President Donald Trump welcomed the United States men’s hockey team to the White House on Tuesday, Feb. 24 to celebrate the Americans’ gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Italy.
Trump greeted players in the Oval Office in video shared by the White House, making small talk and jokes with a number of the gold-medal winners.
Another video showed the team touring the White House, walking along the wall of plaques of past presidents that Trump installed since his second term began.
The players heading to Washington, D.C., were flown aboard an Air Force C-32, ‘at the request of the President,’ the Air Force said in a statement to USA TODAY.
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Looking back at how U.S. men’s hockey won gold
Team USA duked out a chippy match with Canada, as both teams fought, figuratively and literally, for the top honors in Olympic competition.
The Americans drew first blood at the six-minute mark of the first period on a shot by Matt Boldy, who made a fool of Cale Makar and Devon Toews, Canada’s top defensive pair.
Canada dominated the second period and finally responded late to tie the game, courtesy of a Makar goal.
The game would not be decided in regulation. The guys needed an extra period to crown a winner.
Jack Hughes, a 24-year-old center for the New Jersey Devils, provided late-game heroics in overtime to clinch the United States’ men’s hockey team first gold medal since the ‘Miracle on Ice’ in 1980. Their 2026 run has been dubbed ‘Miracle on Ice II.’