U.S. men’s hockey team players arrived in the House Chamber for President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.
Trump introduced the team, and it received a round of applause from those in attendance.
Players wore USA sweaters with their gold medals around their necks.
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The chamber broke out in “U-S-A” chants.
“They beat a fantastic Canadian team in overtime as everybody saw, as did the American women who will soon be coming to the White House,” he said.
During the address, Trump said he would honor goaltender Connor Hellebuyck with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Some players were unable to attend with NHL commitments about to ramp up again. But others were in Washington to visit the president at the White House before the event began. Players traveled to D.C. from Miami after they celebrated their gold medal victory at the Winter Olympics.
Several gold medalists took photos with Trump. Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk even let the president wear his gold medal in a lighthearted moment in the Oval Office.
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“I’m not giving it back,” the president joked.
Trump invited the team to the State of the Union address Sunday night as they were celebrating in the locker room after their 2-1 win over Canada. FBI Director Kash Patel put Trump on speakerphone.
“I’ll tell you what. I just told my people two minutes ago, I didn’t know they’d be calling. I said we’re giving the State of the Union speech on Tuesday night,” Trump said. “I can send a military plane or something, but if you would like to, it’s the coolest night, it’s the biggest speech.”
One player cut off Trump and said, “We’re in.”
“We’ll get Kash, and we’ll get the military to get you guys over,” Trump continued. “You won’t have to worry about the weather or landing. We don’t care if it’s snowing or if it’s the worst blizzard.We’ll be sailing through like you did on the ice.”
A couple of days later, some of the players were in D.C.
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