State Of The Union 2026 — state of the union 2026: U.S. women's hockey team declines, men invited
The U. S. women's hockey team said it is declining President Donald Trump's invitation to attend his state of the union 2026 address, citing timing and prior commitments; the men's team received an invitation after its overtime gold-medal victory. The sequence of events unfolded after both teams beat Canada for Olympic gold, and a locker-room call from the president followed the men's win.
Women's team declines the invite
Men's team invited after victory
The men's team won gold on Sunday, defeating Canada 2-1 in overtime at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy. The men’s overtime victory prompted a Sunday-night phone call in which President Donald Trump invited the team to the State of the Union. The U. S. women's team had beaten Canada for the gold medal in Thursday's Olympic women's hockey final.
Locker room call with Kash Patel
FBI Director Kash Patel was in the locker room with the men's team as they celebrated the win and held a phone up to the players on speaker for Trump to deliver his message. Trump said, "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, " and offered travel assurances: "I can send a military plane or something, but if you would like to, it’s the coolest night, it’s the biggest speech …"
State Of The Union 2026 logistics
During the call, one player cut off Trump and said, "We’re in. " Trump continued: "We’ll get Kash and we’ll get the military to get you guys over. 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. " He also said he would honor the team the next day with some more medals and said they would bring the women’s team up for the honor as well.
Players, goalie and reactions
Trump singled out goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, who stopped 41 shots, telling the team, "By the way, your goalie played not bad. … I’ve seen hockey goalies have slightly worse games. Unbelievable and you were all unbelievable. The team is pretty good, you played, " he said. Pete Hegseth dubbed the team’s goaltender the "Secretary of Defense" after an amazing Olympic save. United States' Jack Hughes celebrated after scoring during the men's gold medal game.
Photographers Hassan Ammar and Carolyn Kaster captured images of United States players celebrating after scoring and after defeating Canada 2-1 in overtime to win the men's gold medal game at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Milan, Italy. It is unclear if the men’s team will attend the speech.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Journalists named in coverage include Monica Alba, Megan Lebowitz, Jim Gray, Madison Scarpino and Ryan Gaydos.
Closing: The U. S. women's team declined the invitation because of timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games, while the men's team received a late invitation after its overtime victory against Canada and reacted enthusiastically to the president's locker-room call.
