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Don La Greca may be biased, as he gets to watch Jack Hughes play every night, but the New Jersey Devils play-by-play announcer could not help but defend America’s newest hero and his teammates.
La Greca joked that he was close to deleting social media in the wake of the U.S. men’s hockey team winning its first gold since 1980. The Devils’ announcer implored both sides that Hughes scored simply for the United States of America, not for either Democrats or Republicans.
“I’m not coming from either side — both sides embarrassed themselves…” La Greca said on his ESPN New York radio show, “Don Hahn & Rosenberg.” “He’s a hockey player that scored a goal. And that’s all he cares about. And he loves being American.”
But one caller thought it was a “bad look” that the men’s team laughed after President Donald Trump said he would “have” to invite the women’s team to Tuesday’s State of the Union.
“It’s only a bad look, because that’s the way somebody wanted to paint it… People cherry-picking comments, people trying to get a reaction, they’ve been supportive,” La Greca said. “Jack’s mom was involved in the women’s game. Can we stop? Please stop! If you’re going to call [with that sentiment], don’t call…
“We can’t have nice things. You want to believe it? Good on you. But that can’t be the first thing we have a conversation – it’s not even 24 hours old, and this is the conversation people want to have. It’s ridiculous.”
La Greca and his hosts then discussed Kash Patel’s presence in the locker room.
“What were they supposed to do, throw him out of the room? Half of them didn’t even know who he was. That’s the problem I have. All of a sudden now, everyone gets pigeonholed, ‘Oh, must be MAGA because Patel was in there.’ That’s unfair,” La Greca said.
“The fact that someone tweeted out that the men laughed when Donald Trump suggested he’s gotta invite the women, now the narrative is they laughed at the women being invited. We have no idea why they laughed. Trump said ‘I’ll be impeached if I don’t invite them.’ Maybe they laughed at that. Maybe it was just an awkward laugh. We don’t know. Because somebody wanted to mold it as the men, who have been nothing but supportive, they were there when they won the gold medal, Jack’s mom is a part of the team, that they all collectively don’t want the women to be at the White House? Somebody molded it to be that way, so some suckers out there believe it.
“Maybe they did laugh. But nobody was in the room to know. That’s what some people want to make it out to be. They have an agenda that the men are sexist and women shouldn’t be in sports, because that’s what some on the right side thinks. So let’s drag it over to the left, or the right trying to drag it over to the right, instead of just letting it be. Because that’s what social media does.”
Hughes told reporters after the game that the first thing he thought about when the puck went in was Megan Keller, who scored the golden goal for the United States’ women’s team against Canada three days earlier.
Hughes’ brother, Quinn, who scored an overtime goal against Sweden last week, said it was “amazing to spend some time” with the women’s team in the Olympic village.
“And then obviously [watching] them, me and Jack were there, we watched them win the gold medal. They came to our game and were able to watch us,” he said. “So just the support back and forth, just to get to know them a little better was special, too.”
The women’s team declined an invitation to Washington, D.C., citing scheduling conflicts. Several members of the men’s team will be in attendance after partying in Miami on Monday.
The NHL season resumes on Wednesday.
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