{"id":201580,"date":"2026-02-25T15:15:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T15:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-ignites-culture-war-around-u-s-hockey-gold-medal-winners-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T15:15:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T15:15:23","slug":"trump-ignites-culture-war-around-u-s-hockey-gold-medal-winners-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-ignites-culture-war-around-u-s-hockey-gold-medal-winners-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump ignites culture war around U.S. hockey gold medal winners – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Champagne was still spraying in the locker room after Team USA clinched its first Olympic men\u2019s hockey gold medal in almost five decades when President Donald Trump called into the celebration, kick-starting the nation\u2019s latest culture war that has pitted some of the sport\u2019s top stars against one another.
After it defeated Canada 2-1 on Sunday, when New Jersey Devils center Jack Hughes scored the game-winning goal in overtime, the group gathered in the locker room with FBI Director Kash Patel, who The Athletic reported<\/a> was invited to the celebration by Team USA general manager Bill Guerin.
Amid the chaos, Patel whipped out his phone to call Trump, who invited the men\u2019s team to the State of the Union address Tuesday.
Trump then joked that if he did not invite the women\u2019s team \u2014 which also beat Team Canada <\/a>in overtime to win the gold days before \u2014 \u201cI do believe I probably would be impeached.\u201d
The men roared in laughter.
That moment captured on video has spurred outrage online, prompting a cascade of negativity toward the men\u2019s team, members of which appeared quick to diss their female teammates to agree with Trump. (One player could be heard in the video saying \u201cabsolutely\u201d when Trump said he had to invite the women, while another shouted \u201ctwo-for-two,\u201d acknowledging the men\u2019s and women\u2019s gold medal victories).
The episode has devolved into a heated back-and-forth online between fans who are disavowing the men for laughing at Trump\u2019s remark and others who feel there is a rush to judgment amid a brief moment of unity for the country. Meanwhile, conservatives have lauded the players<\/a> for making unabashedly patriotic statements after the win, talking up how proud they are<\/a> to be American.
The controversy comes in a unique year for hockey, after the sport has garnered new fans through the Olympics and the popularity of \u201cHeated Rivalry<\/a>,\u201d a hockey romance show centered on gay relationships. The NHL has embraced<\/a> the show<\/a> as part of a yearslong effort to expand the sport\u2019s appeal.
The men\u2019s hockey team attended Tuesday’s State of the Union address. In that speech, Trump said he will award U.S. men’s goalie Connor Hellebuyck the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Tuesday afternoon, many on the Olympic team were pictured outside the White House<\/a>, gold medals around their necks, and later surrounding Trump in the Oval Office<\/a>.
Trump called Hellebuyck, the goalie, his \u201csecretary of defense\u201d in a TikTok video filmed in the Oval Office with the team on Tuesday afternoon.
“Hegseth is not happy to hear this,” Trump joked, referring to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The women\u2019s team, however, declined Trump\u2019s invitation, with a spokesperson saying the team <\/a>\u201cdeeply appreciate[s] the recognition of their extraordinary achievement\u201d but could not attend because of previous commitments. The team also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Some members of the women\u2019s team have liked Instagram posts<\/a> critical of the men\u2019s team\u2019s response<\/a> to Trump\u2019s comment.)
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dominik Ha\u0161ek, a Hall of Fame former NHL goalie who has been outspoken on a number of issues, including the war in Ukraine, lauded the women for rejecting Trump\u2019s invitation.
\u201cYes, your president is a big liar and a fraud who abuses his position to insult and bully his fellow citizens,\u201d Ha\u0161ek, who is Czech, wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cStill, I believe you must have shown a great deal of heroism in making this decision. Thank you for that.\u201d
As an alternative to the State of the Union, Public Enemy co-founder Flavor Flav invited the women\u2019s team to Las Vegas<\/a> for \u201ca real celebration,\u201d which he said would include \u201csome nice dinners and shows and good times.\u201d (He added that he\u2019d be inviting the skeleton and bobsled teams, too.)
\u201cWe saw the story about the men\u2019s invite to the White House, and the not quite invite for the women\u2019s team,\u201d Flavor Flav wrote in what he said was a \u201cformal invitation\u201d sent to the women\u2019s hockey team<\/a>.
\u201cIf there is an interest for the team to come to Las Vegas and celebrate with Flav \u2014 we will figure it out on our end and make it a lovely experience,\u201d the invitation added.
It was not immediately clear whether the women had accepted Flavor Flav\u2019s invitation.
Jack Hughes and his brother, Quinn Hughes, who emerged as the most recognizable names for Team USA throughout the Games, are now facing scrutiny for their reaction to Trump\u2019s comments.
\u201cWe\u2019re so proud to represent the U.S. and when you get the chance to go to White House and meet the president, we\u2019re proud to be Americans and that\u2019s so patriotic,\u201d Jack Hughes told the Daily Mail on Monday<\/a>. \u201cNo matter what your views are, we\u2019re super excited to go to the White House tomorrow and be a part of that.\u201d
Critical comments were made about the administration during the Games. Skier Hunter Hess<\/a> said representing the U.S. is \u201ca little hard\u201d right now, considering \u201cthere\u2019s obviously a lot going on that I\u2019m not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren\u2019t.\u201d In response, Trump called Hess \u201ca real loser.\u201d
The Hughes brothers also came under fire for laughing at Trump\u2019s comment, as their mother, Ellen Hughes, is a famed women\u2019s player<\/a> and a consultant to the women\u2019s team.
She told NBC\u2019s \u201cTODAY\u201d show<\/a> that double gold medals \u201csays so much for USA hockey and where our sport is in this great country.\u201d
Asked about the video of the men\u2019s team talking to Trump, she said that \u201cit\u2019s all about the country\u201d and that people from both sides of the aisle were celebrating the men\u2019s and women\u2019s gold medals.
\u201cIf you could see what we see from the inside, and the men and women sharing, you know, dorm rooms and halls and flex floors and the camaraderie and the synergy and the way the women cheered on the men and the way the men cheered on the women \u2014 that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd the other things they cannot control. They care about humanity. They care about unity, and they care about the country.\u201d
Despite the backlash, Jack Hughes told \u201cTODAY\u201d<\/a> on Tuesday that the support he has received since scoring that golden goal has been incredible.
He added that when he scored the game-winning goal, he thought of Megan Keller, who scored a golden goal days before to win the women\u2019s tournament. On Monday, Keller posted a photo on Instagram<\/a> of the two athletes embracing with their gold medals.
\u201cIf there was a camera on me and Quinn when the women\u2019s team won, we look like the biggest superfans of all time,\u201d Hughes said. \u201cWe were just jumping up and down. We couldn\u2019t believe it. … One of my first thoughts was her, and I am just so proud to join her as a gold medalist.\u201d
Rebecca Cohen is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
Allan Smith is a political reporter for NBC News.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeThe Champagne was still spraying in the locker room after Team USA clinched its first Olympic men\u2019s hockey gold medal in almost five decades when President Donald Trump called into the celebration, kick-starting the nation\u2019s latest culture war that has pitted some of the sport\u2019s top stars […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":201581,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-201580","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}