NHL
2026 Olympic
Hockey
The U.S. men's hockey team won gold at the Winter Olympics with a 2-1 win over Canada. Joe Scarnici / Getty Images
President Donald Trump placed a congratulatory video call to members of the United States Olympic men’s hockey team after their gold medal win over Canada in Milan on Sunday, the team said.
“(Trump) just spoke to the group expressing how proud he was of the group and congratulating everybody on the win. Obviously this game, in a lot of ways, was an inspiration to our country,” coach Mike Sullivan told reporters after the game. “I think, from a viewership standpoint in the United States, there were a lot of people paying attention, the president included.”
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Ryan Rishaug of TSN reported that Trump invited the team to the State of the Union speech, which Trump is scheduled to give on Tuesday at the United States Capitol. Team captain Auston Matthews did not confirm whether the team would visit with Trump before the resumption of the NHL season on Wednesday, and he told reporters, “I think there’s a lot of moving parts as far as our travels back home. We’ll see what happens.”
“We’re all proud Americans, obviously,” Matthews said. “This is a huge moment for us, a huge moment for the United States. (Trump) called. Just congratulated us. … It’s an honor to wear this jersey and represent the U.S. To go home with a gold medal, you know how much that means to guys in this room, to people watching and rooting us on, too.”
In February 2025, Trump addressed many of the same players before the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game — also against Canada, which coincided with a period of time when he publicly discussed the idea of adding Canada as the “51st state.” That rhetoric, in part, turned the 4 Nations tournament into a stark example of the intersection of sports and politics, with the U.S. national anthem getting booed before games at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
After the gold medal game on Sunday, Trump also posted a congratulatory message on his Truth Social account. The White House’s official X account reposted a post from former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, from after Canada beat the USA in the 4 Nations final. That post read, “You can’t take our country — and you can’t take our game.” The White House post on Sunday topped Trudeau’s comments with an image of what appeared to be an eagle attacking a Canadian goose.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney posted a congratulatory message to the Canadian team for its “well-earned silver” on Sunday but did not reference the U.S. team or Trump.
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The United States also won gold in women’s hockey after a victory over Canada on Thursday. The White House’s X account reposted a celebratory post from the official USA Hockey account and added, in all capital letters, “We are so back. Red, white and blue running through our veins.” There is no indication that Trump reached out to members of the women’s team.
The call to the U.S. men’s team also came 13 days after Trump posted on social media that China would “eliminate the Stanley Cup” and end hockey games in Canada if those two countries struck a trade deal. He did not explain how such terms would be imposed. Trump later said in a social media post that he was not being serious when he made the comments.
— Michael Russo contributed to this report from Milan.
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Sean Gentille is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the NHL. He previously covered Pittsburgh sports with the The Athletic and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the NHL for Sporting News, and he’s a graduate of the University of Maryland. Follow Sean on Twitter @seangentille