From a miracle on ice to a controversy in the locker room.
Jewish hockey stars Quinn and Jack Hughes have finally responded to the controversy which embroiled the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team soon after they won the gold medal against Canada in a 2-1 overtime thriller.
The pushback stems from the Americans welcoming FBI director Kash Patel into their locker room celebration, who then seemingly called President Trump. On the phone President Trump congratulated the team and invited them to the State of the Union address, before saying, “I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that.”
The President added that if he didn’t invite the women’s team, who also won gold against Canada at the Olympics, he believed he “probably would be impeached.”
In a video of the exchange, which has since gone viral on social media, a majority of the members of the men’s team are seen heartily laughing at Trump’s comment.
Hilarious.
Appearing on “Good Morning America” today, the brothers spoke about their experience after the game, celebrating with family and friends. “On top of that, I know there’s been so [many] headlines about us and the women’s hockey team and, you know, the video, but we hung out. Like we were in the cafeteria with them at 3:30 in the morning,” Jack said, before the sound cut out from his feed.
Quinn then fielded a question from co-host George Stephanopoulos about whether they would be going to President Trump’s State of the Union address as the women’s team has indicated they will not attend. “I don’t know how much I’m allowed to say, but yes. We’re excited to go. It’s not something you get to do every Tuesday. It’s going to be special for us,” Quinn responded.
He then added, “I’m glad you mentioned the women’s team again. We’re really happy for them. [There’s] a lot going around on social media right now surrounding our team and their team, but in the last couple summers, we did a lot of training with them and got to know a lot of those girls really well.”
The sentiment was similar to one Jack shared with reporters in Miami, where the team landed when they returned from Italy. “Everyone is giving us backlash for all the social media stuff today. People are so negative out there, and they are just trying to find a reason to put people down and make something out of almost nothing,” he stated, going on to speak about the men’s team’s relationship with the women’s team. “People are so negative about things. I think everyone in that locker room knows how much we support them, how proud we are of them. The same way we feel about them, they feel about us.”
In Miami, Jack also expressed his eagerness to attend the State of the Union. “Yeah, we’re excited. Everything is so political. We’re athletes. We’re so proud to represent the U.S. When you get the chance to go to White House and meet the President, we’re proud to be Americans and that’s so patriotic,” Jack expressed. He concluded, “No matter what your views are, we’re super excited to go to the White House tomorrow and be a part of that.”
Meanwhile, Ellen Weinberg-Hughes has also responded to the controversy. Not only is Ellen mother to Quinn and Jack and where they get their Jewish heritage from, she’s also a hockey legend in her own right. She was named to the U.S. women’s hockey team in 1992 and served as the player development consultant for the current U.S. women’s gold medal team.
“People that cheered on that don’t watch hockey, people that have politics on one side or on the other side, and that’s all both the men’s team and the women’s team care about,” she told TODAY. “If 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 — that’s what it’s all about. And the other things they cannot control. They care about humanity. They care about unity and they care about the country.”
In spite of Ellen’s words on unity and camaraderie, at least one viral tweet shows members of the U.S. women’s hockey team and other female professional hockey players liking posts on Instagram indicating their distaste for the U.S. men’s team’s behavior.
So where does that leave us? Well, for the U.S. men’s hockey team’s part, they’ll be attending President Trump’s State of the Union address at the Capitol tonight. It’s unclear when they will be returning to their NHL teams, who are still in the midst of their season.
The U.S. women’s hockey team, meanwhile, politely declined Trump’s invitation to the State of the Union due to “previously scheduled academic and professional commitments.” They will mark their achievement at a later date in Las Vegas, according to rapper Flavor Flav, who says they have accepted his invitation for “a real celebration.”
