The Team USA’s men’s hockey team received roaring cheers and applause during Donald Trump‘s State of the Union address on Tuesday evening (February 24) in Washington, DC.

Members of the gold-winning team first met with the President earlier that day in the Oval Office, before making an appearance during the address later that night.

While 20 members of the team made the trip to the White House, including siblings Jack and Quinn Hughes, goalie Connor Hellebuyck and more, there were five guys who did not go.

Keep reading to find out more…

Brock Nelson, Jackson LaCombe, Jake Oettinger, Jake Guentzel and Kyle Connor all skipped the DC visit on Tuesday.

According to People, local reporters noted that Brock skipped the trip to go back home to his family, and Guentzel went back to Tampa to prep for a game the next day. The other players also returned home to prep for their team games.

Towards the beginning of his State of the Union address, Trump welcomed the Team USA men’s hockey team, congratulated them once again and even revealed one team member will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom!

“Here with us tonight is a group of winners who just made the entire nation proud. The men’s gold medal Olympic hockey team,” Trump said as “USA!” chants began and the team filed in to the room above him.

“They beat a fantastic Canadian team in overtime as everybody saw,” he continued after the cheers and chants died down. “As did the American women, who will soon be coming to the White House.”

Trump‘s claim that the women’s hockey team will visit the White House comes after they previously turned down an invitation due to prior commitments. Since then, Flavor Flav has invited the women to celebrate their win with him in Las Vegas.

“They were in the Oval Office before, and I just want to say a second, very big congratulations to Team USA, but I have to say that… And I told them this and we took a vote of the team. I said, ‘Anybody that votes no, I’m not doing it,’” Trump continued during the SOTU address. “So they stood there and they worried about saying no, ’cause I never seen a goaltender play as well as Connor Hellebuyck.”

“I just want to tell you that the members of this great hockey squad will be very happy to hear, based on their vote and my vote, and in this case, my vote was more important,” he went on. “That I will soon be presenting Connor with our highest civilian honor, which we will be giving, and which has been given to many athletes over the years… It’s called the highest civilian honor in our country, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”

Earlier in the week, Trump‘s invite to the men’s hockey team drew much backlash online as he referenced the women’s team, and how he “would be impeached” if he didn’t also invite them.

Browse through the gallery for more photos of the Team USA men’s hockey team at the State of the Union address…

The U.S. Men’s Hockey Team celebrated their Olympic win with a rowdy night in Miami.

The team, including star play Jack Hughes with missing teeth, was rerouted to Miami upon arrival home in the United States because of the snowstorm in New York.

The team took advantage of being in Miami and they hit up the nightlife on Monday night (February 23) in Florida.

The Miami Herald reports that the group went to dinner at Cote Korean steakhouse and later arrived at the club E11EVEN at 11pm to party the night away. The outlet reports that the team went through $150,000 worth of champagne, with a lot of that getting sprayed into the crowd.

Some of the other players pictured in the photo gallery include Jack‘s brother Quinn Hughes, brothers Matthew and Brad Tkachuk, Zach Werenski, Dylan Larkin, Auston Matthews, Jake Sanderson, and more.

Jack has responded to the backlash over Trump‘s comment about the U.S. Women’s Hockey Team, who also won the gold medal.

Jack and Quinn Hughes‘ mom Ellen Hughes has now spoken out about what went down after the Team USA Men’s Hockey squad won gold at the 2026 Olympics.

Ellen works with the Women’s Team USA group, who also won gold at the Olympics this year.

If you did not see, Donald Trump received backlash for his comment about the women’s team in a phone call to the men’s team after their gold medal match.

While inviting the men to the State of the Union, he said, “I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team. You do know that,” as men’s hockey team members laughed. He then said, “I do believe I’d probably would be impeached [if the women’s team wasn’t invited].”

Keep reading to find out more…

On the Today show, Ellen said, “I think at the end of the day, it’s just about the country and the moment that these players, both the men and women, can bring so much unity to a group and to a country. People that cheered on that don’t watch hockey, people that have politics on one side or on the other side. And that’s all both the men’s team and the women’s team care about.”

Here’s what Jack said about the backlash to the POTUS’ comments.

Jack Hughes, who scored the game-winning goal for Team USA men’s hockey’s Olympic gold medal run on Sunday (February 22) is now speaking out about that phone call from Donald Trump.

If you did not see, the 79-year-old POTUS received backlash for his comment about the women’s team in a phone call to the men’s team after their gold medal match.

While inviting the men to the State of the Union, he said, “I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team. You do know that,” as men’s hockey team members laughed. He then said, “I do believe I’d probably would be impeached [if the women’s team wasn’t invited].”

Keep reading to find out more…

About the women’s team declining Trump‘s invite to the State of the Union, Jack told Daily Mail, “They’ve got busy schedules, too. Everyone is giving us backlash for all the social media stuff today.”

“People are so negative out there and they are just trying to find a reason to put people down and make something out of almost nothing,” he continued. “Our relationship with them, over the course of being in the Athletes’ Village, I think we are so tight with their group. After we won the gold medal we were in the cafeteria at 3:30am in the morning with them and we go from there, pack our bags and we’re on the bus.”

He continued, “People are so negative about things. I think everyone in that locker room knows how much we support them, how proud we are of them and we know the same way we feel about them, they feel about us.”

Jack then confirmed that they are heading to Washington, DC to watch the State of the Union tonight (February 24).

“Yeah, we’re excited. Everything is so political. We’re athletes,” he continued. “We’re so proud to represent the US and when you get the chance to go to White House and meet the president, we’re proud to be Americans and that’s so patriotic. No matter what your views are we’re super excited to go to the White House tomorrow and be a part of that.”

Jack got several teeth knocked out during the hockey game, and you can see close up photos here.

Also pictured: Jack and his brother Quinn, and other members of Team USA men’s hockey, including Brady Tkachuk and Matthew Tkachuk, partying in Miami, Florida on Monday (February 23) after the Olympics.

NHL star Jack Hughes had an incident during Team USA’s gold medal win against Canada today!

If you don’t know, Team USA ended up winning gold during the final game of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on Sunday (February 22) in Milan, Italy.

During the game, the 24-year-old athlete took a stick to the face from Canada’s Sam Bennett, and ended up losing some teeth.

However, he did not let this stop him in any way.

Team USA eventually won the game, and Jack scored the winning goal! He got to soak in the victory alongside his brother, Quinn Hughes, who also played for the team.

He celebrated on the ice afterwards with his team, and smiled for the world to see – minus the missing teeth!

Browse the gallery for photos of Jack Hughes after getting some teeth knocked out…

Tate McRae continued to fuel speculation about her dating life.

The 22-year-old “Sports Car” singer was seen in attendance at the New Jersey Devils hockey game on Sunday night (December 21) at Prudential Center in New Jersey.

This comes as she has been rumored over the past few weeks to be dating Devils player Jack Hughes, who returned to the ice that night following an injury.

Keep reading to find out more…

Via multiple social media posts, Tate was seen in a box at the arena with a few friends as she cheered on at the game. See a video HERE!

Fueling the speculation even more, Jack‘s brother Quinn Hughes, who is also an NHL player, “liked” an Instagram post about Tate attending the game.

Earlier this month, Tate and Jack were seen going out for dinner together in NYC’s West Village, according to Deuxmoi.

A source says “the entire restaurant was staring” at her, while he “seemed nervous, like was looking around a lot when they first sat down.”

Tate is no stranger to hockey, as she’s been spotted attending various games over the year, including in her hometown of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Nearly two years ago, she even performed at the NHL All-Star game in February 2024. (Jack Hughes also played at that game!)

Earlier this year, Tate and The Kid LAROI split after over a year of dating.