Donald Trump’s joke, USA Hockey confirmed on February 23 that the ladies’s staff would skip a White Home go to and declined a proposal to attend the State of the Union speech in Washington D.C.
“We’re sincerely grateful for the invitation prolonged to our gold medal–profitable U.S. Girls’s Hockey Group and deeply recognize the popularity of their extraordinary achievement,” USA Hockey informed NBC Information. “They had been honored to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgment.”
The Related Press reported that the fast turnaround of Trump’s invitation for the staff to journey to Washington D.C. would have prompted logistical issues for the ladies.
Jack Hughes Tries to Downplay Girls’s Group Skipping White Home Go to
Group USA’s Jack Hughes seemingly tried to downplay the political implications of the feminine gamers turning down President Donald Trump’s provide to go to the White Home and attend his State of the Union Speech.
“They’ve received busy schedules too,” Hughes informed the Day by day Mail on February 23, 2026. “Everyone seems to be giving us backlash for all of the social media stuff at this time.”
Hughes urged that critics had been placing a damper on each the women and men’s hockey groups’ success at Milan and Cortina.
“Persons are so unfavorable on the market and they’re simply looking for a cause to place folks down and make one thing out of just about nothing,” Hughes complained. “Persons are so unfavorable about issues. I feel everybody in that locker room is aware of how a lot we assist [the women’s team], how proud we’re of them and we all know the identical method we really feel about them, they really feel about us.”
Jack Hughes’ Mom Weighs In on Controversy Over Donald Trump’s Remarks
On February 24, Ellen Hughes — the mom of Group USA males’s standouts Jack and Quinn Hughes and a advisor for USA Hockey — defended her sons’ choice to celebration with FBI director Kash Patel and meet with President Donald Trump on the White Home.
“I feel on the finish of the day, it’s simply in regards to the nation and the second that these gamers, each the women and men, can deliver a lot unity to a gaggle and to a rustic,” Ellen informed At present. “Those who cheered on that don’t watch hockey, folks that have politics on one facet or on the opposite facet. And that’s all each the boys’s staff and the ladies’s staff care about.”
Quinn Hughes and Jack Hughes of Group United States. Bruce Bennett/Getty Pictures
Ellen argued that her sons and their teammates’ choice to go to the White Home and attend the State of the Union speech was not inherently political.
“If you happen to might see what we see from the within and the women and men sharing, you recognize, dorm rooms and halls and flex flooring and the camaraderie and the synergy, and the best way the ladies cheered on the boys and the best way the boys cheered on the ladies,” she insisted. “That’s what it’s all about.”
Ellen went on, “The opposite issues, they can’t management. They care about humanity. They care about unity they usually care in regards to the nation. I hope everyone simply understands what we did within the second, each the women and men to deliver this nation collectively and let everyone cheer in the identical route.”
Quinn and Jack Hughes Categorical Pleasure Over Visiting the White Home
Throughout a Good Morning America interview on February 24, 2026, Quinn Hughes stated he was “excited” to go to the White Home and urged the journey can be “particular” for the boys’s staff.
“There’s rather a lot occurring on social media proper now surrounding our staff and [the women’s team],” Quinn added later within the phase. “Within the final couple summers, we did loads of coaching with them and received to know [them] very well.”
5 Gamers from Group USA Males’s Hockey Skip a White Home Assembly With Donald Trump
Forward of the controversial White Home assembly, it was reported that 5 gamers from Group USA males’s hockey — Winnipeg Jets ahead Kyle Connor, Dallas Stars goalie Jake Oettinger, Colorado Avalanche ahead Brock Nelson, Anaheim Geese defenseman Jackson LaCombe and Tampa Bay Lightning ahead Jake Guentzel — had been skipping the Washington D.C. go to with a view to return to their NHL groups.
Connor spoke to reporters about his option to miss the State of the Union, insisting that he was “simply on the point of play on Wednesday” with the Jets in opposition to the Vancouver Canucks.
“We’ve got a giant second half [of the season] so I simply wished to verify I used to be prepared,” he stated.
Donald Trump Shouts Out Each the Males and Girls’s Hockey Groups in His State of the Union Speech
Donald Trump introduced out the Group USA males’s hockey staff throughout his State of the Union speech in Washington D.C. on February 24, 2026, to say that they’d made “your entire nation proud.”
Trump briefly acknowledged that the ladies’s staff additionally received gold in Milan and Cortina, earlier than suggesting they “will quickly be coming to the White Home.” He then turned again to the boys’s squad to announce that he deliberate to present goalie Connor Hellebuyck the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
“I did take a vote … each single certainly one of them quickly put up their hand up,” Trump informed Hellebuyck. “What a particular job you probably did, what particular champions you’re.”
Vincent Trocheck Condemns ‘Politicization’ of Group USA Hockey’s White Home Go to
On the heels of Group USA Hockey’s males attending the State of the Union speech, middle Vincent Trocheck informed reporters it was “unhappy” that his staff’s White Home go to was “getting politicized the best way it’s.”
“We’re all very proud to be Individuals, and we had been all so proud to go [to the 2026 Winter Olympics] and win a gold medal,” he informed reporters. “We went over there with a job, and it was to win gold and do it for our nation and for everyone again right here, and we had been ready to try this.”
The U.S. males’s Olympic ice hockey staff with Jack Hughes and Quinn Hughes attend President Donald Trump’s State of the Union tackle. Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Pictures
He went on, “It’s unhappy that it robotically will get changed into one thing political when all we actually wished to do was symbolize everyone in right here and everyone in our nation in addition to we might.”
Trocheck revealed he’d by no means earlier than visited White Home or the U.S. Capitol, so he felt it was “such an honor to have the ability to go.”
Group USA’s Hilary Knight Slams Donald Trump’s ‘Distasteful’ Joke
Hilary Knight held nothing again throughout a press convention on February 25, 2026, as she condemned President Donald Trump making a joke at her staff’s expense.
“We simply thought the joke was distasteful and unlucky,” Knight informed reporters. “I feel, simply the best way girls are represented, it’s an amazing educating level to essentially shine gentle on how girls must be championed for his or her superb feats. And now I kind of have to sit down, or anyone has to sit down in entrance of you and clarify another person’s habits. It’s not my accountability.”
Knight felt it was unfair to each the women and men’s groups to be slowed down in a political controversy in gentle of their success on the Milan and Cortina video games.
“No matter’s occurring ought to by no means outshine or decrease their work and our success on the world stage,” she stated. “This was the perfect American girls’s hockey staff we’ve ever put collectively on a world stage when the lights have been the brightest. I feel everybody felt that going by that.”
She concluded, “I wish to have a good time that [success]. I need folks to be remembered for that. I need the legacy of this staff to be remembered. That’s what I’m making an attempt to shift the narrative on and actually focusing [on] and championing what we’ve performed and what we’ve achieved the final two-and-a-half weeks collectively.”
Kelly Pannek Says Donald Trump’s Joke Was ‘Not Stunning’
Group USA’s Kelly Pannek spoke with reporters about her success in Milan and Cortina, along with the backlash over President Donald Trump’s joke.
“With the cellphone name particularly, it’s not stunning, to be frank,” Pannek stated on February 25, 2026. “So I don’t know why we count on in a different way, however I feel for us, it’s additionally nearly getting again to the concentrate on our staff and what our staff achieved.”
Hayley Scamurra Celebrates ‘Outpouring of Love’ From Followers
Group USA’s Hayley Scamurra briefly touched on President Donald Trump’s joke throughout a February 2026 look on the “Hockey Lifers” podcast, the place she stated she most well-liked to concentrate on the assist her staff acquired.
“I feel, you recognize, the decision was what it was,” Scamurra admitted. “And actually, like, the outpouring of affection and assist we’ve sort of acquired since that has outweighed another emotions that I’ve.”
Jack Hughes Addressed Laughing at Donald Trump’s Joke In regards to the Girls’s Group
Chatting with reporters on February 25, 2026, Jack Hughes tried to supply context on why he and a few of his teammates laughed at President Donald Trump’s joke on the girls’s expense.
“You’re within the second, the president calls,” Hughes defined. “We’re blaring the music after which they pause the music after which the president calls. I don’t assume … clearly, it’s what it’s now.”
He continued, “We’ve got a lot respect for the ladies’s staff. They’ve a lot respect for us. We’re all simply proud Individuals. We’re completely satisfied that we each swept the Olympics.”
Vice President JD Vance is giving Group USA some unsolicited recommendation because the athletes compete within the 2026 Winter Olympics. “My recommendation to them can be to attempt to deliver the nation collectively, and whenever you’re representing the nation, you’re representing Democrats and Republicans,” Vance, 41, informed CNN and different reporters on Wednesday, February 11. […]
Hughes requested the media to keep in mind that he and his teammates “are simply hockey gamers.”
“We did our job. We went over to the Olympics to win a gold medal and that’s what we did,” he stated. “I’ve had the perfect time of my life celebrating with my teammates that we achieved our objective. I’m a hockey participant. We’re so proud to be again within the U.S. and celebrating our gold medal and to do it with our teammates, that’s the perfect half.”
Group USA’s Tage Thompson Defends Sporting a ‘MAGA’ Hat Throughout White Home Go to
Group USA males’s hockey star Tage Thompson confronted renewed backlash throughout his White Home go to with President Donald Trump by carrying a Make America Nice Once more hat for the event. He stood behind the divisive vogue selection whereas talking to Outkick on February 25, 2026.
“I’m proud to be an American, and I’ve my very own religion, my very own beliefs, and everybody’s entitled to their very own opinions and beliefs, as effectively,” he stated. “I feel we must always have the ability to reside in peace understanding that not everybody’s going to agree with you.”
Thompson insisted that his sturdy non secular religion was on the middle of his assist of Trump and his MAGA motion.
“Jesus is every thing to me,” Thompson stated. “Clearly, we’re made imperfect. We’re all sinners, and we’d like him. And I fall quick each single day, and he’s the one I depend on.”
He added, “I feel when you may have that sense of hope, the grace and the mercy that I obtain every single day from him is one thing that provides me peace and pleasure in life, it doesn’t matter what I do. And he’s blessed me with this recreation and this chance to play the sport I like at a excessive stage, a phenomenal household and mates, folks [surrounding] me that I like. And I’m simply very grateful.”
Jeremy Swayman Says Group USA Males Ought to Have ‘Reacted In another way’ to Donald Trump’s Joke
Group USA males’s participant Jeremy Swayman acknowledged that his teammates ought to have “reacted in a different way” when Donald Trump made a joke in regards to the girls’s staff.
“We all know that we’re so excited for the ladies’s staff,” he informed reporters. “We’ve got a lot respect for the ladies’s staff. To share that gold medal with them is one thing we’re ceaselessly grateful for. … Now that we’re dwelling, we get to share that collectively ceaselessly.”
Group USA Males and Girls’s Stars Poke Enjoyable at Trump Drama on ‘Saturday Night time Reside’
Group USA girls’s gamers Hilary Knight and Megan Keller reunited with males’s stars Jack and Quinn Hughes on Saturday Night time Reside on February 28, 2026, to handle their controversy with President Donald Trump.
The Hughes brothers popped up throughout Heated Rivalry star Connor Storrie’s monologue to confess that they’d but to see his horny hockey-themed sequence as a result of they had been busy coaching for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina.
The USA Hockey girls’s gamers quickly joined the boys on stage, with Knight joking: “It was going to be simply [me and Megan] however we thought we’d invite the fellows too!”
Group USA hockey stars be part of Connor Storrie on “Saturday Night time Reside” Courtesy NBC/X
Keller teased that she and Knight determined to present the fellows “just a little second to shine” by letting them come out first on Saturday Night time Reside. Later within the monologue, Jack celebrated the boys’s staff profitable their first gold in 46 years.
“And the final time we did that was two complete Olympics in the past,” Knight quipped to large applause from the studio viewers.
“Good burn,” Jack conceded. “These gold medals aren’t only for us. They’re for all hockey followers.”
