President Donald Trump called the U.S. men’s hockey team, and FBI Director Kash Patel joined them in the locker room to celebrate their win over Canada on Sunday.
About an hour after the team won their first Olympic gold medal since 1980, Coach Mike Sullivan announced that Trump spoke via FaceTime with the athletes.
“The players just had the President on, I don’t know what it was, what do you call it, FaceTime, whatever, in the locker room,” he said, according to USA Today. “He just spoke to the group, expressing how proud he was of the group and congratulating everybody on the win.”
Clinching the medal “was an inspiration to our country,” he continued. “I can’t tell you how many texts I’ve received over the last day or so about watch parties at 8 o’clock in the morning. I think from a viewership standpoint, the United States, there were a lot of people paying attention, the President included.”
In a video captured in the locker room, Patel is holding up his phone while Trump can be heard saying, “You were all unbelievable.”
The president went on to extend an invitation to have the team at his State of the Union address on Tuesday, to which a chorus of players immediately answered, “We’re in!”
One player asked if they could have help getting to Washington, DC.
“We’ll get Kash or we’ll get the military to get you guys over,” Trump replied, garnering more cheers from the athletes.
At the end of the call, Trump said, “We love you guys. Congratulations … I’m going to shake hands with everybody, but I got to shake hands with that goalie!”
Team captain Auston Matthews described what it was like to get a call from the president after they beat Canada 2-1 in overtime.
“We’re all proud Americans, obviously,” he said. “This is a huge moment for us, a huge moment for the United States. [Trump] called. Just congratulated us … It’s an honor to wear this jersey and represent the U.S. To go home with a gold medal, you know how much that means to guys in this room, to people watching and rooting us on, too.”
“I think there’s a lot of moving parts as far as our travels back home. We’ll kind of see what happens, but obviously it’s an honor to wear this jersey and to represent the U.S.,” Matthews continued. “To go home with a gold medal, I mean, you know how much that means to the guys in this room and how much it means to all the people watching and rooting us on, too.”
Patel shared some post-game photos on social media, celebrating the hockey champions as “legends standing on the shoulders of giants.”
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.