The U.S. women’s hockey team, fresh off their gold medal triumph vs. Canada at the Winter Olympics, won’t be among the invited guests to President Trump’s State of the Union Address.
The squad politely declined the invitation on Monday, 24 hours after Trump told the men’s U.S. Hockey Team he’d be “impeached” if he didn’t invite the women’s team.
“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,” the U.S. women’s team said in a statement released Monday. “Due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games, the athletes are unable to participate. They were honored to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgment.”
The men’s team flew charter back from Italy while the women’s team flew commercial. The team learned of their invite late Sunday night, making rerouting players to be available for the event a logistics nightmare.
During the celebration for the men’s team on Sunday, Trump FaceTimed the group to congratulate them.
“I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” Trump said, jokingly adding that if he did not also invite the women’s team, “I do believe I probably would be impeached.”
Both the men’s and women’s hockey teams won gold in thrilling fashion, each in 2-1 overtime wins over Canada. The hockey medal sweep is the first for the United States. Sunday’s win was the first gold medal win for the men’s hockey team since 1980, while Thursday’s win for the women’s team was the first since 2018.
The White House has not publicly commented on the women’s team’s decision.
