Ellen Hughes, mom of Olympic men’s hockey stars Jack and Quinn Hughes and player development consultant for Team USA women’s ice hockey, shared her reaction to the viral video of President Donald Trump congratulating the men’s team on the phone before joking about inviting the gold-medal-winning women’s squad to the State of the Union.
“I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” Trump told the men’s team before adding if he didn’t, “I do believe I probably would be impeached.”
Asked about her response to the comment, Ellen Hughes said on “TODAY” on Tuesday that “at the end of the day, it’s just about the country.”
“These players, both the men and women, can bring so much unity to a group and to a country,” she said. “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.”
She also spoke about the “synergy” between the two squads.
“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 said. “And the other things they cannot control. They care about humanity. They care about unity and they care about the country.”
The men’s and women’s hockey teams each won gold medals at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. Jack Hughes scored the game-wining goal in the gold medal matchup against Canada, giving the United States its first gold medal in men’s hockey since 1980. The women’s team also beat Canada to win the gold medal.
Ellen Hughes marveled at the success of both teams.
“It couldn’t have gone better,” she said. “Both teams going undefeated. We couldn’t have written a better story, and I hope everybody just understands what we did in the moment, both the men and the women to bring this country together and let everybody cheer in the same direction.”
Still, she said it’s hard to absorb everything that happened in Milan.
“It still seems surreal,” she said. “ ... But I couldn’t be prouder. I couldn’t be prouder of what the men’s team did, and what the woman’s team did.”
“When I watched the women win gold in overtime, I thought it was the most nervous I’ve ever been in my life,” she added. “And then I had to do it a couple of days over when the men did it to us as well and took us to overtime. But what special moments for a bunch of amazing women and a bunch of amazing men, and to win gold twice, it just says so much for USA hockey and where our sport is in this great country.”
The day after the video of the call between the men’s team and Trump circulated on Sunday, Team USA’s women’s team declined the president’s invitation to go to the State of the Union.
“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,” a USA Hockey spokesperson said 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,” the spokesperson added.
Jack and Quinn Hughes appeared on “TODAY” via video call shortly after their mom on Tuesday and spoke more about the relationship between the men’s and women’s teams.
“I’m glad you brought up the women because it was amazing to spend some time with them, too,” Quinn Hughes said. “And then obviously watch them, me and Jack were there, we watched them win the gold medal.”
“They came to our game and were able to watch us,” he added. “So just the support back and forth, just to get to know them a little better was special, too.”
