MN Wild Olympic Stars Attend Trump SOTU; Hughes Family Responds to Team USA Outrage

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Quinn Hughes, Matt Boldy - Olympics: Ice Hockey-Men Quarterfinal- USA-SWE
Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

It’s been a wild and crazy 48 hours for the USA men’s hockey team, after they won the first men’s Olympic Gold medal since Herb Brooks led the 1980 Miracle on Ice team to infamy 46 years ago.

Since then, they’ve celebrated with the Director of the FBI, Kash Patel, chatted over the phone with President Trump and, last night. partied like rock stars in South Beach once they returned stateside.

Team USA celebration takes them to State of Union on Air Force One

The Minnesota Wild season resumes on February 26 (Thursday), but much of the league is scheduled to take the ice again tomorrow. But that hasn’t held the players, coaches and executives with Team USA from celebrating their Gold Medal for as long as humanly possible, before going back to their day jobs.

In fact, the party continued into Tuesday when the guys boarded Air Force One at the Miami Airport and took flight for Washington D.C. to catch President Trump’s State of the Union address this afternoon.

While it’s been a memorable couple days for everyone involved with Team USA Hockey, the Gold Medal spotlight hasn’t been all fairy tales and rainbows.

As mentioned above, following their 2-1 overtime victory on Sunday morning (American Time), Quinn Hughes, Brock Faber, Matt Boldy, along with the many non Minnesota Wild players on Team USA partied with FBI Director Kash Patel and took a congratulatory phone call from president Trump.

That did not sit well with a bevy of hockey “fans” on the internet, especially when Trump made a joke over his obligation to invite the women’s’ team to his State of the Union Tuesday — after they also won Gold in Milan.

Minnesota Wild Superstar responds to Trump call criticism

While the women chose not to attend Trump’s address to the nation, the men jumped all over the opportunity. They also lol’d when he joked about the women’s’ team. So while they’ve certainly enjoyed their time in the spotlight, it’s certainly come with plenty of heat already.

So on Monday, before they boarded Air Force One, Minnesota Wild superstar Quinn Hughes and his golden goal scoring little brother Jack Hughes did interviews with both Good Morning America and the Today Show, quickly responding to the outside noise over their trip to DC and moment on the phone with Donald Trump.

Older brother Quinn, 26, deferred to his little brother for much of the morning, even centering Jack in the shot for both interviews. But on this one, big bro stepped in and took the lead.

“I don’t know how much we’re allowed to say, but yes. Yeah, we’re excited to go. it’s something you don’t get to do — I don’t know what today is — every Tuesday.

It’s going to be special for us, but I’m glad you mentioned the women’s team again. You know, we’re extremely happy for them. Obviously, a lot going on on social media surrounding our team and their team.

But, you know, the last couple we’ve done a lot of training with them and got to know a lot of those girls really well. We’re extremely happy for them.”

Quinn Hughes – Good Morning America

Related: MN Wild Patiently Waiting to Unite Hughes Brothers?

We are living in a hard time to be a big time athlete. Even a Gold Medal isn’t allowed to bring the country together when a phone call and joke from the President leads to NHL superstan accounts completely dropping previously obsessive allegiances with hockey players they’ve never met.

Ellen Hughes stands up for Team USA

The criticism surrounding Team USA has gotten so loud that the Hughes brothers’ mom, Ellen Hughes got on the Today Show Tuesday and weighed in on the supposed controversy involving the men’s team and Trump’s joke about the USA women.

Ellen Weinberg-Hughes, in case you didn’t know, competed for the female USA national hockey team back in the early 90’s. She also coached hockey and worked in hockey media at a high level, before taking a step back to raise her hockey boys into outstanding young men, NHL hockey players and Olympic heroes.

Jack Hughes also talked with media Tuesday to address all the internet outrage facing him and his American teammates (below Ellen’s quote)

Hoda Kotb: “Let me ask you about something that’s getting a little traction — a video that came out [after Team USA beat Canada]. It shows the men’s team talking to the President of the United States, and he was inviting them to the State of the Union and all that.

And then he said a comment that gained attention. He said, ‘I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team. You know, that’ — and the room kind of laughs, and he added — ‘I do believe I probably would be impeached.’ He was sort of joking through this.

But you’re cheering on both teams. How did that comment land for you?”

Ellen Hughes: “Well, 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 men’s team care about.

If you could see what we see from the inside and the men and women sharing, you know, dorms — dorm rooms and halls and flex floors — the camaraderie, the synergy, the way the women cheered on the men and the way the men cheered on the women.

That’s what it’s all about. And the other things, they cannot control. They care about humanity. They care about unity, and they care about the country I love.”

Today Show – NBC
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