Team USA Olympic hockey hero Jack Hughes spoke about his support for his country’s women’s hockey team after his team was the subject of backlash for laughing at a joke by President Donald Trump about the women’s team.
During an interview on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” Friday, Hughes opened up about his respect for the women’s team after McAfee appeared to reference the controversy by joking that Hughes and his teammates “hate” the women players.
“We are hanging out with them so much, the women’s team. We were supporting them. Like, we were at their games, they were at our games,” Hughes said.
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Hughes then appeared to address the recent criticism of his team for its response to Trump’s joke.
“Like all these people talking, how many of them watched their gold medal game? Me and Quinn Hughes were at the game. We were at the game until like overtime ended on the glass, and we were jumping up and down so excited for these girls, so excited they won,” Hughes said.
“And how many of these people watched the gold medal game, watched their semifinals game? Like 10 of the 10 of our players went to their game in the round-robin. Like, we supported them so much, and we’re so proud of them. We’re so happy that they won, and they brought a gold medal back and that, you know, I said it, the men’s and women’s team both brought gold medals back. So, just unbelievable for USA hockey.”
Hughes, who scored the game-winning overtime goal against Canada to win gold, reflected on his interaction with the player on the U.S. women’s team who did the same, Megan Keller.
“Me and her had a great moment in the cafeteria after her gold medal game. We played Slovakia the next night, and it was like a late game. And we were in the pasta line — me and Megan. They were just getting ready to go out again, and I just gave her a massive hug, and I said, ‘I’m so happy for you. I’m so proud of you,'” Hughes said.
“A couple nights later, saw her again in the [cafeteria], and we took a great picture and, uh, she just gave me a big hug and was so pumped for me as well.”
Hughes told reporters after the game the first thing he thought about when the puck went in was Keller, who scored the golden goal for the United States women’s team against Canada three days earlier.
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The controversy surrounding the men’s team stemmed from a locker room phone call between the players and Trump right after their gold medal win over Canada.
Trump told the men’s team after inviting them to Tuesday’s State of the Union address that he’d “have” to invite the women’s team, otherwise “I probably would be impeached.” The team laughed in response, prompting immense backlash.
Several mainstream media outlets penned op-eds condemning the men’s team for laughing at the joke and then visiting the White House to celebrate and Trump’s State of the Union address.
U.S. women’s hockey captain Hilary Knight said on Wednesday’s edition of ESPN’s “SportsCenter” that Trump’s “distasteful joke” has “overshadow[ed]” the women’s success.
“I thought it was sort of a distasteful joke, and, unfortunately, that is overshadowing a lot of the success, the success of just women at the Olympics carrying for Team USA and having amazing gold medal feats,” Knight said.
“We’re just focusing on celebrating the women in our room, the extraordinary efforts, and continue to celebrate three gold medals in program history as well as the double gold for both men’s and women’s at the same time. And really not detract from that with a distasteful joke.”
Hughes’ mother, Ellen, a former Team USA player and current player development staff member, said the players only cared about “bring[ing] so much unity to a group and to a country.”
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