Photo: JULIEN DE ROSA/AFP via Getty Images
Unfortunately, the story of Team USA at the Winter Olympics is not just cool-girl figure skaters and athletes speaking out against what’s happening back home. There is also the men’s hockey team, most members of which seemed very happy to party with FBI director Kash Patel and get a White House invite from President Donald Trump after the team’s gold-medal-winning game on Sunday. Since their impromptu locker-room party, the men’s-team members have gotten plenty of backlash (several fan accounts are in the process of unstanning), but that didn’t stop the fellas from following through on their White House visit for Trump’s State of the Union. Here’s what’s going on.
After defeating Canada 2-1 in overtime, Team USA went back to the locker room to drink beer and yell about its victory. Joining the players, for some reason, was Patel. In a video from the celebration, the FBI director can be seen slamming back a beer, screaming, and banging on a table. The hockey players seemed to be loving this, and alternate captain Matthew Tkachuk even put his own gold medal around Patel’s neck. The video ends with a team sing-along of Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American).”
A source sent me this video of FBI Director Kash Patel partying with the US Men’s Olympic Hockey team. pic.twitter.com/egjmdhOAF6
— William Turton (@WilliamTurton) February 22, 2026
It would be one thing if Patel — who has beaten some stiff competition to become the lamest member of the Trump administration — invited himself in. However, after getting roasted for looking dorky in the locker-room video, Patel clarified that he had been “invited” to the celebration by his “friends” on Team USA. (Why Patel uses the white fist-bump emoji is a question for another day.)
For the very concerned media – yes, I love America and was extremely humbled when my friends, the newly minted Gold Medal winners on Team USA, invited me into the locker room to celebrate this historic moment with the boys- Greatest country on earth and greatest sport on earth.…
— Kash Patel (@Kash_Patel) February 23, 2026
We will probably never find out how real Patel’s “invitation” was, but what we do know is that America’s male hockey players seemed pretty amped when Patel facilitated a call with President Trump. On speakerphone, the president invited the team to the State of the Union address on Tuesday, even offering to send a military plane to get them to D.C. The guys seemed pretty jazzed about the idea, hooting and yelling, “Let’s go!”
Trump earned his biggest laugh from Team USA when he cracked a joke about begrudgingly inviting the women’s hockey team to the White House. “I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” the president said, prompting a huge wave of chuckles. Trump added that he “probably would be impeached” if he didn’t invite the women’s team — who, for what it’s worth, also beat Canada 2-1 in overtime to win gold.
After video of the team’s locker-room celebration went viral, hockey fans were divided. A fan account for Jack Hughes, the men’s team’s star player, said they were “unsure of what to do” with their page and they would be pausing their regularly scheduled content, and a few other players’ fan pages have followed suit. Meanwhile, Barstool Sports owner Dave Portnoy said there was “no softer group of people” than “hockey Twitter.”
They’re keeping their distance. The president followed through on his promise to invite them to the State of the Union, but they responded that they can’t fit it into their schedule. “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,” a spokesperson for USA Hockey said in a statement. “Due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games, the athletes are unable to participate.” In case they’re still fielding offers, Flavor Flav quickly threw his hat in the ring to host a real celebration for them in Las Vegas.
On Monday, Jack Hughes was caught by paparazzi in Miami ahead of the team’s appearance at the E11EVEN MIAMI nightclub (where they all sang the national anthem). Hughes told the Daily Mail there are no bad feelings between the men’s and women’s teams. “Everyone is giving us backlash for all the social-media stuff today,” he said, adding that people online were trying to “make something out of almost nothing.” According to Hughes, the men’s team is “so tight” with the women’s team, and “everyone in that locker room knows how much we support them, how proud we are of them, and we know the same way we feel about them, they feel about us.”
Addressing Trump’s invitation, Hughes observed that “everything is so political,” but “we’re so proud to represent the U.S., and when you get the chance to go to the White House and meet the President, we’re proud to be Americans and that’s so patriotic.”
In an interview on Good Morning America on Tuesday, Quinn Hughes (Jack’s brother and fellow Team USA star) added that the team is “excited” to go to the State of the Union and shared his support for the female players. “You know, we’re really happy for them. Obviously, a lot going on on social media surrounding our team and their team,” he said. “But, you know, the last couple summers we’ve done a lot of training with them and got to know a lot of those girls really well.” I’d love to hear how “those girls” feel about that.
To make matters worse, the Hughes brothers’ mother, Ellen Hughes, a former hockey player who competed with the U.S. women’s national team in the ’90s, now works in player development for the U.S. women’s national team, including at this year’s Olympics. I’m sure we’d all love to hear what she has to say about this.
“I think at the end of the day, it’s just about the country,” Ellen Hughes told Hoda Kotb during an appearance on Today on Tuesday. She said that both the men’s and women’s teams have the ability to “bring so much unity to a group and to a country” regardless of political affiliation. “They care about humanity. They care about unity and they care about the country.” Right, well … moving on!
It looks like everyone had an amazing time. Margo Martin, special assistant to the president, posted several videos of the team’s visit to X, including one haunting clip in which they all slowly move through the White House colonnade admiring Trump’s “Presidential Walk of Fame” while “Free Bird” plays in the background.
The USA Men’s Hockey Team tours the White House colonnade as Free Bird plays 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/tJxwh9sI2s
— Margo Martin (@MargoMartin47) February 24, 2026
They also met the big man himself and were, once again, very charmed by his antics. Tkachuk, the same guy who gave Patel his medal in the locker room, offered the medal to the president during their Oval Office visit. “I’m not giving it back,” Trump told him, prompting a laugh from the rest of the team.
Matthew Tkachuk has @POTUS put on his gold medal!
“I’m not giving it back” 🤣 pic.twitter.com/QAR03fOzoe
— Margo Martin (@MargoMartin47) February 24, 2026
During their visit, the players also enjoyed a catered McDonald’s lunch while that Toby Keith song they sang along to in the locker room blared over the speakers.
Brought to you courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/l4e0jcL0Ub
— Scarlett Johnson (@scarlett4kids) February 25, 2026
Some of them even got merch.
how embarrassing pic.twitter.com/2hlQdTnlZS
— ange ˚୨୧⋆｡ (@angelovesracing) February 25, 2026
Those guys were the stars of the dang show! During his speech, Trump called them into the chamber with real pro-wrestling flair, telling Congress, “Here with us tonight is a group of winners who just made the entire nation proud: the men’s gold-medal Olympic hockey team!” The players then filed into the balcony with their medals on as the crowd chanted “USA! USA!”
The Olympic gold medal-winning US hockey team walked onto US House chamber’s balcony during Trump’s State of the Union address, holding up their medals to thunderous applause and chants of ‘USA’ from the crowd pic.twitter.com/97Glj0lK08
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 25, 2026
Trump spent six whole minutes of his address talking about the men’s hockey team and announced that goalie Connor Hellebuyck will be receiving a Presidential Medal of Freedom for his performance. The president also said the women’s team would soon be making their own White House visit. We’ll see about that.
If you are a left-leaning hockey fan looking for even the tiniest sliver of a bright spot here, you should know that some of the guys skipped out on the White House visit. Hockey redditors have pointed out that, per local reports, Jake Guentzel, Brock Nelson, Kyle Connor, Jake Oettinger, and Jackson LaCombe all opted to go home instead of make the trip to D.C. Whether that’s for political reasons or because the NHL season starts right back up tomorrow is unclear, but feel free to fill in the blanks with whatever you need.
This post has been updated.
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