President Donald Trump placed a congratulatory video call to members of the United States Olympic men\u2019s hockey team after their gold medal win over Canada in Milan on Sunday, the team said.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Trump) just spoke to the group expressing how proud he was of the group and congratulating everybody on the win. Obviously this game, in a lot of ways, was an inspiration to our country,\u201d coach Mike Sullivan told reporters after the game. \u201cI think, from a viewership standpoint in the United States, there were a lot of people paying attention, the president included.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan Rishaug of TSN reported that Trump invited the team<\/a> to the State of the Union speech, which Trump is scheduled to give on Tuesday at the United States Capitol. Team captain Auston Matthews did not confirm whether the team would visit with Trump before the resumption of the NHL season on Wednesday, and he told reporters, \u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of moving parts as far as our travels back home. We\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re all proud Americans, obviously,\u201d Matthews said. \u201cThis is a huge moment for us, a huge moment for the United States. (Trump) called. Just congratulated us. \u2026 It\u2019s an honor to wear this jersey and represent the U.S. To go home with a gold medal, you know how much that means to guys in this room, to people watching and rooting us on, too.\u201d<\/p>\n In February 2025, Trump addressed many of the same players before the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game \u2014 also against Canada, which coincided with a period of time when he publicly discussed the idea of adding Canada as the \u201c51st state.\u201d That rhetoric, in part, turned the 4 Nations tournament into a stark example of the intersection of sports and politics, with the U.S. national anthem getting booed before games at the Bell Centre in Montreal.<\/p>\n After the gold medal game on Sunday, Trump also posted a congratulatory message on his Truth Social account<\/a>. The White House\u2019s official X account reposted a post from former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, from after Canada beat the USA in the 4 Nations final. That post read, \u201cYou can\u2019t take our country \u2014 and you can\u2019t take our game.\u201d The White House post on Sunday topped Trudeau\u2019s comments<\/a> with an image of what appeared to be an eagle attacking a Canadian goose.<\/p>\n Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney posted a congratulatory message to the Canadian team for its \u201cwell-earned silver\u201d<\/a> on Sunday but did not reference the U.S. team or Trump.<\/p>\n