Will Team USA men's hockey go to the White House? It's complicated

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The U.S. men's Olympic hockey team captured its first gold medal since the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" on Sunday, and the team was already planning for its formal celebration at the White House minutes later.

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But the logistics may be more complicated than the team would have thought in the moment.

In a call with Donald Trump, the U.S. president congratulated the players on the historic gold medal as FBI director Kash Patel held his phone on speaker. Trump then invited the team to the White House for Tuesday's State of the Union and made a condescending remark about the gold medal-winning women's hockey team.

Yet, at the time, Team USA was all about taking Trump up on the invitation. The team was scheduled to fly from Italy to Miami and then join their respective NHL clubs as the season restarts on Wednesday.

That's where the State of the Union appearance could run into complications.

On Wednesday, the NHL has eight games on the schedule, making for a super quick restart from the Olympic break. And when it comes to Team USA, 12 players on the 25-man roster are going to be playing in those Wednesday games. That includes U.S. captain Auston Matthews, goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (who is scheduled to be in Vancouver) and game-winning hero Jack Hughes.

According to The Athletic, it will be up to the individual clubs to excuse players to attend the State of the Union. But the league won't stop any player that chooses to do so. Via The Athletic:

U.S. team GM Bill Guerin, also GM of the Wild, told The Athletic via text that he’s fine with Wild players Quinn Hughes, Matt Boldy and Brock Faber going to the State of Union and White House if they want to, and he’s not sure what other teams will decide. The Wild resume the season Thursday night at Colorado.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Athletic that players can decide on an individual basis if they want accept the invitation and then it’ll be up to their individual teams whether or not to grant permission.

Now, that would also be more straightforward if the Northeast wasn't getting hammered by a blizzard. The last thing a team would want is to excuse a key player for one game and have it end up turning into a multi-game absence.

We'll see if any players take Trump up on the offer, but the actual reality of the invite will be far more complicated.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Will Team USA men's hockey go to the White House? It's complicated

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