One of the final events of the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics was the men’s ice hockey gold-medal game. Magically, it was the same match-up as the women’s ice hockey final: Canada vs. USA. Even more magically, the result was the same in both the men’s and women’s finals: USA winning gold in overtime with a “golden goal.” This was the first time Team USA guys won gold in ice hockey since the “Miracle on Ice” in 1980, when those American boys defeated the USSR in the Olympic semifinals and Finland in the final (it was eventually turned into a spectacular film, Miracle, starring Kurt Russell).
There were so many amazing moments within and around Sunday’s gold-medal game. First of all, the American hockey players – many of them millionaire NHLers – stayed in the Olympic Village, hanging out with other American athletes and sharing rooms and bonding (the Canadians stayed in a luxury hotel close-by). American goalkeeper Connor Hellebuyck put in a historic performance, and his helmet got so much attention for featuring a large-mouth bass. Jack Hughes scored the golden goal just minutes after several of his teeth were knocked out. Jack was literally giving interviews while still bleeding. The Americans also held up a jersey for their late friend, Johnny Gaudreau, a hockey player who was killed by a drunk driver in 2024. The Americans brought two of Johnny’s kids out onto the ice for the gold-medal photos. It was a deeply emotional moment and Americans got up early to celebrate.
Unfortunately, by the end of the Olympics, the story of American men’s hockey gold took a real nasty turn. As it turns out, Donald Trump called the guys when they were in the locker room after their victory, but Trump didn’t do the same when the American women won gold last Thursday. Trump then denigrated the American women in the call on Sunday. Even worse? FBI Director Kash Patel was in Italy, and he partied in the locker room with several of the MAGA Americans. Keep in mind, Patel wasn’t even in the country for the three-week mark of the investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance. Patel wasn’t in the country when some armed guy was fatally shot by Secret Service agents at Mar-a-Lago. Patel was too busy getting wasted with hockey bros to do his job in any capacity. This sh-t is completely crazy.
You can hear the genuine pride in Donald Trumps voice when he called the Team USA Hockey Team pic.twitter.com/ch6GbXShwh
— Harrison Krank (@HarrisonKrank) February 23, 2026
A source sent me this video of FBI Director Kash Patel partying with the US Men's Olympic Hockey team. pic.twitter.com/egjmdhOAF6
— William Turton (@WilliamTurton) February 22, 2026
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: Devon Toews of Canada misses a good chance in front of goalkeeper Connor Hellebuyck of United States during the Ice hockey, Eishockey Mens Gold Medal Game match between Canada and USA on day sixteen of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, Olympische Spiele, Olympia, OS at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on February 22, 2026 in Milan, Italy. Milan Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena Italy *** MILAN, ITALY FEBRUARY 22 Devon Toews of Canada misses a good chance in front of goalkeeper Connor Hellebuyck of United States during the Ice Hockey Mens Gold Medal Game match between Canada and USA on day sixteen of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on February 22, 2026 in Milan, Italy Milan Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena Italy Copyright: xJustPictures.ch/AndreaxBrancax jp-en-EuSpIm-AB-DSC_536522022026,Image: 1077380287, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Andrea Branca/Avalon
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- MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: Jack Hughes of United States celebrates the victory during the Ice hockey, Eishockey Mens Gold Medal Game match between Canada and USA on day sixteen of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, Olympische Spiele, Olympia, OS at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on February 22, 2026 in Milan, Italy. Milan Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena Italy *** MILAN, ITALY FEBRUARY 22 Jack Hughes of United States celebrates the victory during the Ice Hockey Mens Gold Medal Game match between Canada and USA on day sixteen of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on February 22, 2026 in Milan, Italy Milan Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena Italy Copyright: xJustPictures.ch/AndreaxBrancax jp-en-EuSpIm-AB-AAB_341522022026,Image: 1077416127, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Andrea Branca/Avalon
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- MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: goalkeeper Connor Hellebuyck of United States celebrates winning the gold medal during the Ice hockey, Eishockey Mens Gold Medal Game match between Canada and USA on day sixteen of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, Olympische Spiele, Olympia, OS at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on February 22, 2026 in Milan, Italy. Milan Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena Italy *** MILAN, ITALY FEBRUARY 22 goalkeeper Connor Hellebuyck of United States celebrates winning the gold medal during the Ice Hockey Mens Gold Medal Game match between Canada and USA on day sixteen of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on February 22, 2026 in Milan, Italy Milan Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena Italy Copyright: xJustPictures.ch/AndreaxBrancax jp-en-EuSpIm-AB-AAB_276622022026,Image: 1077418301, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Andrea Branca/Avalon
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- MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: Auston Matthews of United States celebrates winning the gold medal during the Ice hockey, Eishockey Mens Gold Medal Game match between Canada and USA on day sixteen of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, Olympische Spiele, Olympia, OS at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on February 22, 2026 in Milan, Italy. Milan Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena Italy *** MILAN, ITALY FEBRUARY 22 Auston Matthews of United States celebrates winning the gold medal during the Ice Hockey Mens Gold Medal Game match between Canada and USA on day sixteen of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on February 22, 2026 in Milan, Italy Milan Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena Italy Copyright: xJustPictures.ch/AndreaxBrancax jp-en-EuSpIm-AB-AAB_278722022026,Image: 1077420133, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Andrea Branca/Avalon
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- MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: Jack Hughes of United States L and Quinn Hughes of United States R celebrate winning the gold medal during the Ice hockey, Eishockey Mens Gold Medal Game match between Canada and USA on day sixteen of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, Olympische Spiele, Olympia, OS at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on February 22, 2026 in Milan, Italy. Milan Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena Italy *** MILAN, ITALY FEBRUARY 22 Jack Hughes of United States L and Quinn Hughes of United States R celebrate winning the gold medal during the Ice Hockey Mens Gold Medal Game match between Canada and USA on day sixteen of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on February 22, 2026 in Milan, Italy Milan Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena Italy Copyright: xJustPictures.ch/AndreaxBrancax jp-en-EuSpIm-AB-AAB_291522022026,Image: 1077423209, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Andrea Branca/Avalon
….and yeah. They all seem to be who I thought they were.
This is why I was routing for Canada.
Yep, absolutely same. I feel like I jinxed them, I was rooting for them so hard.
As a French person whose team got humbled by Canada and reading what is said about American players on social media I was really hoping that Canada could win. I’m really sad about it.
Trump is thrilled because most of the American team members are MAGA so he won’t have to call them losers like he did for other American athletes.
This is why they got booed when they stepped on the ice. They are MAGA and MAGA adjacent. Matthew Tkatchuk went to the WH and kissed up to Trump so publicly after he won the Cup. The boot licking was absolutely nauseating. If the Takatchuks weren’t hockey players, they’d be Ice Agents. A lot of those guys are MAGA. I’m interested to see whether Auston Matthews goes to the WH (he is Mexican) and whether the Hughes brothers go or Charlie McAvoy (they have been supportive of LGTBQ community and Pride night etc.). I am watching closely.
This isn’t the time to be polite. It’s the time to take a real stand. How do they feel about this president treating women, and women athletes, the way he does? Are they just okay with that? History will not treat any of this kindly. Personally I would be so embarrassed if there was a picture of a parent or grandparent with hitler. This would be a great source of shame. Some of those guys need to ask themselves to they want the equivalent of that picture for their kids and grandkids.
Also, offering to send a military plane at tax payer dime to go pick those guys up is gross. Imagine if President Obama did one, just one of the things Trump has done.
I am so proud of the Seahawks right now for saying hard pass to the invite. None of this is okay. None of this is normal.
I saw a headline in Canada that read “Canadian Hockey Teams Return with Silver Medals to Country that has Healthcare and Functioning Democracy” and it sort of put this loss in perspective. The entire country woke up at 5 A.M. to check on the status of our Captain, Sidney Crosby, who remained out with an injury. The loss hits hard, because we’re all just so tired of bullies winning. The video of Kash Patel partying with the team is so cringe. I can’t with this whole fiasco. They had just shown a ton of class including the Goudreau family in the celebration and then negated everything they did with this bullshit.
Yeah, if we’d lost to any other team, or if it hadn’t been the US team while Trump was in office, this wouldn’t have hit us so hard. I hate to say it, but the total classlessness of the response to the win from the US administration and many of the players makes it hard to feel like this was a win that was deserved.
I agree. We will remember the collaborators, and act accordingly.
Also, with respect to the military plane, if it weren’t the fact for our tax dollars pay for it, I’d say go for it. A military plane has all the seats bolt upright & backed against the sides of the plane so you’re facing the interior. There is no beverage or food service, no blankets, no pillows, no movies, no reclining, no nothing. Enjoy! 😉
We in the US are also tired of bullies winning. Everything about this administration is classless.
Sorry, BeanieBean, some military planes are awful to fly on. Some are not. But put that useless so-called FBI director on one of the cargo planes with the bucket seats. That’s miserable. What’s he doing outside the US? Not his job, obviously!
@SIde Eye – thanks for the rundown. Now I’m glad I didn’t watch the game, even though I used to be a big hockey fan who never missed a local game of our WHL (junior) team. Times change. But misogyny seems to be stuck, or worse.
“This isn’t the time to be polite.” – ITA. Hillary Clinton wrote an article for the usually paywalled ‘Foreign Affairs’ magazine — “Women’s Rights Are Democratic Rights: The Global Authoritarian Backlash to Gender Equality.” — I’d highly recommend reading it for thoughts on democracy.
The players laughing when Trump made the comment about the women’s team. wtf. That’s a deeply unpleasant watch.
I can’t listen to that voice or I might stroke out but this is so gross and disappointing. Especially because so many of the male players attended the women’s games or appeared to support them. I guess that was all performative.
Such a contrast to other Olympians who used their platform to speak out on injustice.
What did he say, I can’t find it via team google?
I forced myself to listen to it after seeing these comments made me too curious. First he says the team can come to the State of the Union speech, then he says they can come hang out at the White House the next day and they will “just have some fun” and he will have medals for them [HAH!]. Then he says in an almost apologetic manner “and I must tell you, we’re gonna have to bring the woman’s [sic] team too, you do know that” and the whole team disgustingly guffaws “or I do believe I’d probably be impeached.” Despicable. Side note: that’s the first time I’ve listened to his voice in real time since I don’t even know (I listen to all my news podcasts that might play clips of him on 1.5-2x speed) and he sounds even more slurry on 1x than I remember.
Thank you @samipup for asking and @FancyPants for answering, because I can’t listen to his voice at all.
He will probably ask one of them to him their Gold medal. If so I hope the Olympic committee says you have to earn and win it. And last I checked they don’t give them out for the most dumbass performance. Though, he does practice a lot lol.
And I now 100 percent fully loathe that whole team.
“or I do believe I’d probably be impeached.”……yes, next year at this time, with a Democratic majority restored to the house and senate, you and that puppy-killing publicity whore will probably be impeached. And not a day too soon. The challenge will be choosing from all the impeachable offenses you have committed.
Believe me, Canada is laughing their asses off at us right now.
What was the comment? I can’t stomach listening to it.
The fuck? The team was there supporting the men’s side, ffs. Shame on all of them.
Ugh, this shows why I really, really didn’t want them to win. It’s all insanely ugly and vile and they embrace all of it.
The Women’s Hockey team declined his disgusting offer to go to the White House.
This was such a gross way to end what should have been a beautiful moment. I am so disappointed in this entire timeline.
That game crushed me. 🇨🇦
That goalie is huge, there was just no space to put it in!!! It was the Canadian team vs the US goalie the whole time! OMG
Agreed. We outplayed them but their goalie won that game for them. Wish Crosby had been on the ice. It was about more than just hockey, this win would have been a huge morale booster for us. We’re traveling and had to watch in our hotel lobby with both Americans and Canadians and the behaviour of some of the Americans after the game was pretty gross. My kids were wondering wtf was wrong with them, and honestly, I had no answers.
As for the rest of this article, no surprises anywhere about any of these disgusting people.
I cringe at what felon 47 and his moronic magats have done to the US.
Canada knows Michigander Hellebuyck well since he’s a goalie for Winnipeg. He was really focused but also the US team backed him up with scoring, he gave up 2 to Slovakia.
There were so many electric hockey games going into overtime all Olympics, it was amazing. The felon ruins everything he touches, of course he butted in. Gaaaah, at least he left the women alone, he wasn’t welcome there anyway.
I’m so sorry. I was rooting for Canada, too (and they had the harder semifinal). It’s gross and horrific and so insanely unnecessary.
I was rooting for Canada, also. Celebrini looked so crushed. You could tell he felt bad about his game. And poor Crosby! Injury is such a haunting issue for him. My heart aches.
F–k everything about the felon and the men’s US team.
The Canadian team played better for the entire game and lost in overtime.
Congratulations to us! We have a president who insists on ruining every occasion and destroying everything he touches which is often things which shouldn’t even concern him. He is the worst piece of trash America ever produced. And that’s saying something.
And the males on the men’s hockey team showed us what losers they are by laughing and buddying up to Pedo President. I hope the women’s team refuses to participate and tells the media why.
They laughed & buddied up to him the way all those men laughed & buddied up to Epstein. Despicable. And yes, I do hope the women’s team gives a wide berth to all of this.
I had a brief, delightful experience when they won. I could not believe USA finally got a gold medal again after 46 years. I was so heartbroken in 2010 when my favorite goalie Ryan Miller played his heart out and USA lost in OT. I was giddy yesterday morning.
Then I saw that freaking weirdo Kash Patel in the locker room (wtf is an FBI director doing in a men’s hockey locker room immediately after the game, that is WEIRD. He was acting like the loser podcast bro that he actually is, not the FBI Director that he has no idea how to be). I am just learning about this call now. Damn it – I wanted to enjoy this moment and these disgusting narcissists and unfortunate MAGA bros had to destroy it.
I think Patel got in there and got onto player’s socials immediately as a distraction and division tool. Of course Trump HAD to insert himself into someone else’s moment of triumph. And that disgusting image he posted on his social media. Ugh.
Just watched that video of #47’s call to the team. Disgusting. Can’t believe they’re going to be at the State of the Union address, that Kash calls DT ‘Boss’ and how they talked about the women’s Hockey team.
I can’t believe they let Kash in the locker room to party. The optics are horrible. The world already doesn’t think much of us, and this just puts us even lower and lower.
I was so happy to see the US team win, but after these videos, I really wish Canada had won.
Kash Patel partying actually could be waved off in the sense that he was there celebrating but not saying anything stupid. Sure he should be doing his job and not be there, but really it was the rapist in chief who ruined it.
No, this cannot be waived off as ‘just partying’. Would J Edgar Hoover? Would Clarence Kelley? William Webster? etc. All the American crime organizations are giddy with the knowledge that the head of the FBI is a drunken fool partying away in Italy.
Based on the last US/Canada game, I assumed they would have been some of the few athletes who actually wanted to go to the WH, so for that alone I wanted anyone but them to win from the beginning. I jinxed Canada, I think. Completely disgusting.
Just so disgusting. Absolutely ruined what was a great story. And seeing all the live feed videos from Dylan Larkin who is on the Wings…. Just really disappointing.
See, I know nothing about hockey. I don’t follow any sports, but I do watch the Olympics every four years–winter & summer. I saw the replay of the winning goal & heard the announcers say ‘not since 1980’ & I thought wow! First the women beat Canada for the gold then the men! Yay! And then the video of Kash Patel came out & I thought what the hell? And now this. 🚽
I was rooting for Canada. 🇨🇦
Who is the team captain for USA?
The documentary that could be put out for this win just got ruined.
Auston Matthews who is also the Leafs captain.
He plays in Canada?! Oof. Shame on him. Shame on all of them.
Oh wow.
Sidney Crosby captains his team well, by contrast.
A documentary on last year’s 4 Nations tournament was recently put out by the CBC, so we’ve got that at least. 😉
I am a teacher at a school where the hockey plays are treated like gods. They definitely skew MAGA and the way they present themselves makes it feel like a culture of misogyny is alive and well. I hate hockey more than anything in the world because of the culture. None of this surprises me at all. It’s very on brand if you ask me. Yuck.
I agree that it’s not at all surprising that young, white, male athletes are MAGA. I’m protecting my mental health by not watching the video.
Canada isn’t better in that there was a recent sexual assault trial with multiple junior level players and one victim and it ended up with acquittals. But the hockey culture for boys and men is to treat girls and women like trash and be disposable. It fits that these guys laughed along because many of them don’t think women have the same value, especially when a lot of the women players happen to be lesbian.
There needs to be a top down change in the sport with this attitude.
The womens team was amazing with a much better culture. Laila Edwards broke the color barrier on the women’s national team, she is from the same blue collar town as the Kelces so Travis paid for 10 of her family to be there, including her 91 yr old grandmother’s first trip out of the country to Milan!
The women’s captain just got engaged to her speed skater gf, no felon calling the team and the women’s team was far more dominant against everyone they met. The women are the hockey gems, they just get less coverage!
Canada, you played a great game and deserved to win. I apologize for the behavior of our President and his administration and the horrible messages and images they posted on social media yesterday. Sadly, they are sore winners and none of them have a clue about hockey. Home today because of snow and will spend part of it telling my congressional delegation I want all involved in White House communications as well as Richard Grenell and any other appointees who copied those messages and Kash Patel fired for their undiplomatic abuse of my tax dollars.
THANK-YOU.
Well rape culture remains powerful on the men’s side of the sport so the rapist in chief cracking jokes with them fits.
So honestly does it fucking matter that they stayed in the Olympic village or not when they are cool with misogyny and bigotry?
It’s just a game and Canada will move on, but sure as shit Mark Carney would never disparage any of our Canadian team.
I did not get the remark about them staying in the Olympic Village, either. Especially after watching this video. Are they supposed to get a cookie for hanging out with other American athletes…? Really?
Yes, could someone explain what the Olympic Village comment meant? So many top athletes (including Coco Gauff at the summer games) don’t stay in the Village so they can focus on their events, and this is perfectly acceptable.
I made a comment similar to this online yesterday because these are exactly my thoughts, and got called smug, a sow, and an irrelevant b*tch. I almost convinced myself that I overreacted, but I’m glad you posted this.
It was an incredible game, I’m so sad Canada lost. Who cares if anyone stayed in the village? If I remember correctly even American athletes like Lindsay Vonn have skipped staying in the village. If the US men’s hockey team stayed out of the village that wouldn’t matter to me either.
The U.S. basketball team rarely stays in the village and still wins gold more often than not.
If the point of staying in the village was to pretend they respected the other athletes then they were massive hypocrites.
You’re right! Also a virus was spreading like wildfire in that village, the hockey team was wise to leave it.
Norovirus was spreading through the hockey teams at the beginning, It’s always safer to stay at a nicer place than the Athlete’s village.
What a complete letdown. I mean, I knew these guys were MAGA bro types but the way they were acting in the call with Dipshit in Chief reinforces that view. Oh well, at least they brought out Gaudreau’s children. That was a nice moment.
I agree with you on the moment with Gaudreau’s children, that will be such a lovely memory for that whole family to have, and I love that they honoured Johnny that way.
As someone who has a newfound interest in hockey (cough, Heated Rivalry, cough), everything about this disappoints me and I’m cancelling this new obsession and going back to my beloved basketball. Sigh,
I don’t have a newfound interest in hockey – I’ve been a Bruins fan for ages and a love for MM hockey romance novels going waaaay back to 2015ish. But I guess I am just able to compartmentalize because every time I think about what real hockey culture is (or see examples like with the US men’s team or the recent Canadian SA scandal), it makes me ill. Sigh. I guess I will just stick to my MM hockey romance books and read about a hockey world that I wished existed and watch more of the women’s games when I can find them.
Long time fan here too! It is such a fun sport to watch and the culture of it is so awful sometimes. The recent trial in Canada is an prime example of how the worst parts of human behaviour do not matter if you’re good at hockey. I hope in upcoming seasons of HR they tackle the subplots of how problematic the hockey league is.
Hello fellow New Englander! We had season tickets behind the goalie in the Garden. My Uncle was in the coach of BC for years and years. He was the NCAA Hall of Fame for being the winningest coach.
Edit to add: I’m not MAGA.
I feel you. Ice hockey was the first sport I ever felt good and comfortable and powerful playing. It was life-altering for me to get on the ice. It really hurts to think my teams, my players, have such a difference in core values. I have actually appreciated the Olympic break to not have to feel or think about how even this was never meant for me.
Grey – I don’t know if you’ve read Rachel Reid’s Role Model, but it does address SA in hockey. It’s my favorite book/couple after Ilya and Shane. I’m really hoping Troy and Harris’s story is included in HR season 2 or 3 as Ilya (and later Shane) join the Ottawa team where Troy plays. I love Ilya and Troy’s friendship.
Hey Samipup! Hope you’re surviving this blizzard.
Kit sending hugs
@Sussex Watcher, yes power still on here in coastal Maine, no flooding on the causeways. The wind is wild, shrieking at times. Thank-you!
It is peak white male privilege that hockey is having a moment because of Heated Rivalry, where inclusivity is the point, and every single one of these athletes failed to act honorably. At the Olympics.
They brought out Johnny Gaudreau’s daughter, and then promptly failed her. Shame on all of them.
I didn’t know the women’s team was called on Sunday, but now I’m curious about that went down. Did anybody actually take the call? And whose number did he have the FBI pull from records to actually call? I doubt those ladies were sitting around waiting for the White House to call them in the first place, and were probably okay with not being contacted by that crew of lunkheads immediately after their kickass victory. Any reports or video evidence of the women’s team call and what might have been said? All of this is so ewww.
I don’t think dump called the women’s ice hockey team. He hates women and his ego can’t take that they kissed up to him.
The women’s finals were on Thursday and it was a completely different vibe. No politics just hockey. If you’re black or gay or have a toddler, they’re welcoming you on the team. Their young coach is quiet and when they won he turned out be the crier. I’m sure someone had to formally call but those women/coaches aren’t waiting for that %$#@ to call them.
If the women’s team goes to the WH or not, I’ll support them, Women don’t make big money! Many have already been on Kylie Kelce’s pod who is liberal.
Men’s hockey is the most MAGA-coded sport in the U.S., which is why I was rooting for Canada yesterday. The US team played great, especially Connor Hellebuyck, and I couldn’t be too upset when they won, especially with how they dedicated the win to Johnny Gaudreau after the medal ceremony. But then all this stuff with Trump and Kash Patel happened, and it reminded me again of why I was rooting for Canada. Sigh. (But congrats again to the U.S. Women’s team. They are awesome through and through.)
Absolutely disgusting! I didn’t root for the US. I wanted Finland or Canada to win. I was able to watch the bronze medal match Slovakia vs Finland and I was rooting for Finland to score 1-5 (they scored 1-6). I got the times wrong for the gold medal match and didn’t get to tune in. We were out for the last day of the Chinese New Year festivities in town but I would have checked on my phone for the scores from time to time if I had known that the game would be playing around that time. Way to win gold and be a loser at the same time. They just showed who they really were.
I was rooting for Canada, too, mostly because I was hoping for MAGA to be crushed.
But the American player who scored the winning OT goal is Jack Hughes, who has been vocal in his support for Pride Night in the NHL. Not everyone on the U.S. team is terrible.
This is an excellent point. The Hughes brothers have been a different breed when it comes to the MAGA-hockey connection. I really thought the same of Matthews but… he’s turned out to be disappointing in every possible way. I get Toronto’s salt about him.
I will definitely be curious to see what happens with the Hughes brothers (I wonder if it helps that their mother is a developmental coach for the US women’s team?).
But I will say that I was slightly taken aback in Jack Hughes’s post-game interview (with his poor bloody missing teeth!) when he said multiple times that he was proud to be an American and loves his country. Which…maybe he was swept up in the moment, but it struck me as so different from the other athletes who have talked about how difficult it is to represent the US at the moment. So, it made me wonder about his politics.
He was right there laughing at the pedo’s jokes.
Just a quick reminder that Patel was partying in the locker room there at the expense of the US taxpayer. He was flown there on the FBI’s jet so he could bro out with the cool jocks who he probably always wanted to be like in high school and he’ll try to claim it as a business expense. Nevermind that you don’t usually wait until the last day of a two week event to discuss any FBI security arrangements.
Someone on Bluesky brilliantly noted that the FBI director’s job has become Patel’s personal Make-a-Wish Foundation.
It’s embarrassing for the USA because it was our President who made that disgusting joke. That said, I don’t think the players’ laughing at it is an American thing so much as a hockey thing. Mark Carney would never have said it (nor would Joe Biden have, for that matter), but if he had? I imagine some of the Canadian players would have been laughing too. At least under the circumstances, post-win and having already started drinking.
That’s the nature of the the sport and the culture around it. It’s been that way since I was a kid in the 80s, and presumably long before. If you had told me the pictures and clips I saw after the game yesterday were from 40 years ago, I’d have believed it. I know Jack Hughs (and probably his brother too?) spent some time living and playing hockey in Toronto as a kid. The youth teams play each other sometimes. The players cross borders for their careers.
The crazy thing to me is, though, that the Hughs brothers were raised by an Olympian woman. Their mother was on the USA women’s ice hockey team in her youth. If I were her I’d be giving them endless s**t about this.
I was cheering on Canada from the US because I love me some Tom Wilson.
The US win was about as legit as the FOTUS’ election but instead of Apartheid Clyde & the voting machines, it was the hand selected NHL refs.
There is no way that this was not fixed at the behest of Dear Leader.
This was a very tough loss. Hockey is like a religion here, North of the 49th parallel. But remember, The True North, strong and free. From the Canadian anthem.
Just when I was warming up to hockey, coming from a country where that’s not very popular…
Can’t these guys, one representing a gouvernment and players, be happy about the girls defending this sport too?
I’d say shame on them but I expected something better from the male American athletes than from that man.