United States women's hockey star Hilary Knight is hoping to turn the page and move on from all the drama surrounding the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Despite defeating Canada 2-1 in overtime of the gold medal game, the U.S. women's hockey team dominated headlines for an unfortunate reason. President Donald Trump joked about having to invite the women's team to the White House or else he'd be impeached. That led to plenty of outrage on social media.
While on professional rugby player Ilona Maher's podcast, Knight said she hopes all the controversy surrounding Team USA serves as a "learning point" moving forward when it comes to discussing women's sports.
"What we accomplished isn't laughable. It is a very complex issue regarding what goes on behind closed doors and how women are represented in different conversations, but at the end of the day, none of that should be put on us to explain someone's behavior. What should be happening is celebrating all of the women and their amazing feats — specifically our team and the men's team as well — and how the women carried themselves at the Olympics, which was epic," Knight said, via FOX News.
"While the situation was distasteful, getting back into our different communities and seeing the overwhelming support on social media has been outstanding. We are being celebrated in the way that we need to be. I am excited and looking forward to continuing those conversations and using this as a learning point for how we talk about women, not only in sport but in other industries. It should never be less than. It should always be about championing women and supporting one another. Throughout the tournament, I think both teams did an incredible job of having genuine support and establishing friendships together."
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Will the U.S. women's team visit the White House?
The U.S. women's hockey team previously declined an invite to the White House from President Trump due to a scheduling issue.
“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. women’s team said in a statement. “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.
It's unclear at this time if Team USA will take a trip to the nation's capital. All we know for certain is that a party in Las Vegas has been scheduled by Flavor Flav.
The GIST announced that Flavor Flav’s celebration for Team USA will officially take place from July 16-19.