{"id":453619,"date":"2026-02-10T20:38:58","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T20:38:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/453619\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T20:38:58","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T20:38:58","slug":"maga-praise-nhl-star-for-response-to-representing-us-at-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/453619\/","title":{"rendered":"MAGA praise NHL star for response to representing US at Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Team USA<\/a> ice hockey athlete Brady Tkachuk has said representing the United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics<\/a> is \u201cone of the greatest honors\u201d of his life, drawing applause from conservative commentators as political debate swirls around other Team USA remarks.<\/p>\n

Why It Matters<\/p>\n

Tkachuk\u2019s comments arrived during heightened scrutiny of U.S. Olympians\u2019 public statements, contrasting with backlash against freestyle skier Hunter Hess after he expressed \u201cmixed emotions\u201d about representing the country<\/a> at the 2026 Winter Olympics<\/a> in Italy.<\/p>\n

This is the first Olympics with National Hockey League participation since 2014.\u00a0The United States will open group play against Latvia on Thursday. The 2026 Winter Olympics are being held in Milan and Cortina d\u2019Ampezzo, northern Italy, from February 6 to February 22.<\/p>\n

What To Know<\/p>\n

Tkachuk, a forward for the Ottawa Senators, told reporters during a Team USA training session in Milan that competing for the U.S. at this stage was among the “greatest honors” and that he was \u201ctruly grateful\u201d to represent \u201cthe red, white and blue.”<\/p>\n

The White House posted his comment on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday, writing: “Representing the red, white, and blue on the world stage! Let’s go @TeamUSA.”<\/p>\n

MAGA<\/a> supporters online have reacted positively to his comments. One account on X using the name Unsanctimoniously MAGA, posted: “Brady and Matthew Tkachuk are now my favorite hockey players. This is what respecting your country looks like\u2026”<\/p>\n

Another account, MAGA Voice, posted: “I am in tears. US Men\u2019s Ice Hockey Team member said ‘Being able to represent the US at this stage in the Olympics is one of the greatest honors I\u2019ve ever had’ THIS IS HOW IT\u2019S DONE.”<\/p>\n

In a separate post, they wrote: “Dear USA Olympic Athletes, If you don\u2019t want to represent America, get off the team. No one wants you there. Go to Mexicos team Sincerely, 77+ Million MAGA Patriots.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Other athletes have expressed different outlooks on representing the U.S<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Hess said this week that wearing Team USA colors brought up \u201cmixed emotions\u201d and emphasized he does not represent \u201ceverything that\u2019s going on in the U.S.,\u201d remarks that prompted criticism from some conservatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s obviously a lot going on that I\u2019m not the biggest fan of,” he said. “Just because I\u2019m wearing the flag doesn\u2019t mean I represent everything that\u2019s going on in the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump criticized Hess on Truth Social, writing that the skier is a \u201creal loser\u201d who \u201cshouldn\u2019t have tried out for the Team.”<\/p>\n

What People Are Saying<\/p>\n

Brady Tkachuk told reporters during a Team USA training session in Milan: \u201cBeing able to represent the U.S. at this stage in the Olympics is one of the greatest honors I\u2019ve ever had. Truly grateful to be here and represent the red, white and blue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donald Trump on Truth Social: \u201cU.S. Olympic Skier, Hunter Hess, a real Loser, says he doesn\u2019t represent his Country in the current Winter Olympics\u2026 If that\u2019s the case, he shouldn\u2019t have tried out for the Team, and it\u2019s too bad he\u2019s on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Happens Next<\/p>\n

Team USA will begin group play against Latvia, where Tkachuk will likely feature prominently among the NHL-heavy roster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Team USA ice hockey athlete Brady Tkachuk has said representing the United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5104],"tags":[5,55076,4,2602,72,25,5157,73,3255,9595,2787],"class_list":["post-453619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa-senators","tag-hockey","tag-maga","tag-nhl","tag-olympics","tag-ottawa","tag-ottawa-senators","tag-ottawasenators","tag-senators","tag-team-usa","tag-white-house","tag-winter-olympics"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116048270226681275","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}