Brady Tkachuk defends Team USA’s reaction to Trump’s joke about women’s hockey

As players like Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman admitted, the 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 the State of the Union address on Tuesday or “he’ll probably get impeached.”

“Yes, I understand that.” Tkachuk said When a reporter asked if he understood that the women’s team was upset by the men’s team’s reaction. “I don’t have any other comments other than the things we can control. We supported them. They supported us. I can’t control what other people say.”

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Brady Tkachuk (7) and Matthew Tkachuk (19) of the United States celebrate after their game against Team Canada during the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at Milan Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on February 22, 2026. (Jeff Burke/Imagine Images)

Tkachuk added that it was “fun” to be around the women’s team while in Milan.

“It was fun to see them play, and it was fun to see the excellence they showed in every match and how they were, by far, the best team in that tournament,” he said. “It was fun to see them pick their brains. They were picking our brains, and it was fun to be around them.”

Tkachuk was asked a follow-up question about why he laughed at Trump’s joke. Once again, he stood his ground.

“It’s been a whirlwind of a moment. You can’t really control what someone says, and I think it caught us off guard a little bit,” he said. “I mean, when you’re talking to the boss 10 minutes after you’ve achieved your dream, it’s just the fact that you’re talking to him,

“You can’t really believe where your life has come where you’re talking to the President of the United States after you’ve just won a gold medal.”

Tkachuk was with his U.S. teammates at Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night, and the room gave the team a standing ovation as the players showed off their abilities. Olympic Gold medals

The women’s team declined an invitation to visit Washington, D.C., citing “pre-arranged academic and professional commitments.” Trump said in his State of the Union address that the women’s team would visit the White House “soon.”

Brady Tkachuk of the United States celebrates after winning the gold medal during the men’s gold medal game against Canada at the Milan Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena during the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics on February 22, 2026, in Milan, Italy. (Katherine Steinkeisty/Getty Images)

USA Hockey Response to Trump’s suggestion that the team would go to the White House.

“Players have returned to compete for their professional and collegiate teams and are in the middle of their season,” a USA Hockey spokesperson said. Front office sports. “They are honored and grateful to have been invited, and any opportunity to visit the White House as a team will be built around their schedules once their seasons are over.”

While there was division on social media over the moment, Ellen Hughes, the mother of Jack and Quinn Hughes, who played a role in Team USA’s fate in Milan as a member of the women’s team’s player development staff, did not seem bothered by Trump’s comments.

“These players, men and women, can bring a lot of unity to a group and a country,” she told Al-Youm. “The people who encouraged it don’t watch hockey, the people who have politics on one side or the other, and that’s all the men’s team and women’s team care about.

Brady Tkachuk of the Ottawa Senators warms up before the game against the Nashville Predators on October 13, 2025, at the Canadian Tire Center in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Andre Ringet/NHLI)

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“If you can see what we see from the inside, and men and women sharing, you know, the bedrooms and the halls and the resilient floors and the camaraderie and the synergy and the way women cheer for men and the way men cheer for women — that’s what it’s all about,” she added.

“And the other things they can’t control. They care about humanity. They care about unity, and they care about country.”

Fox News’ Ryan Morek contributed to this report.

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