Ellen Hughes is an accomplished woman in the sport of hockey. She has had much success on the ice and behind the scenes. Recently, she worked as a development consultant for the U.S. Women’s Hockey Team who won gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. She has three sons in the NHL: Quinn, Jack and Luke Hughes. The former two also won gold with the Men’s U.S. Team at these Olympic Games.
Recently, Hughes spoke about the recent controversy regarding the men’s team and their conduct in the locker room after the game, specifically their response to the comments made by President Donald Trump.
After the men’s team was awarded its medals and returned to the locker room, Kash Patel, the current Director of the FBI, was videotaped by players and staff members drinking and celebrating with the team. This quickly caught people’s attention, causing backlash surrounding Patel’s presence and the team’s willingness to have him there.
This controversy alone was significant, but it was quickly overshadowed by President Trump’s phone call with the team as the celebrations raged on. This isn’t unheard of, many presidents and politicians reach out and express their congratulations to the most recent champions of major sporting events. Obama posted a message on X celebrating both the men’s and women’s teams and their achievements. But Trump, in his typical fashion, couldn’t just celebrate and be positive.
Instead, he made a joke about the women’s team. In the phone call, he’s recorded saying, “I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” referring to the White House and the State of the Union address that occurred on Tuesday, Feb. 24. He added, “I do believe I probably would be impeached,” if he were not to invite them. But Trump’s past conduct with women reporters and political opponents adds a layer of sincerity to his statement. Not to mention the numerous allegations made against him of sexual misconduct against women and underage girls and his partaking in illegal activities involving minors with Jeffrey Epstein.
And so this, unsurprisingly and justifiably, became the story of the past few days. The president of the United States made a joke mocking women who have achieved the greatest feat in their sport and won gold representing our nation and it got a laugh from their male counterparts.
It’s important to note that the women’s team was invited to the White House and State of the Union, but they declined while most of the men’s team attended. Notable exceptions were the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Jake Guentzel, the Winnipeg Jets’ Kyle Connor, Dallas Stars’ goaltender Jake Oettinger, Anaheim Ducks’ Jackson LaCombe, and the Colorado Avalanche’s Brock Nelson. While these players didn’t attend, some of their reasons aren’t public. Those who have responded to media questioning, like Brock Nelson, dodged any political motivation and said it was to get back home to his family.
There has been a massive debate online about whether the men’s team should attend. Many fans pleaded they didn’t. Others encouraged them. Some believed that the players shouldn’t be judged regardless of whether they attended. And while social media was in a frenzy over the situation, the mainstream media picked up on it as well.
Both Hughes brothers were interviewed by USA Today, where they reaffirmed their support for the women’s team. Jack Hughes has notably lamented that backlash and has expressed his desire for the situation not to be seen as political. He expressed that it was merely he and his teammates getting an exciting opportunity to meet the president and see the White House and the Capitol Building. Quinn Hughes added, “It’s not something you get to do every Tuesday.”
Now, personally, I’m a hockey fan. I have been my whole life. I’m also a liberal. I don’t hide that fact and I’m not ashamed of it. Just like I’m not ashamed of my hockey fandom. But part of being a liberal hockey fan is accepting the reality that you won’t agree with most players on social or political issues. Why? Because hockey, to put it simply, is a rich person’s sport. The equipment is expensive. Traveling between cities for tournaments is expensive. Registering to play for a team is expensive, and in many states, it isn’t a high-school-sanctioned sport, meaning there isn’t a lot of access to the sport through school-run teams.
It’s common knowledge that wealthier people tend to be more conservative and so hockey players and families tend to lean to the right on many issues. Hopefully, as the game grows in popularity across the world, particularly here in the U.S., that changes. The NHL and USA Hockey love to tout the programs they support which aim to diversify the sport and make it more accessible for the average child.
But it’s not the political opinions of these players that concerns me the most. It’s their blatant complacency, or worse, agreement in watching their female counterparts be disrespected despite the women’s team objectively being more dominant in their performance this Olympics and more successful at the international level. This, along with the accusations of Trump being a sexual predator and Patel’s inaction, has many hockey fans feeling not only angry but betrayed and disheartened.
Ellen Hughes is uniquely tied to both teams in a major way. So it’s no surprise that the media quickly asked for her opinion on the situation. She told reporters from USA Today that “at the end of the day, it’s just about the country.” She added, “These players, both the men and women, can bring so much unity to a group and to a country.” She then went on to talk about how people from across the political spectrum watched the games and were excited about the outcome, which is true. She also spoke about the “synergy” between the programs and the camaraderie they share as players of the sport.
But these comments fell completely flat on Tuesday night, as President Trump used his State of the Union address, as he has done in the past, to further divide and spark anger across the country. He repeatedly brought up former President Joe Biden and his policies and even mentioned former President Barack Obama. Trump simply can’t speak of his own success without tearing others down.
After he brought out Team USA, the crowd of legislators cheered, many stood up on both sides of the aisle and applauded, though a non-negligible amount of Democrats sat in silence. The Congressional GOP Instagram account posted a photo of the team at the event, which Tage Thompson, a center for Team USA and the Buffalo Sabres, reposted. This is troubling because in previous administrations, everyone who was able would’ve stood and celebrated the U.S. winning gold in a sport for the first time in 46 years. It should be an accomplishment we are proud of. Instead, many people feel alienated, women feel disrespected and you can’t blame them. Many hockey fans, including myself, are seeing their favorite sport and players they’ve supported for years being used as political pawns for a man and a party that goes against everything they stand for.
Even worse, after the applause, Trump bashed Democrats, saying they’re “ruining” or “destroying our country.” Neither Biden nor Obama ever said this about Republicans while addressing the nation and Congress. Trump specifically called out sanctuary cities like Minneapolis, which has been at the forefront of national media attention over the ICE operations that have killed two American citizens there within the past two months. Trump essentially spoke down to half of the country and labeled those who aren’t on the same side of the aisle as him as threats and dangerous. He genuinely believes that anybody who disagrees with him is part of the problem and is not interested in listening to the other side or compromising.
Whether the players who attended the event have learned anything or realized they made a mistake by playing into Trump’s game remains to be seen. I can only hope that listening to his borderline hate-filled speech made these men understand the anger that was directed towards them.
Some players who attended, particularly Auston Matthews, Brady Tkachuk and Connor Hellebuyck who will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, might have a rude awakening when they get back to their NHL clubs, as they play for Canadian teams. Specifically, the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators and Winnipeg Jets. Quinn Hughes might have the support of his mother, but Minnesota Wild fans might not take kindly to him attending an event where Trump alluded to punishing the mayor of Minneapolis.
This entire situation should cause the NHL, IIHF, Olympics, USA Hockey and the players to look inward and try to address the optics problem that men’s hockey has. But for the time being, as long as members of the men’s team don’t speak up and fully condemn Trump, along with his “jokes” and divisive rhetoric, I simply can’t buy into Ellen Hughes’ story of unity being at the forefront of the entire USA Hockey Organization. As the week has gone on some players like backup goaltender Jeremy Swayman have said “[they] should have reacted differently.”
Jack and Quinn Hughes appeared on Saturday Night Live during Connor Storrie’s opening monologue alongside the women’s team captain Hilary Knight and Megan Keller. The women got a much louder and longer welcome than the brothers. Knight and Keller poked fun at the situation and the men showed the ability to laugh at themselves.
While I can applaud the valiant efforts of a good PR team and find joy in the moment on SNL, the fact of the matter is, nobody has actually apologized or realized that this situation is beyond basic political division. It’s about basic human decency and not allowing yourself or your achievements to be used as propaganda or further dividing society, whether it’s through gender, politics or class.
