From Olympic Gold to Culture War

Saturday Edition

February 28, 2026

The Winter Games are over, but Olympic hockey remains the biggest story in sports. Both the men’s and women’s U.S. teams won gold against Canada in overtime—and in the aftermath, the celebrations have become both iconic and controversial.

—Meredith Turits and Ben Axelrod

Milan Victory Lap

Kenny Albert’s deliberate moments of silence elevated his Olympic hockey broadcasts as much as the commentary itself. Read the story.
The men’s team honored Johnny Gaudreau, bringing both his jersey and his kids onto the ice during the celebration. NBC and USA Hockey helped his family get to Milan. Read the story.
After the U.S. women’s gold medal game became the most-watched women’s hockey game in history, the men’s game also posted big returns. Read the story.
FOS spoke to U.S. women’s goalie Aerin Frankel about celebrating the gold medal win and looking ahead in the final months of the PWHL season. Watch the interview.

How U.S. Olympic Hockey Gold Medals Set Off a Culture War

Kenny Holston-Pool Photo via Imagn Images

USA Hockey dominated the final few days of the 2026 Winter Olympics, but the buzz from their gold medals was overshadowed the moment FBI Director Kash Patel entered the men’s locker room.

As both teams returned home, they became players in a culture war, answering questions not just about their historic achievements but also about their president, their politics, and one another.

Feb. 19

The U.S. women’s team wins gold against Canada in a 2–1 overtime thriller. The contest is the most-watched women’s hockey game in history, averaging 5.3 million U.S. viewers.

Feb. 22

The U.S. men’s team beats the Canadians 2–1 in overtime to win gold on the anniversary of the 1980 Miracle on Ice. The game pulled in an average live audience of 18.6 million, even with an 8:10 a.m. ET puck drop.

President Donald Trump calls into the men’s locker room celebration to congratulate them. He invites the team to the White House, adding, “I must tell you, we’re gonna have to bring the women’s team.” He then joked that “I do believe I probably would be impeached,” if they weren’t invited, eliciting laughs from the men.
A video leaks of FBI Director Kash Patel drinking a beer in the U.S. locker room and banging on a table alongside cheering players, as Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” plays.
The White House posts an AI-generated TikTok of Brady Tkachuk saying “they booed our national anthem, so I had to come out and teach those maple-syrup-eating f***s a lesson.” The quote is fake.

Feb. 23

Twenty men’s players accept the invitation to visit the White House. The five players who decline to attend cite preparing for the return to NHL play and family commitments among their reasons. Trump’s offer includes an invitation to attend the State of the Union.
Patel’s U.S.-taxpayer-funded Italy travel schedule leaks, showing that his only activity for Sunday was the men’s hockey final.
The U.S. women’s team declines an invitation from the White House to attend the State of the Union address, citing “timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments.” A USA Hockey spokesperson said the team was “sincerely grateful for the invitation.”

Feb. 24

Jack and Quinn Hughes appear on ABC’s Good Morning America. During the interview, Quinn acknowledges the controversy swirling around the men laughing at Trump’s joke about the women. “I’m glad you mentioned the women’s team again; we’re extremely happy for them,” he says. “There’s a lot going on with social media right now surrounding our team and their team. But in the last couple of summers, we did a lot of training with them and got to know a lot of those girls really well.”

Men’s players arrive at the White House after flying to Washington on the presidential plane. After the Oval Office visit with Trump, 17 players attend the State of the Union. Applause and chants of “U-S-A!” ring out as Trump highlights the team’s gold medal victory.

Trump also congratulates the women’s team before saying they “will soon be coming to the White House.”
Five men’s players pose in a photo with White House staffers. Tage Thompson, standing beside deputy director of communications Margo Martin, wears a “Make America Great Again” hat; the Hughes brothers each wear USA hats.

Feb. 25

USA Hockey tells Front Office Sports the women’s team is “honored and grateful to be invited,” but that any White House visit is “TBD,” citing players’ schedules and timing.

In response to the USA Hockey statement, a White House official tells FOS: “As the President and U.S. Women’s hockey team has stated, we look forward to hosting them at the White House after their tremendous victory and celebration.”
U.S. women’s captain Hilary Knight called Trump’s comment a “distasteful” joke overshadowing the team’s success. “Now I have to sort of sit in front of you … and explain someone else’s behavior. It’s not my responsibility,” she said at a PWHL press conference.
Men’s players respond to the controversy as they return to their NHL teams. Jeremy Swayman says the team “should’ve reacted differently,” and Charlie McAvoy outright apologizes, saying, “Certainly sorry for how we responded to it in that moment.” Dylan Larkin says “there’s a little bit of regret,” and U.S. captain Auston Matthews calls the incident “unfortunate.” Several other players don’t publicly comment.

Feb. 26

Brady Tkachuk calls the White House TikTok “clearly fake” and says, “I would never say that. That’s not who I am, so I guess I don’t like that video.” He also denies being the person who shouted “Close the northern border!” while Trump was on the phone with the team.

Where does it go from here? Each gold medal team appears eager to put the controversy to bed, especially as both the NHL and PWHL head into the home stretch of their seasons. The PWHL schedule wraps in May, meaning any White House visit for the women’s team wouldn’t happen until the spring.

For now, many men’s players continue to decry the situation as unnecessarily politicized, and fans keep sniping at one another on social media, where the discourse is still unsurprisingly raging.

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Behind the Iconic Jack Hughes Gold Medal Hockey Photo

MILAN, ITALY - FEBRUARY 22: Jack Hughes #86 of Team United States celebrates after their gold-medal win during the Men's Gold Medal match between Canada and the United States on day 16 of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on February 22, 2026 in Milan, Italy

Elsa/Getty Images

After Jack Hughes netted the overtime winner that secured the U.S. men’s hockey team its first Olympic gold medal since 1980, the forward draped himself in an American flag and flashed a bloody, chipped-tooth smile.

On the other side of the glass, Elsa Garrison snapped a few rapid frames of the moment, which lasted only a few seconds. Just minutes later, her photo became the defining image of the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The Getty Images photographer, who goes by simply Elsa, spent much of the Games near the ice, shooting figure skating, speedskating, and hockey. She took thousands of images, but the Hughes picture has taken on a life of its own. From Milan, she spoke to FOS about how she got the shot.

FOS: Your image just became the defining visual of one of the biggest moments in American sports history. How do you feel?

Elsa: It’s still kind of surreal. Honestly, I thought, “Yeah, the picture’s fine.” I knew it might have some legs for a while, but I didn’t think it would kind of resonate as well as it has. But it still kind of feels not real.

There are people that are talking about, like, “Oh, this is as good as the 1980 [Miracle on Ice] Heinz Kluetmeier picture. Or the Sonny Liston–Muhammad Ali picture that Neil Leifer shot.” And those are pretty big people to be in a group with as far as great sports moments. That’s flattering, but I’m still kind of like, “What? Really?”

FOS: How did you get the shot?

Elsa: We had five photographers at that gold medal match, and so I was one of the three that were ice-level, and then we had two in elevated positions. So, I was kind of on an off-angle. Mostly what I was there to capture was reaction pictures of some of the players. I thought that Canada would probably win, so I was [positioned] looking into the Canadian bench. It was where USA was attacking first and third, and then in the overtime they continued to attack that goal.

You plan all these scenarios in your head, but we are reacting to the moments that happen in front of us so quickly that if you are debating your contingency plan of like, “Well, what should I do when this moment happens?”—you’re going to miss it. I was looking at the video when Jack scored the goal and when the bench cleared, and then they were by the penalty box. It was probably about three seconds, maybe four.

I’m a big proponent of doing research before an event. I knew that the two other photographers were going on the ice to prepare for the medal ceremony, and so it was my job to work the perimeter of the rink for that initial celebration. Before the game, I sussed out, this is where the Canadian families are. This is where the U.S. families are. And I knew that after the initial celebration happened, and they grabbed their flags before they lined up for the medals, they would likely skate towards their families. And that’s exactly what they did.

I was basically right underneath where the Team USA families were seated, and that’s how I got that picture. And [Hughes] wasn’t there at the glass very long. He and his brother [Quinn] were kind of skating together, and then they just kind of looked up and that was it. I think I probably got, like, three frames off, and then they were off to line up for the medal ceremony. It was all very fast.

FOS: What do you think it is about this photo—technically from a composition standpoint and also culturally—that made people latch onto this image of the thousands that were shot?

Elsa: It certainly got out pretty fast. Our editing team was pretty spot-on, and a lot of the other photographers and their outlets were out on the ice waiting for the medal ceremony to happen. So I was next to a cable, and I was able to send it out quickly to the editor within seconds after I took it.

I think the thing that resonates with people is in the third period, he got smacked in the face, he chipped his tooth, he had a bloody lip, and he still carried on. It shows the physical toughness and the mental toughness of hockey players. Then he goes on to score the game-winning goal in overtime, and he’s still bleeding. And he’s got the American flag draped on him. So, it was definitely the image of grit and toughness and patriotism all in one.

Read the rest of the interview with Elsa.