The U.S. women’s hockey team, which won gold against Canada earlier this week, said on Monday that the players could not attend President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, citing “previously scheduled academic and professional commitments.”
Trump invited the U.S. women’s and men’s hockey teams to attend his address on Tuesday night after both teams brought home the gold medal, with each team taking down arch-nemesis Canada in overtime. While not yet official, the men’s hockey team appeared excited to make the trip to Capitol Hill for Trump’s address. The women’s team, however, said that “the athletes are unable to participate.”
“We are sincerely grateful for the invitation extended to our gold medal–winning U.S. Women’s Hockey Team and deeply appreciate the recognition of their extraordinary achievement,” a USA Hockey spokesman said, according to NBC News.
The women’s team dominated during the Olympics, allowing just two goals throughout the entire tournament. Despite blowing past Canada in the preliminary round 5-0, the U.S. women found themselves trailing late against Canada in the gold-medal game. In a thrilling finish, Hilary Knight tied the game with just two minutes left before Megan Keller scored the game-winner in sudden-death overtime to lift the U.S. women past Canada.
A State of the Union invite is a rare honor, as members of Congress, as well as the speaker and the president, are afforded a very limited number of guests. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said on Monday that officials were working to “figure out logistics” for the House to host both teams, which would include dozens of players and coaches, POLITICO reported.
“There’s no way to have special guests on the floor because it’s a literal session of Congress,” he said. “But we’re going to work and do what we can to accommodate.”
After the United States won its first gold medal in men’s hockey since 1980 on Sunday, Trump spoke to the team over the phone and invited them to the State of the Union.
“I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” Trump told the men’s team after its victory over Canada. He joked that if he didn’t also invite the women’s team, “I do believe I probably would be impeached.”
The U.S. men’s team, most of whom were chugging beers alongside FBI Director Kash Patel, was ecstatic when Trump spoke to them over the phone in the locker room.
“We’re giving the State of the Union speech on Tuesday night. I could send a military plane or something if you would like to,” Trump said. Some of the players then replied, stating, “We’re in!”
“If you could work that out, I would be honored to have you all,” Trump added.
The men’s team flew back to the United States on Monday, arriving in Miami after their flight was rerouted due to the massive winter storm in the Northeast. Star forward Matthew Tkachuk told reporters that the team would spend the day in Miami before flying to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. Asked if they would attend the State of the Union, Tkachuk replied, “I don’t know what our plan is yet.”
Tkachuk said “it was an honor” to get a call from Trump after the gold-medal victory.
“We’re definitely honored to represent him and hundreds of millions across the country, bringing a gold medal back,” he added.
