Pat Mcafee picked up $150,000 bar tab for Team USA after 2-1 overtime win over Canada
pat mcafee covered a six-figure bar tab at Miami’s E11EVEN nightclub as the U. S. men’s Olympic hockey team celebrated their 2-1 overtime victory against Canada in Milan, a detour after winter storms that turned into a night of champagne, cigars and a club-wide rendition of the national anthem.
Pat McAfee’s surprise announcement at E11EVEN
McAfee’s message flashed on the club’s massive LED screens: “Thank you for representing the United States of America in such a great way, it was an honor to watch you win, enjoy the hell out of it. Tonight, all of your drinks are on me. ” The celebration featured bottles of Armand de Brignac champagne, E11EVEN Vodka, and cigars, and the tab ran to $150, 000 as players sprayed champagne into the crowd and sang the anthem led by Auston Matthews, Brady Tkachuk and overtime hero Jack Hughes, who was still sporting a gap-toothed grin after losing his front teeth in the final.
Why the celebration moved to Miami
The team had been routed to Miami because of winter storms in the Northeast after returning from Milan, and that detour became the setting for the party at E11EVEN. The night at the club came just a day after the 2-1 overtime gold-medal win over Canada, and the team spent the night in Miami before the majority boarded a government plane to Washington, D. C., where they later met in the Oval Office and received a two-minute standing ovation during the State of the Union address.
Who stayed for Washington and who didn’t
Twenty members of the 25-strong squad attended the Washington events; five players did not make the trip. Kyle Connor, Jake Oettinger, Brock Nelson, Jake Guentzel and Jackson LaCombe opted out of the Oval Office visit, and several of those players were headed straight back to NHL commitments: Connor practiced with the Winnipeg Jets ahead of their next game on Wednesday, Oettinger was at the Dallas Stars’ morning skate ahead of a game against the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday, Nelson was back in Denver preparing to rejoin the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday, Guentzel returned to Tampa Bay and skipped Lightning practice on Tuesday, and LaCombe was flying back to California to prepare to rejoin the Anaheim Ducks for a game against the Edmonton Oilers.
pat mcafee’s on-screen tribute and decision to pick up the tab capped a rapid sequence that began with Jack Hughes’ overtime winner in Milan and moved to a celebratory night in Miami before the team’s Washington appearances.
Players who stayed in Miami and the majority who flew to Washington completed their public engagements with the Oval Office meeting and the Capitol appearance, while several others were already lining up for NHL returns later in the week: Jets, Stars and Avalanche matchups were on the immediate schedule for multiple members of the gold-medal squad.
