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Brady Tkachuk is back with his Ottawa Senators, and he stood his ground when faced with a question about the viral moment when Team USA laughed at a joke by President Donald Trump about the women’s ice hockey team during a phone call after both teams won gold medals in Milan.
As players like Boston Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman admitted, players “should have reacted differently.”
Tkachuk responded to a reporter’s question about the moment Trump said he would “have” to invite the women’s team, which also defeated Canada in the Olympics, to Tuesday’s State of the Union or else he “probably would be impeached.”
“Yeah, I get it,” Tkachuk said when a reporter asked if he understood that the women’s team felt displeased with the men’s team’s reaction. “I have no other comments other than for the things we can control. We supported them. They supported us. Can’t control what other people say.”
Tkachuk added it was “fun” being around the women’s team while in Milan.
“It was fun seeing them play, fun to see the excellence they brought every single game and how they’re, by far, the best team in that tournament,” he said. “It was just fun seeing them after picking their brains. They were picking our brains, and it was just fun being around them.”
Tkachuk was asked a follow-up question about why he would laugh at Trump’s joke. Again, he stood his ground.
“It was a whirlwind of a moment. You can’t really control what somebody says, and I guess it caught [us] off guard a little bit,” he said. “I mean, when you’re talking to the president 10 minutes after you just achieved your dream, it’s just the fact that you’re talking to him,
“You can’t really believe where your life is at where you’re talking to the president of the United States after you just won a gold medal.”
Tkachuk was with his U.S. teammates at Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, and the chamber gave the team a standing ovation as players showcased their Olympic gold medals
The women’s team declined an invitation to Washington, D.C., citing “previously scheduled academic and professional commitments.” Trump said at the State of the Union address that the women’s team will visit the White House “soon.”
USA Hockey responded to Trump’s suggestion that the team would be going to the White House.
“Players are back competing with their professional and collegiate teams and are in the midst of their season,” a USA Hockey spokesperson told Front Office Sports. “They’re honored and grateful to be invited, and any opportunity to visit the White House as a team will be based on their schedules once their seasons conclude.”
While there’s been a divide on social media about the moment, Ellen Hughes, the mother of Jack and Quinn Hughes, who played a role in Team USA’s fate in Milan as a player development staff member with the women’s team, did not seem bothered by Trump’s comments.
“These players, both the men and women, can bring so much unity to a group and to a country,” she told “Today.” “People that cheered on that don’t watch hockey, people that have politics on one side or on the other side, and that’s all both the men’s team and the women’s team care about.
“If you could see what we see from the inside, and the men and women sharing, you know, dorm rooms and halls and flex floors and the camaraderie and the synergy and the way the women cheered on the men and the way the men cheered on the women — that’s what it’s all about,” she added.
“And the other things they cannot control. They care about humanity. They care about unity, and they care about the country.”
Fox News’ Ryan Morik contributed to this report.
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