It was the day hockey fans had waited over a decade for: the Men’s Olympic hockey gold medal game. Even with the early puck drop at 8:10 in the morning on Sunday, Feb. 22, it was not something I wanted to miss.
It was the first Olympics where NHL players were allowed to participate since 2014, both teams had rosters full of all-star-caliber talent. It was also a rematch of the NHL Four Nations Faceoff final game, which was the smaller international competition the NHL played in place of the all-star game last year. The U.S. lost that game three to two in overtime, building tension for this game.
Just like the Four Nations Tournament Final, it went to overtime, but this time the U.S. won. Even though Canada didn’t get the gold medal, their coach, Jon Cooper, still said after the game that it was a fantastic showing for the sport of hockey.
“At the end, you’re going to read in a book that in 2026 USA won the gold in Olympic hockey and Canada won the silver, but I think in the big, grand scheme, the big winner of this tournament was ice hockey,” Cooper said in his postgame press conference. “I think that’s what we should all take out of this [tournament].”
The game was not the problem, though. The issue was what happened after. While Cooper was giving his postgame press conference, speaking about how the game was good for the sport, the Team USA players were partying with Kash Patel, the director of the FBI, and laughing at President Trump’s jokes about the women’s team.
On speakerphone after the win, the players crowded around in the locker room as President Trump congratulated the men’s team and invited them to attend the State of the Union. He then joked that he would now have to invite the women’s team or be impeached.
“I must tell you we’re gonna have to bring the women’s team. You do know that?” Trump said.
What could have been a time to unite us and grow the game was soured by the disrespectful behavior of the president.
The women’s team had won gold earlier that week. It was a great game, also an overtime win against Canada. They represented their country at the Olympics, and this was how their president spoke about them.
The men’s team players also fed off of this energy. They laughed at these jokes, and many accepted his invitation. One of the players also yelled at Trump to close the northern border, making fun of the country they had just played, while clearly referencing Trump’s policies around immigration and the border with Mexico.
Many of the players have since expressed regret for their reaction, claiming that they were caught up in the moment, while others have not. Some players from the women’s team have said that there is still a lot of mutual respect between the men and women after their time spent together at the Olympics.
The women’s team declined President Trump’s invitation to the State of the Union, citing scheduling conflicts and expressing their gratitude for the invitation, but Hillary Knight, the captain of the team, also called President Trump’s joke distasteful. She is focusing on celebrating the accomplishment and not letting his joke ruin any part of it.
A couple of members from both the men’s and women’s teams also appeared on SNL, where Knight joked back that they were originally going to do it alone, but they decided to invite the men’s team.
I don’t know what each individual player’s views on the situation and politics in general are, but publicly they seem to have found a way to get along. Even so, the unfortunate aftermath of the medal win is a consequence of President Trump’s behavior. This isn’t even really about politics; it’s a simple matter of respect.
The players’ reaction was not a good representation of the sport, and it certainly didn’t help bring us any closer together. They should have responded differently. This situation could have been avoided in the first place had President Trump not decided to throw in a demeaning joke.
All around the country and the world, there were people like me who woke up eager to watch the men’s gold medal game. We didn’t want this. The Olympics should be about celebrating these athletes, but instead, it ended up being divisive. A game as good as this one should be great for the sport, but after this, I’m not so sure it is.
