Instead of celebrating an incredible double gold medal won by the men’s and women’s hockey teams at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina, players from both teams have had to spend time addressing a controversy generated by President Donald Trump. And that includes Team USA women’s captain Hilary Knight.
Knight, playing in her fifth Olympics, is Team USA’s all-time leading goalscorer in the competition. And with the USA trailing Canada 1-0 late in the third period, her goal tied the game and forced overtime with just over 2 minutes to play in regulation before Megan Keller netted the winner in overtime. Knight was selected by her fellow Olympians to be one of the flagbearers for the closing ceremony in Milan in tribute to not just her 2026 gold medal, but her outstanding career in women’s hockey.
However, the achievements of Knight and her USA teammates have been unnecessarily caught up in a political firestorm generated from Trump and FBI director Kash Patel. After the men’s team also beat Canada for gold, Patel was inexplicably celebrating in the locker room with them at the expense of taxpayers.
As Patel connected Trump on speaker phone, the president invited the men’s team to the White House and the State of the Union address. He also joked that he would have to invite the women’s team as well so that he would not get impeached for a third time.
With the men’s team laughing along and stepping into Trump’s embrace, it has represented yet another opportunity for division in place of what should have been something universally celebrated throughout the country.
The women’s team did not accept an immediate invite to the State of the Union, citing professional and academic responsibilities. And any future visit is to be determined. However, individual players have started to talk about how Trump’s joke and the awkward moment have taken away the spotlight from where it truly deserves to be.
Knight appeared on SportsCenter in an interview with Jay Harris on Wednesday and addressed the unfortunate controversy over Trump casting his long shadow over USA hockey.
“Yea, I thought it was sort of a distasteful joke, and unfortunately that is overshadowing a lot of the success,” Knight said. “The success of just women at the Olympics carrying for Team USA and having amazing gold medal feats. We’re just focusing on celebrating the women in our room, the extraordinary efforts, and continue to celebrate three gold medals in program history as well as the double gold for both men’s and women’s at the same time. And really not detract from that with a distasteful joke. It was unfortunate, but really just focusing on celebrating all great things that have come out of the Olympics and feeling the love and support and getting back in our respective communities and sharing this journey with them and that’s what it’s all about and that’s what makes this moment super special.”
In the aftermath, members of the USA hockey men’s team like Quinn and Jack Hughes have been full of praise for their female colleagues and their accomplishments on the ice and touted the positive relationship between the two squads off of it. Knight also echoed those sentiments, saying that there is plenty of mutual support that has sadly been eclipsed by what transpired in the men’s locker room.
Knight also said that the situation is a learning opportunity for how to talk about and appreciate women’s sports as a whole.
“I think there’s a genuine level of support there and respect. And I think that’s being overshadowed by sort of a quick lapse,” Knight stated. “I think the guys were in a tough spot, so it’s a shame that this storyline narrative has kind of blown up and overshadowing that connection and genuine interest in one another and cheering each other on. We’ve had relationships in the village and supporting one another on the world stage and also the professional stages and I look forward to those friendships and acquaintances continuing in great fashion and I think this is really just a good learning point to focus on how we talk about women, not only in sport but in industry. Women aren’t less than and our achievements shouldn’t be overshadowed by anything else other than how great they are.”
It’s hard to not feel sympathy for members of the women’s hockey team, who deserve much better than this. It’s also worth acknowledging that the men’s team have been put in an impossibly tough spot after Trump and Patel inserted themselves into their gold medal celebrations. This should not be a topic of conversation in the days following one of the most epic and unifying sporting events in recent American history. But no sport is safe these days from the web of politics and individuals wanting to latch onto the success of athletes for their own gain.
About Matt Yoder