Ellen Hughes is speaking out after her two sons on the US men’s ice hockey team, golden scorer Jack and his brother Quinn Hughes, were seen laughing in response to Donald Trump’s condescending joke about having to invite the gold medal-winning women’s team to the nation’s capital.
Ellen Hughes, who played for the U.S. women’s national team in the early 1990s before the sport reached Olympic ice, was asked by NBC’s “Today” shows how the president’s comments got back to her.
“Well, I think at the end of the day it’s just about the country and the moment when these players, both men and women, can bring so much unity to a group and to a country,” said Hughes, who is now a player development advisor for the women’s team. “People who cheer and don’t watch hockey, people who have politics on one side or the other, and that’s all both the men’s team and the women’s team care about.”
Hughes went on to comment on the “synergy” between the two sides, who both made the undefeated journey to Olympic gold before ultimately beating their Canadian rivals in extra time by the same scoreline, 2-1.
“The way the women encouraged the men and the way the men encouraged the women – that’s what it’s all about,” she emphasized.
“And the other things they can’t control. They care about humanity. They care about unity and they care about the country.”
Julio Cortez via Associated Press
Trump’s phone joke and the resulting locker room laughter from the Hughes brothers and their teammates has sparked backlash in the days since, including from fans of the professional women’s hockey league.
USA Hockey – which oversees both teams – later announced that the women’s team had declined the White House’s invitation to attend the president’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, citing scheduling conflicts.
The news prompted ‘Public Enemy’ rapper Flavor Flav to invite the American women to a future ceremony in Las Vegas. The Team USA hype man said the women’s team has since accepted his offer.
Trump’s plans to have the men’s team attend his SOTU speech appear to be to blossomwhile several players shared photos aboard an Air Force plane on Tuesday.
Golden scorer Jack Hughes told the Daily Mail that the men’s team is excited to go to DC, before adding: “Everything is so political. We are athletes.”
He told the tabloid that the women, like the men, also have “busy schedules.”
“Everyone is criticizing us today for all the social media stuff,” he said. “People are so negative there, and they just try to find a reason to put people down and make something out of almost nothing.”
It remains unclear whether members of both teams, as Trump pitched, would attend a White House ceremony he was looking forward to on Wednesday.
Such plans could conflict with the return of both NHL and PWHL hockey, as teams are set to resume play on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
HuffPost has reached out to the White House and USA Hockey for comment.
