Michael Wilbon: Group USA ladies individuals’s hockey did now not disappoint (1:00)
Michael Wilbon crucial aspects Group USA’s time previous legislation win over Canada to mutter gold. (1:00)
Feb 23, 2026, 05:31 PM ET
WASHINGTON — The U.S. ladies individuals’s hockey gold medal-winning crew has in a well mannered draw declined an invite from President Donald Trump to lend a hand his Yelp of the Union take care of 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. ladies individuals’s crew acknowledged 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 also invited the U.S. men’s gold medal-winning crew. Every U.S. hockey crew arrived in Miami on Monday.
Scheduling will be a location because the NHL season resumes with five video games Wednesday. The PWHL returns Thursday.
Logistics performed a feature within the decision, as deal of the ladies individuals players were now now not scheduled to realize in North The United States unless Monday evening. The men’s crew flew by charter to Miami earlier Monday. The ladies individuals took a industrial flight and were scheduled to land in Atlanta.
A offer told The Associated Press that the ladies individuals’s players did now not be taught of the invite unless late Sunday evening, making it hard to substitute their disappear plans.
The White House did indirectly respond to a ask for touch upon the living of every teams.
When extending the invitation to the men’s crew on Sunday evening, Trump acknowledged, “I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that.” Trump joked that if he did now not also invite the ladies individuals’s crew, “I do believe I probably would be impeached.”
The Olympic tournament featured two thrilling medal finals, each ending in time previous legislation, with the American ladies individuals beating Canada 2-1 within the gold medal game Thursday. The U.S. men beat Canada on Sunday.
“It’s been a whirlwind, it’s been amazing,”
“We felt the reinforce being all the draw via the Atlantic, and now being lend a hand on home soil lets feel it the 2nd the wheels hit the ground. So mad to be lend a hand within the ideal nation on the planet and so mad to have a honest time.”
Tkachuk said it was an honor to hear from Trump after the win. “And so we are positively honored to portray him and the thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands all the draw via the nation.”
Vice President JD Vance attended two of the U.S. ladies individuals’s preliminary-spherical wins with his household over the predominant week of the Games.
