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In a gesture of appreciation for their recent triumph, President Donald Trump extended an invitation to the U.S. women’s hockey team to attend his State of the Union address. However, the team, which recently clinched the gold medal, has respectfully declined the invitation.
In a statement released on Monday, the U.S. women’s hockey team expressed their gratitude, saying, “We are sincerely grateful for the invitation extended to our gold medal–winning U.S. Women’s Hockey Team and deeply appreciate the recognition of their extraordinary achievement.” However, they cited prior commitments related to their academic and professional lives, following the Games, as the reason for their inability to attend. The team emphasized their honor at being acknowledged and expressed appreciation for the recognition.
President Trump had also extended the same invitation to the U.S. men’s gold medal-winning team. However, the timing of the State of the Union address posed logistical challenges for both teams.
As the NHL regular season is set to resume with five games on Wednesday, and the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) follows suit on Thursday, scheduling conflicts became evident. Many of the women players were only expected to return to North America by Monday evening. While the men’s team managed to travel on a charter flight to Miami earlier in the day, the women had to rely on a commercial flight to Atlanta, adding to the scheduling complexities.
Logistics played a role in the decision, as many of the women players were not scheduled to arrive in North America until Monday evening. The men’s team flew by charter to Miami earlier Monday. The women took a commercial flight and were scheduled to land in Atlanta.
A person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press that the women’s players didn’t learn of the invite until late Sunday night, making it difficult to change their travel plans. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the team’s travel plans.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the status of both teams.
When extending the invitation to the men’s team on Sunday night, Trump said, “I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that.” Trump joked that if he did not also invite the women’s team, “I do believe I probably would be impeached.”
The Olympic tournament featured two thrilling medal finals, both ending in overtime, with the American women beating Canada 2-1 in the gold medal game on Thursday. The U.S. men beat Canada on Sunday.
“It’s been a whirlwind, it’s been amazing. It’s a dream of ours, it was such an amazing way to unite the country,” Matthew Tkachuk of the U.S. men’s team said after arriving in Miami.
“We felt the support being across the Atlantic and now being back on home soil we could feel it the second the wheels hit the ground. So excited to be back in the greatest country in the world and so excited to celebrate.”
Tkachuk said it was an honor to hear from Trump after the win. “And so we are definitely honored to represent him and the millions and millions across the country.”
Vice President JD Vance attended two of the U.S. women’s preliminary round wins with his family over the first week of the Games.
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AP writers John Wawrow, Stephen Whyno, Charles Odum in Atlanta, Melissa Goldin in Washington, and Freida Frisaro in Miami contributed to this report.
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AP Winter Olympic: