U.S. Men’s Hockey GM Bluntly Addresses Trump’s Off-Color Joke, White House Trip

U.S. men’s hockey general manager Bill Guerin recently addressed controversy over the team’s White House trip and locker room celebration with FBI director Kash Patel. | Erick Rasco/Sports Illustrated

The U.S. men’s hockey team’s Olympic triumph has turned into a bit of a runaway train amid widespread controversy over the events that transpired following their gold medal win over Canada in Milan.

In Team USA’s ensuing locker room celebrations, FBI director Kash Patel was seeing partying with the men’s players. On a now-viral phone call with President Trump, the American men laughed at an off-color joke the president made about the women’s team. The majority of the U.S. men’s hockey team ended up accepting Trump’s invite to attend his State of the Union address at the White House, which incited some uproar as well.

U.S. men’s hockey general manager Bill Guerin addressed all of the above in a recent interview with The Athletic:

“People react to everything nowadays,” Guerin said. “The most important thing, and the guys have all said it in their interviews, we were in lockstep with the women’s team. There was nothing that was set out to be political. There was nothing that was meant to harm anybody. But people take it that way. What I can tell you is that, I’ll just say our group, we have unconditional love for our country. And what we did was for everybody.

“I don’t care what your political stance is, what your gender, race, view on anything is. I don’t care, this win was for you. This win was for our country, no matter what you think of anything. I have unconditional love for my country. Not just when it’s good for me. And this win was for our country.”

Guerin didn’t join the team at the White House last week, but made clear that the players shouldn’t be judged for making their own personal decisions.

“With both Democrat and Republican presidents. It doesn’t matter to me. They’re the president. They’re the leader of our country in the free world, and the White House is a really special place,” Guerin continued. “I’m just a kid from Wilbraham, Massachusetts. If I get an invitation to the White House, I go, I don’t care who is in office. Everyone gets to make their own decisions. If someone doesn’t want to go, that’s fine. I’m going. I don’t care who is in office.”

What USA Hockey players have said about Trump joke, ongoing controversy

U.S. men’s hockey stars Quinn and Jack Hughes reiterated a similar sentiment when asked for their thoughts on the rampant controversy.

“People are so negative about things,” Jack Hughes said, responding to backlash over his team’s reaction to Trump’s joke about the women’s hockey team. “I think everyone in that locker room knows how much we support them, how proud we are of them. The same way we feel about them, they feel about us.”

Over on the women’s side, Team USA captain Hilary Knight had a more nuanced take, calling Trump’s joke “distasteful” and noting that it wasn’t her or her teammates’ responsibility to answer for the men’s behavior. The U.S. women’s hockey team declined Trump’s invitation to the White House due to scheduling conflicts and reportedly has plans to celebrate their gold medal win with American rapper Flavor Flav this summer.

The Hughes brothers and Knight will be on Monday’s episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where they’ll likely try to put an end to the never-ending hullabaloo that has unfortunately overshadowed both American teams’ historic Olympic victories.

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