The U.S. women’s hockey team won their Olympic gold medal Feb. 19 in a 2-1 overtime win against Canada when defender Megan Keller scored the game-winning goal. Canada has won four of the first five Olympic golds since women’s hockey was added, and the United States has won two of the last three, including this year’s.
The Olympic team this year consists of 19 Professional Women’s Hockey League players, as well as seven NCAA student athletes.
Three days later, the U.S. men’s hockey team, which consists of 25 National Hockey League players, won their first Olympic gold medal in 46 years in a 2-1 overtime win, where New Jersey Devils center Jack Hughes scored the game-winner.
After the game Feb. 22, President Donald Trump called Team USA’s locker room to congratulate the men’s team, where FBI director Kash Patel was celebrating with the team in person.
On the call, Trump said, “We’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” adding, “I do believe I would be impeached” if he didn’t invite them.
The women’s hockey team has declined Trump’s invitation, citing scheduling conflicts with multiple players on the team.
Trump’s punchline was met with laughter from the men’s locker room. The video taken of this interaction spread quickly on social media and was met with harsh criticism from female hockey fans.
Hockey, a predominately male and conservative sport, has been rapidly gaining female fans after the release of Crave TV’s hockey-centered romance Heated Rivalry. Female interest in hockey sits 30% higher than the early-2022 levels, which coincided with the Beijing Olympics, according to Wired.
Many of these fans have attached their interest to certain players, like the Hughes brothers, or San Jose Sharks’ Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith. But after the U.S. men’s team’s laughter at Trump’s joke, many of these new fans may be quick to drop the sport.
Even long-time female fans of the sport, like myself, are outraged at the team’s reaction. Being a fan of a sport that barely accepts you is hard, but it’s even harder when the players are outright dismissing the hard work and accomplishments of the sport’s female players.
Women in sports are repeatedly treated as a punchline — whether they’re players, coaches or work in the industry. This year, even after accomplishing the same feat as the men, the women’s hockey team is looked down upon and mocked.
It’s something women in sports have always had to deal with, but we show up every day despite knowing the jokes being uttered in the locker room. It feels like women’s sports will never get the same respect as men’s sports.
Recently, I typed “USA women’s hockey Olympic gold” into the search bar of The Athletic — I had to scroll past four articles about the men’s team before I found something on the women’s team.
Especially as a female journalist in sports, it’s heartbreaking to see how little women’s sports are cared about, and how female athletes and journalists continue to be disrespected at every point in their career.
I ran into several articles published early this week about the Hughes brothers’ responses to the backlash on social media, and they made me laugh out loud.
“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,” Jack Hughes said to ESPN.
Minnesota Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes said in the same article.
“Everything is so political,” he said “We’re athletes. We’re proud to represent the U.S.. When you get the chance to go to the White House and meet your president — we’re proud to be Americans and that’s so patriotic.”
Both brothers repeated how much they respected the women’s team, and how close the two U.S. teams are.
But respecting women in sports, and women in general, isn’t just being willing to hang out with them during the Olympics. It’s about standing up for them, even if it’s uncomfortable, and it’s holding yourself and your teammates accountable.
The U.S. men’s hockey team’s decision to accept Trump’s invitation — the invitation of a man who has openly and repeatedly demeaned, belittled, harassed and assaulted women — is a signal.
If men inside the sport don’t respect the women they work with, how will the rest of the world?
Claire Bovino is a second-year student studying Political Science and Multimedia Journalism and is originally from Pittsburgh. This is her second year writing for The Phoenix. When she’s not writing or watching sports, Claire can be found reading long fantasy novels by the lake, eating hot dogs or complaining about the state of Pittsburgh sports teams.