Enough already. These USA hockey teams are worth celebrating | Opinion

Mark Giannotto, USA TODAY Fri, February 27, 2026 at 8:06 PM UTC

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Enough already. These USA hockey teams are worth celebrating | Opinion

The players on the U.S. Olympic hockey teams don't deserve this.

Instead of simply being paraded in the Red, White and Blue, our two gold medal-winning hockey teams are being pilloried in the tiresome refrain of Red vs. Blue.

It needs to stop. Just celebrate these teams.

Team USA captain Auston Matthews shouldn't be returning to his NHL team in Toronto to questions about President Donald Trump’s geopolitical intentions related to Canada or columns questioning his loyalty to the Maple Leafs' playoff run, simply for going to the White House and the State of the Union address in Washington, D.C.

We should be celebrating the first Mexican-American to win an Olympic gold medal — against Canada, no less — not debating whether Maple Leafs fans will boo or cheer him in his first NHL game back.

Every one of Matthews' U.S. teammates shouldn't have to answer for President Donald Trump’s congratulatory locker-room phone call that included comments about the women’s team. They shouldn't be called a "clown" by Megan Rapinoe, and "Miracle on Ice" hero Mike Eruzione shouldn't feel compelled to blast the people criticizing the men's players.

We’ve forced our nation's Olympic heroes into the impossible position of having to pick a side in the culture war both major political parties allowed to foment over the past decade. These are hockey players who won gold medals at the Olympics, not statesmen returning from abroad. These are issues that go far beyond a president's phone call, or a State of the Union appearance.

1 / 0US men's hockey team featured at Trump's State of the Union addressMembers of the U.S. Olympic men's hockey team applaud as their teammate Connor Hellebuyck puts his hand to his heart.

OLYMPICS TV RATINGS: Men's hockey gold medal game sets unique viewership record

"The team that wins the Stanley Cup every year accepts the White House invitation to go," Matthews told reporters earlier this week. "I just think it's something that you do because we are proud Americans and whatever your political beliefs may be, hopefully something like this will bring more unity to the country. But for us, we believe it's a great honor no matter who is in office."

So much for bringing people together.

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Blame Trump for bad joke, not Team USA

Is part of the problem that the current media landscape values controversy over nuance? You bet. What’s actually newsworthy too often takes a back seat to what’s trending. A standing ovation for Jack Hughes isn't just celebrated as a show of appreciation and patriotism anymore. It's viewed through the prism of left and right that overtook this hockey game over the past week.

But that’s not fair to these players, who really did nothing wrong other than, in a split-second, elect to laugh at a crude, unfunny joke the president never should have made when he called to congratulate them. It's hard for me to hold that against them, to allow it to diminish that they're the first U.S. men's hockey team in 46 years to win a gold medal at the Olympics.

Almost a week later, ever since Trump’s locker-room call set off an avalanche of opinions here and north of the border, it’s perhaps lost that this controversy boils down to one man’s failed attempt at humor.

Was he trying to crack a sexist joke by minimizing the women’s hockey team’s gold-medal accomplishment while telling the men’s team, “We're going to have to bring the women's team, you do know that?"

Or was he trying to get a laugh at the expense of Democrats when he added, "I do believe I probably would be impeached” if he didn’t invite the women’s team to the White House.

1 / 0Relive USA’s thrilling gold‑medal OT win and celebration over CanadaPlayers of Team United States celebrate winning the gold medals after the team's 2-1 overtime victory in the Women's Gold Medal match between the United States and Canada on day thirteen of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on Feb. 19, 2026 in Milan, Italy.

Never mind that it doesn't appear Trump ever called to congratulate the women's ice hockey team when it won a gold medal in overtime against Canada three days earlier. Neither comment he made to the men was appropriate. It was "distasteful," as women's hockey player Hilary Knight correctly put it.

But we’ve collectively spent the days since then somehow trying to make sure what Trump said to the U.S. men's hockey team lingers longer than what the U.S. men's hockey team pulled off in Milan.

See, this never was about whether the men's players should have gone to the White House, or to the State of the Union, to be fêted after an incredible accomplishment. Of course, they should have if they wanted.

This isn’t even about whether Trump should have called the men’s hockey team after its win. Of course, he should have if he wanted. U.S. Presidents have been making those sort of congratulatory calls for decades.

This is about a bad joke, and a group of hockey players who deserve better from us.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: USA hockey should be celebrated, not dragged in our culture wars

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