![\"Quinn](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Olympics-Ice-Hockey-Men-Quarterfinal-USA-SWE-28274120-scaled-e1771963662528.jpg\")
Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCredit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a wild and crazy 48 hours<\/a> for the USA men\u2019s hockey team, after they won the first men\u2019s Olympic Gold medal since Herb Brooks led the 1980 Miracle on Ice team to infamy 46 years ago.<\/p>\n Since then, they\u2019ve celebrated with the Director of the FBI, Kash Patel<\/a>, chatted over the phone<\/a> with President Trump and, last night. partied like rock stars in South Beach once they returned stateside.<\/p>\n our boys EARNED one hell of a night down in South Beach.<\/p>\n how can you not love this beautiful country? \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 pic.twitter.com\/y0sUwtAEub<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) February 24, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n Team USA celebration takes them to State of Union on Air Force One<\/p>\n The Minnesota Wild season resumes on February 26<\/a> (Thursday), but much of the league is scheduled to take the ice again tomorrow. But that hasn\u2019t held the players, coaches and executives with Team USA from celebrating their Gold Medal for as long as humanly possible, before going back to their day jobs.<\/p>\n In fact, the party continued into Tuesday when the guys boarded Air Force One at the Miami Airport and took flight for Washington D.C. to catch President Trump\u2019s State of the Union address this afternoon.<\/p>\n From Matthew Tkachuk\u2019s IG story. Appears the team is on its way to the State of the Union pic.twitter.com\/DhhYZwZQeT<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Evan Sporer (@ev_sporer) February 24, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n \ud83d\udea8 JUST IN: USA Men’s Hockey Team gold medalists are WHEELS UP aboard a President Trump-sent US Air Force 757, en route to the State of the Union from Miami<\/p>\n EPIC SIGHT! Trump is ENSURING these men have a seat at tonight’s packed address. \ud83d\udd25<\/p>\n Have a safe flight, champions! pic.twitter.com\/PLppd78L3a<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 24, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n The USA Men\u2019s Hockey Team tours the White House colonnade as Free Bird plays \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 pic.twitter.com\/tJxwh9sI2s<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Margo Martin (@MargoMartin47) February 24, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n While it\u2019s been a memorable couple days for everyone involved with Team USA Hockey, the Gold Medal spotlight hasn\u2019t been all fairy tales and rainbows.<\/p>\n As mentioned above, following their 2-1 overtime victory<\/a> on Sunday morning (American Time), Quinn Hughes, Brock Faber, Matt Boldy, along with the many non Minnesota Wild players on Team USA partied with FBI Director Kash Patel and took a congratulatory phone call from president Trump.<\/p>\n That did not sit well with a bevy of hockey \u201cfans\u201d on the internet, especially when Trump made a joke over his obligation to invite the women\u2019s\u2019 team to his State of the Union Tuesday \u2014 after they also won Gold in Milan.<\/p>\n Thinking about the hockey moms that spent over a decade of their lives driving their sons to and from hockey practice and games just for their sons to grow up to become Olympic gold medalists who laugh at misogynist jokes at the expense of women<\/p>\n \u2014 liz \u2728 (@lizaboth) February 23, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n i told him i\u2019m definitely not considering season ticket because i just watched 3 of my favorite players laugh along while the women\u2019s team got mocked https:\/\/t.co\/q9iFjMjsl6<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 greta theft autumn \u273f (@2007warpedtour) February 24, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n Minnesota Wild Superstar responds to Trump call criticism<\/p>\n While the women chose not to attend Trump\u2019s address to the nation, the men jumped all over the opportunity. They also lol\u2019d when he joked about the women\u2019s\u2019 team. So while they\u2019ve certainly enjoyed their time in the spotlight, it\u2019s certainly come with plenty of heat already.<\/p>\n So on Monday, before they boarded Air Force One, Minnesota Wild superstar Quinn Hughes and his golden goal scoring little brother Jack Hughes did interviews with both Good Morning America<\/a> and the Today Show<\/a>, quickly responding to the outside noise over their trip to DC and moment on the phone with Donald Trump.<\/p>\n Older brother Quinn, 26, deferred to his little brother for much of the morning, even centering Jack in the shot for both interviews. But on this one, big bro stepped in and took the lead.<\/p>\n WATCH: Quinn Hughes was asked by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos about attending tonight’s State of the Union\u2026<\/p>\n “I don’t know how much we’re allowed to say, but yes. Yeah, we’re excited to go. Something you don’t get to do \u2014 I don’t know what today is \u2013 every Tuesday. But yeah \u2013\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/POH9XIXqyv<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 24, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know how much we\u2019re allowed to say, but yes. Yeah, we\u2019re excited to go. it\u2019s something you don\u2019t get to do \u2014 I don\u2019t know what today is \u2014 every Tuesday.<\/p>\n It\u2019s going to be special for us, but I\u2019m glad you mentioned the women\u2019s team again. You know, we\u2019re extremely happy for them. Obviously, a lot going on on social media surrounding our team and their team.<\/p>\n But, you know, the last couple we\u2019ve done a lot of training with them and got to know a lot of those girls really well. We\u2019re extremely happy for them.\u201d<\/p>\n Quinn Hughes \u2013 Good Morning America<\/a><\/p>\n Related: MN Wild Patiently Waiting to Unite Hughes Brothers?<\/a><\/p>\n We are living in a hard time to be a big time athlete. Even a Gold Medal isn\u2019t allowed to bring the country together when a phone call and joke from the President leads to NHL superstan accounts completely dropping previously obsessive allegiances with hockey players they\u2019ve never met.<\/p>\n Ellen Hughes stands up for Team USA<\/p>\n The criticism surrounding Team USA has gotten so loud that the Hughes brothers\u2019 mom, Ellen Hughes got on the Today Show Tuesday<\/a> and weighed in on the supposed controversy involving the men\u2019s team and Trump\u2019s joke about the USA women.<\/p>\n Ellen Weinberg-Hughes, in case you didn\u2019t know<\/a>, competed for the female USA national hockey team back in the early 90\u2019s. She also coached hockey and worked in hockey media at a high level, before taking a step back to raise her hockey boys into outstanding young men, NHL hockey players and Olympic heroes.<\/p>\n Jack Hughes also talked with media Tuesday to address all the internet outrage facing him and his American teammates (below Ellen\u2019s quote)<\/p>\n NBC\u2019s \u2018Today\u2019 tried to trap Ellen Hughes \u2014 mother of Jack and Quinn \u2014 by seeing if she\u2019d bash the men\u2019s team and President Trump for inviting them to the State of the Union and joking he\u2019d have to invite the women or he\u2019d be impeached\u2026<\/p>\n Hoda Kotb: \u201cLet me ask you about thing\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/ApUVVfauO0<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 24, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n Hoda Kotb: \u201cLet me ask you about something that\u2019s getting a little traction \u2014 a video that came out [after Team USA beat Canada]. It shows the men\u2019s team talking to the President of the United States, and he was inviting them to the State of the Union and all that.<\/p>\n And then he said a comment that gained attention. He said, \u2018I must tell you, we\u2019re going to have to bring the women\u2019s team. You know, that\u2019 \u2014 and the room kind of laughs, and he added \u2014 \u2018I do believe I probably would be impeached.\u2019 He was sort of joking through this.<\/p>\n But you\u2019re cheering on both teams. How did that comment land for you?\u201d<\/p>\n Ellen Hughes: \u201cWell, I think at the end of the day, it\u2019s just about the country and the moment that these players, both the men and women, can bring so much unity to a group and to a country.<\/p>\n People that cheered on that don\u2019t watch hockey, people that have politics on one side or on the other side. And that\u2019s all both the men\u2019s team and the men\u2019s team care about.<\/p>\n If you could see what we see from the inside and the men and women sharing, you know, dorms \u2014 dorm rooms and halls and flex floors \u2014 the camaraderie, the synergy, the way the women cheered on the men and the way the men cheered on the women.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about. And the other things, they cannot control. They care about humanity. They care about unity, and they care about the country I love.\u201d<\/p>\n Today Show \u2013 NBC<\/a><\/p>\n Team USA hero Jack Hughes talks about visiting the White House & the women\u2019s team declining\/social media backlash<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re proud to be Americans\u2026 No matter what your views are, we\u2019re super excited to go [to the White House]\u2026 People are so negative out there and they\u2019re trying to\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/zqiY51c5vX<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) February 24, 2026<\/a> More About:Minnesota Wild<\/a><\/p>\n Add MinnesotaSportsFan as a preferred source on Google. \t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMentioned in this article: Olympics<\/a> Quinn Hughes<\/a> Team USA<\/a> <\/p>\n![\"Add](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/google_preferred_source_badge.png\"){kind=icon}
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