WASHINGTON — The U.S. girls’s hockey gold medal-winning staff has politely declined an invite from President Donald Trump to attend his State of the Union tackle Tuesday.
“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,” the U.S. girls’s staff mentioned in an announcement launched Monday. “Due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games, the athletes are unable to participate. They were honored to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgment.”
Trump additionally invited the U.S. males’s gold medal-winning staff. Each U.S. hockey staff arrived in Miami on Monday.
Scheduling might be a problem because the NHL season resumes with 5 video games Wednesday. The PWHL returns Thursday.
Logistics performed a task within the determination, as most of the girls gamers weren’t scheduled to reach in North America till Monday night. The males’s staff flew by constitution to Miami earlier Monday. The girls took a business flight and have been scheduled to land in Atlanta.
A supply instructed The Associated Press that the ladies’s gamers did not be taught of the invite till late Sunday night time, making it troublesome to alter their journey plans.
The White House didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the standing of each groups.
When extending the invitation to the lads’s staff on Sunday night time, Trump mentioned, “I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that.” Trump joked that if he didn’t additionally invite the ladies’s staff, “I do believe I probably would be impeached.”
The Olympic event featured two thrilling medal finals, each ending in extra time, with the American women beating Canada 2-1 within the gold medal sport Thursday. The U.S. men beat Canada on Sunday.
“It’s been a whirlwind, it’s been amazing,” Matthew Tkachuk of the U.S. males’s staff mentioned after arriving in Miami. “It’s a dream of ours; it was such an amazing way to unite the country.
“We felt the assist being throughout the Atlantic, and now being again on residence soil we might really feel it the second the wheels hit the bottom. So excited to be again within the best nation on this planet and so excited to have a good time.”
Tkachuk said it was an honor to hear from Trump after the win. “And so we’re undoubtedly honored to symbolize him and the tens of millions and tens of millions throughout the nation.”
Vice President JD Vance attended two of the U.S. girls’s preliminary-round wins along with his household over the primary week of the Games.
