Imagine you just won the biggest game of your life, screaming out of excitement, waiting to celebrate with your teammates until it’s overshadowed by the men’s team. As you walk out of the stadium, expecting cheers and support from all the hard work your team put in to win. You stumble across a comment, making your achievement feel less important and isn’t worth celebrating. Isn’t everyone’s accomplishment worth acknowledging? Shouldn’t we lift each other up instead of putting someone else down to uplift yours?
On Thursday, February 19, 2026, at the Winter Olympics, the U.S. women’s hockey team won a gold medal by defeating Canada in overtime. The goal that secured the win was scored by Megan Keller. In 2018, eight years since the team won a gold medal, making it the third Olympic gold medal ever won.
But surprisingly, the U.S. women’s hockey team wasn’t the only team who won a gold medal in the 2026 Winter Olympics. The U.S. men’s hockey team won a gold medal by also defeating Canada. It’s been a while since the U.S. men’s hockey team won the Olympics, 46 years since the Miracle on Ice win in 1980.
After the men’s winning game, President Donald Trump called the men’s hockey team in their locker rooms to congratulate and invite them to the State of the Union address. Later Trump commented, “I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that? I do believe I probably would be impeached.” Laughter from the men’s team erupted in the room, causing the video to immediately go viral on social media.
The men’s hockey team faced a lot of criticism for their reactions to Trump’s comments on social media. Many found the comments sexist, disrespectful, and belittling the women’s team accomplishment.
Several women from the U.S. women’s hockey team responded to Trump’s comment. They did not find the joke hilarious at all. Hilary Knight, women’s team captain, said, “I just thought the joke was distasteful and unfortunate. And I think, just the way women are represented, it’s a great teaching point to really shine light on how woman should be championed for their amazing feats.”
U.S. men’s hockey player, Charlie McAvoy, said, “I’m just certainly sorry for how we responded to it in that moment. You know things that just happened really quick there. And if you know the men’s team and if you know the relationships that we have, the amount of time that we’ve spent with the women’s team and how we’ve supported them, it’s certainly not reflective of how we feel and look at them and their accomplishments.”
Many players of the men’s team regretted how they reacted to the comment and apologized to the women.
