Team USA’s star goalie, Connor Hellebuyck, who helped them outmatch Canada’s offense in the 2026 Winter Olympics, has spoken about the controversy surrounding Team USA women’s hockey.
It all started with Team USA men’s win on Sunday, after which they got a call from President Donald Trump in the locker room, who congratulated the team. However, Trump later remarked about the women’s team during the phone call, while inviting them to the State of the Union address. A viral clip showed players laughing after Trump said,
“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 [if they weren’t invited].”
Speaking about the controversy, Hellebuyck stressed that the women’s historic win deserves full recognition.
“We were so excited, on Cloud 9, coming into that room,” Hellebuyck said. “And then some things unfolded. And I’m sorry that that’s the way they unfolded. It’s very unfortunate that the criticism that we’re taking for all this, because that was not the way we intended it.”
“I know this entire team, we used the women’s gold-medal game as motivation for us to win gold. We were very close with them. There was no one more excited for when they won than us.”
For the first time in Olympic history, the United States swept both hockey gold medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics. The women’s team defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime on Feb. 19, with Megan Keller scoring the winner. The men followed with their own 2-1 overtime victory over Canada on Sunday, as Jack Hughes ended it just 1:41 into three-on-three play.
The United States became only the second nation ever to win both hockey gold medals in the same Olympics, matching Canada’s past achievement.
“The best part is – I remember, after that game, they came back from the closing ceremony,” Hellebuyck said.” …we all just sat down in the dining hall, ordered a bunch of lava cakes, and we just celebrated each other… about how cool both the golds were… about how we did this together, and we put USA hockey on the map.”
Connor Hellebuyck does not wants USA women’s win to get overshadowed
Connor Hellebuyck, who made 41 saves in the gold medal game and earned Best Goalkeeper honors, said the focus should remain on what the women achieved.
“It’s unfortunate that their win (women) is getting overshadowed right now, because what they did was just incredible.” Hellebuyck said.
The U.S. women went undefeated at 7-0 and outscored opponents 31-1 before the final. The men’s team also went undefeated and had a 6-0 record in the tournament.
Apart from that, Connor Hellebuyck also pushed back on the narrative that there was tension between the teams.
Edited by nagpaltusharn25
