Trump invites gold-winning US men’s Olympic hockey team to State of the Union address, gushes over goalie Connor Hellebuyck in postgame phone call
President Trump invited the US men’s Olympic hockey team to be his honored guests at Tuesday night’s State of the Union address following their dramatic 2-1 overtime victory over Canada in Sunday’s gold medal game.
“We’re giving the State of the Union speech on Tuesday night,” an audibly giddy Trump told the players on a postgame call facilitated by FBI Director Kash Patel. “I could send a military plane or something, but if you would like to, it’s the coolest night –“
“We’re in,” one of the players said, while others chimed in: “Yeah, we’re in.”
“Can you pick us up in Miami on Tuesday morning?” asked another of the players, possibly Matthew Tkachuk of the Florida Panthers.
“We’ll get Kash and we’ll get the military to get you guys over,” Trump promised, adding: “The nice thing about being president is, I can tell you, you don’t have to worry about the weather or landing.”
Earlier in the call, Trump raved about the performance of goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, who stopped 41 of Canada’s 42 shots on goal in the victory.
“Your goalie played not bad,” the president said, to cheers in the locker room.
“Helly, say hi to him,” one player urged, with Hellebuyck obliging: “How you doing, Don?”
“I’ve seen hockey goalies have slightly worse games,” Trump continued, adding that the performance was “unbelievable.”
It was not immediately clear how many players would be able to take Trump up on his offer. The National Hockey League resumes games Wednesday night after a 20-day break for the Winter Games, with golden goalscorer Jack Hughes’ New Jersey Devils, Hellebuyck’s Winnipeg Jets and Team USA captain Auston Matthews’ Toronto Maple Leafs among those in action.
