Dallas Stars goalie Jake Oettinger, a member of the U.S. men’s hockey team, was asked about the controversial comments President Donald Trump made about the U.S. women’s hockey team.
In the locker room after Team USA’s gold medal win over Canada, Trump invited the men’s team to the State of the Union address via a phone call. He told the men’s players that he’d “have” to invite the women’s team, otherwise “I probably would be impeached,” and the players laughed.
Trump’s comments and the men’s team’s reactions went viral and drew criticism from fans. Oettinger was asked his thoughts on Trump’s phone call and his comments.
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“My opinion on that is there’s no one that supports women’s hockey more than me. I know a lot of those girls personally. I think if you would’ve been at the bar watching the game with me where I was, watching the women’s hockey, there was no one as excited as me when they won the gold medal,” Oettinger told reporters on Wednesday.
“They’re incredible, and they deserve all the credit in the world. They’re dominant. I was just so happy for those girls. To get to know a few of them personally made it that much cooler. It’s pretty cool in the fact that the men and the women both have the gold medal right now.”
Oettinger said he attended the women’s hockey team’s win over Canada during the preliminary rounds.
The women’s hockey team initially declined Trump’s invitation to the White House, but the president announced during the State of the Union that the players would be visiting.
Oettinger backed up Team USA’s star goalie, Connor Hellebuyck, during the tournament but did not appear on the ice throughout the Olympic Games.
The 27-year-old goaltender was one of five players who did not go to the White House to visit Trump. Oettinger said getting invited was a tremendous honor but cited family and the Stars’ upcoming stretch run as reasons for not going.
“First of all, getting invited to go to the White House is a tremendous honor. I think, for me, I’ve been basically living in Italy for a month. I have a huge stretch run. I wasn’t playing much,” Oettinger said.
“I wanted to come back and get my game ready to go, and I also have a 3-month-old baby at home, and we’ve been traveling the world. So that was kind of what went into that. I think those guys had a great time there, but that’s why I didn’t go.”
Brock Nelson, Jackson LaCombe, Jake Guentzel and Kyle Connor were the other members of Team USA who did not visit the White House on Tuesday.
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