Trump criticized after White House snub for gold-medal winning US women’s hockey team
· Yahoo Sports
(*This story was updated at 1:31 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, with additional reporting.)
President Donald Trump faced harsh criticism Monday after he joked with the gold-medal-winning U.S. men’s hockey team about having to extend a White House invite to the winning women’s squad as well.
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“I must tell you, we’re gonna have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” Trump said. “I do believe I probably would be impeached.”
Social media was not amused, with commenters describing Trump’s comments and the men’s team reaction as “disappoint(ing) and ”vile."
Trump called the men’s squad on Sunday after their 2-1 win over Team Canada, inviting them to attend Tuesday’s State of the Union address.
“We’re in!” a group of players shouted, as Trump invited them to Tuesday night’s State of the Union speech at the U.S. Capitol, NJ.com reported.
After Sunday’s historic win, Team USA star Jack Hughes, who plays for the New Jersey Devils, shouted out Team USA women’s player Megan Keller, who led her team to the gold medal against Canada on Thursday.
With the men’s squad headed to Miami because of the blizzard blanketing the northeastern U.S., the players asked if a military plane could pick them up there, the online news outlet reported.
“We’ll get Kash or we’ll get the military to get you guys over,” Trump said, referring to FBI Director Kash Patel, who was in the locker room and holding up his phone so the players could hear the call.
Patel also has faced criticism for his presence in the locker room.
Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews, a native Arizonan and the Team USA captain, said he and his teammates were “all proud Americans, obviously.”
“This is a huge moment for us, a huge moment for the United States. [Trump] called. Just congratulated us … It’s 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,” Matthews continued, according to Breitbart News.
But he stopped short of saying that the whole team would make the trip to D.C.
“I think there’s a lot of moving parts as far as our travels back home. We’ll kind of see what happens, but obviously it’s an honor to wear this jersey and to represent the U.S.,” Matthews said. “To go home with a gold medal, I mean, you know how much that means to the guys in this room and how much it means to all the people watching and rooting us on, too.”
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