Despite an absolutely heroic and historic performance from the United States Men’s Hockey Team (and the ladies handled their business too), the liberal media is bending over backwards to smear, disavow, and downright criticize the team… simply because they took a call from the President of the United States, and then accepted an invitation to the White House for the State of the Union. You know, just like every championship team in just about every sport does…

Of course, the controversy started when FBI Director Kash Patel was spotted in the locker room (invited by USA Hockey GM Bill Guerin) crushing beers and celebrating with the boys. Despite a half dozen tweets detailing official business with ambassadors, Italian police and security forces, the Italian Department of Public Safety, and the Milan Joint Operations Center, an all-too predictable liberal freak out ensued that Kash was “wasting tax dollars watching hockey.”

And then when President Trump called, and basically ripped a 3 minute comedy routine about how Connor Hellebuyck just played “not bad,” to which Hellebuyck casually responded “how ya doin’ Don?,” and how the Canadians were allegedly “pretty good.” He joked that when you’re flying as the President, you never have to worry about delays or weather, how he didn’t know a single person that wasn’t watching it, and then one that sent everyone into a meltdown, the joke about getting “impeached” if he didn’t invite the women’s team too.

Oh my God, if that joke didn’t set off the most unhinged firestorm of backlash for our boys in blue. Never mind the fact that the team said “absolutely” and started chanting “two for two” the second he mentioned inviting them, never mind the fact that OT hero, Jack Hughes, said that women’s OT hero Mega Keller was the first thing he thought about when he scored, never mind the fact that both the men’s and women’s teams are each other’s biggest supporters… laughing at a Trump joke makes you public enemy #1 in the minds of these hyper-woke lunatics. Trump also said last night during the State of the Union that the women’s team would be coming to the White House very soon.

So after 48 hours of obsessive hate from the far left side of the aisle, it was revealed that 5 players, Jake Guentzel, Nelson, Kyle Connor, Jake Oettinger and Jackson LaCombe, would not be attending the White House meeting or State of the Union address, following the team’s trip to E11EVEN in Mami. Suddenly, those five became immediate heroes to those who were hating on the team. No context, no reasoning, no public statements… it MUST be because they all hate Donald Trump, and therefore, are morally superior, upstanding, humans. Associate in any way with the President of the United States right now, even a handshake = bad person. If you don’t = good person. That’s hard line barometer right now for these people.

However today, back in the swing of their NHL routines, the 5 absent players have all addressed the media, who are insufferably asking every single player about it, and as is turns out, not attending had absolutely NOTHING to do with the President at all. Nothing at all. In fact, most of them called it a great honor, said they would’ve loved to go, but wanted to either get back with their teams and/or their families after a 3-week trip to Italy. Jake Guentzel even said he was already at the White House to meet Trump once before and he had a great time.

He said:

“Just kind of a timing thing for me and my family. I was definitely not denying the request to go, it’s a dream come true to go. I was fortunate to go in 2017 when Trump was in office, but just thought with games 3 and 4, we got a lot of games coming up the rest of the year, it’s gonna be a tough schedule. So, two weeks of Olympic break, just thought it would be good to come home, rest and recover and try to spend some time with my family before we get going.”

#GoBolts Jake Guentzel addresses his decision to come back to @TBLightning and not go with @usahockey to the White House last night. pic.twitter.com/NJF1blMuA3

— Julie Stewart-Binks (@JSB_TV) February 25, 2026

Sorry Jake, you’re back on the Liberal sh*tlist after a comment like that. Can you clarify what you meant when you said you were “fortunate” to go in 2017 when Trump was in office? That sounds like a compliment to the President and an endorsement of the decision the rest of team made to go.

How about Jake Oettinger, surely he must hate President Trump, right?

“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. I wanted to come back and get my game ready to go. I have a 3 month old baby at home, and we’ve been traveling the world. I think those guys had a great time there, but that’s why I didn’t go.”

He would go on to address Trump’s comment about the women, saying that no one is a bigger fan of them than he is.

Some comments from Stars goalie Jake Oettinger today: pic.twitter.com/RsWOkJuMM7

— Lia Assimakopoulos (@Lassimak) February 25, 2026

OOF… 0-2. Gonna be a lot more angry libs deleting tweets about how Jake Oettinger was their hero. Gonna have to return that jersey they bought…

What about Jackson LaCombe, who much like Oettinger, didn’t see the ice.

According to Hockey News, he said it was a huge honor to get the invite from the President, and that he loved whoever was in office, but that he wanted to be back for tonight’s game, all the way across the country in Anaheim:

“It was a huge honor to be invited there by our president. It was just so special. I love our country. I love whoever is in office. So, it was just such an honor, but I just wanted to be back here for the game, and it was a tight window, so I couldn’t make it work. That was the only reason, I just wanted to be ready to go, back with these guys.”

When asked about the online backlash, and about his reaction to the joke that Trump made regarding the women’s team, he said:

“Honestly, it all happened so fast. I didn’t really have a reaction to it. It was special getting a call from the President, and we were all just excited to hear that. A lot of it has been pretty crazy. But for us, it was just about representing our country, and I thought everyone did such a good job of that. So for us, that’s what it was all about. It was kind of being funny, whatever it was. We just wanted to represent our country, and I know they did too. We were really close to them, too. It’s really important to us and to them, and that’s kind of the main thing.”

Being funny? Oh no, Jackson… they’re not gonna like that one bit.

Surely Michigan native and Winnipeg Jet, Kyle Connor, would have something negative to say about President Trump, right? Nope… According Us Weekly, he just wanted to get back and get ready for tonight’s game in in Vancouver, another West Coast game today. I’m starting to see a pattern here…

“I’m just getting ready to play on Wednesday. We have a big second half so I just wanted to make sure I was ready.”

So we’re 0-4 with Trump-hating American hockey players… help the libs Brock Nelson, they’re getting desperate. Their entire identity these past 72 hours has hinged on the fact that 5 players declined to attend the White House visit yesterday. 4 of them provided very rational reasons for declining, with most of them explicitly calling it a great honor. Now, you’re their only hope…

Colorado Avalanche forward, Brock Nelson, has a game in Utah tonight, which had a morning skate this morning in Utah, and according to the Colorado Avalanche, Brock wanted to go home to spend one day with his family before heading back out with the team. The father of 4 had just spent weeks in Italy, can’t say I’d blame him… I would’ve gone to the White House myself, but I don’t ever fault a man for wanting family time.

So hate to break it you fools, but nobody bailed on the event to stick it to Trump, to make a stand for your twisted version of morality, or whatever other reason you can cook up in your silly little heads. Cry about it…

And since every other player in the NHL, even ones who didn’t even compete in the Olympics, are now going to now have to answer to the liberal media about why they went, or if they should have went, or how do you feel about those who did go or didn’t, here’s Team USA Captain, Auston Matthews, explaining why he chose to go… and newsflash, it’s because he loves his country:

“We’re proud Americans, and doing something like that, winning a gold medal and representing your country, it felt like a special honor to be invited. I mean, it’s an honor. So it was pretty neat to go there, see everything, and just kind of share that experience with everybody. I don’t like to get political or get into that kind of stuff.

Like I said, we’re proud Americans, and winning a gold medal, especially since it’s been 46 years since the men’s ice hockey team has done that, means a lot. The team that wins the Stanley Cup every year gets a White House invitation. I just think it’s something you do because we are proud Americans, whatever your political beliefs may be. Hopefully something like this can bring more unity to the country and things like that. But for us, we believe it’s a great honor no matter who’s in office.”