Auston Matthews has no regrets about going to the White House
But he didn’t like that quip about the women’s hockey team
After Team USA won the gold medal in men’s Olympic hockey at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics last Sunday, US President Donald Trump invited the champion athletes to celebrate at the White House. A handful of teammates declined, but most attended yesterday, including Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews.
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Backlash predictably followed, given Trump’s ongoing “51st state” comments and his tariffs on Canada. “If Matthews goes to the White House I’ll lose permanent respect for him,” said one comment of thousands on Reddit. “Expecting him to stand up for anything is beyond his capabilities as a person,” said another.
Matthews himself seems unbothered by the criticism. “I don’t like to get political or get into that kind of stuff. Like I said, we’re proud Americans, and winning a gold medal, it’s been 46 years since the men’s ice hockey team has done that. The team that wins the Stanley Cup every year accepts the White House invitation to go. I just think it’s something that you do,” he told reporters today.
“Whatever your political beliefs may be, hopefully something like this will bring more unity to the country. We believe it’s a great honour no matter who is in office,” he added.
When asked about a joke made by the president during a congratulatory call with the team that seemed to be at the expense of the women’s hockey team, who also won a gold medal, Matthews responded that it was “unfortunate.”
“We have nothing but love and respect for the women’s team and what they were able to accomplish,” he said. “We’re extremely proud of them and happy for them, and we support them 100 per cent.”
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Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
