The U.S. Olympic gold medal men’s hockey team traveled to Washington, D.C., after landing in Miami, and spent Tuesday touring the White House and attending President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech at the U.S. Capitol.
Five members of the team skipped the trip to Washington and instead returned to their NHL teams. Three other players, including team captain Auston Matthews, went to the White House but were not seen when the team walked into the gallery during the State of the Union.
The five players who didn’t go to D.C. all had games Wednesday night. They were Colorado center Brock Nelson of Warroad; Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger of Lakeville; Anaheim defenseman Jackson LaCombe of Eden Prairie; Tampa Bay winger Jake Guentzel of Woodbury; and Winnipeg winger Kyle Connor, who is a Michigan native.
Matthews, who is the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs; Utah’s Clayton Keller; and Detroit captain Dylan Larkin skipped the speech to rejoin their teams.
The Wild’s Team USA players (Brock Faber, Matthew Boldy and Quinn Hughes) returned to Minnesota after the speech and flew with the team to Denver on Wednesday for Thursday’s game against the Avalanche.
Nelson rejoined the Avalanche in Utah after the team gave him time to spend with his family following his return from Italy. The 34-year-old and his wife have four young children. Three of Team Canada’s top players — Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Devon Toews — are Nelson’s Avalanche teammates, and Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog was the Olympic captain for Team Sweden.
Oettinger, who has a 3-month-old child, said he wanted to return to Dallas and prepare for the rest of the season, telling the Dallas News, “I’ve basically been living in Italy for the past month.”
Guentzel, who has two young children, spoke at the Lightning’s morning skate Wednesday and said politics were not involved in his decision.
