In the latest stop on their Olympic gold medal victory tour, Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk and defenceman Jake Sanderson attended U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s State of the Union address on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Tkachuk, Sanderson and 15 of their American teammates, each with a gold medal draped over matching Olympic-themed sweaters, stood in the halls of the U.S. Capitol around 9:20 p.m., awaiting the cue for their grand entrance.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur country is winning again,\u201d Trump said, about 15 minutes into his speech. \u201cIn fact, we\u2019re winning so much that we really don\u2019t know what to do about it. People are asking me, \u2018Please, please, please Mr. President, we\u2019re winning too much, we can\u2019t take it anymore. We\u2019re not used to winning in our country until you came along, we\u2019re just always losing, but now we\u2019re winning too much.\u2019 And I say, \u2018No, no, no. You\u2019re going to win again. You\u2019re going to win big. You\u2019re going to win bigger than ever. And to prove that point, to prove that point, here with us tonight is a group of winners who just made the entire nation proud. The men\u2019s gold medal Olympic hockey team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walking into the joint session of Congress for their heroes\u2019 welcome, Tkachuk fist pumped the air and chanted \u201cUSA! USA! USA\u201d along with the packed house of lawmakers. Sanderson applauded as Trump announced that the women\u2019s team, who also won gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics, would soon meet with him at the White House.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, 20 players on the men\u2019s U.S. hockey team, including Tkachuk and Sanderson, toured the White House, rubbing elbows with Trump in the Oval Office. The Sens players huddled around the U.S. President for a group photo in the hallowed room.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was awesome just to have that opportunity,\u201d Tkachuk told Fox News of the visit<\/a>. \u201cJust extremely grateful and blessed to be in this position. It almost went by so fast, where you\u2019re just trying to take it all in as best you can. But it truly was an unbelievable experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Since his re-election in 2024, Trump has threatened to use \u201ceconomic force\u201d to annex Canada. Just over an hour before the president\u2019s address on Tuesday, the official White House account on \u2018X\u2019 posted a State of the Union bingo card<\/a>, including a square that read, \u201cAfter Olympic hockey loss, Canada becomes 51st state.\u201d<\/p>\n Two days prior, the White House\u2019s official TikTok page posted an AI-generated video<\/a> that dubbed over a Tkachuk post-game press conference and made it look like the Sens captain said, \u201cThey booed our national anthem, so I had to come out and teach those maple-syrup-eating (expletives) a lesson. Canada, we own you, little bro.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s unknown whether Tkachuk and Sanderson will return to Ottawa in time for practice on Wednesday, but both are expected to be in the lineup when the Sens host the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.<\/p>\n