Ellen Hughes Colleges Media After Staff USA’s Historic ‘Double Gold’ Sweep

[ad_1] In per week the place American dominance on the ice reached ranges not seen in almost half a century, the legacy media discovered itself predictably obsessive about a joke. However whereas the “outrage machine” spun over a telephone name from President Donald Trump, the lady on the heart of the Hughes hockey dynasty, Ellen Hughes, was busy reminding the nation what truly issues: patriotism and successful.

Staff USA didn’t simply beat Canada in Milan—they delivered a double dose of time beyond regulation heartbreak to our neighbors to the north and despatched the Stars and Stripes hovering. First, the ladies’s group reclaimed gold in a sudden-death thriller. Days later, the boys ended a 46-year drought with an time beyond regulation “Golden Objective” of their very own.

And sure, President Trump seen.

After the boys’s group clinched the highest spot on the rostrum—due to a Jack Hughes game-winner for the ages—Trump referred to as to supply his congratulations. Through the now-viral name, the President joked that he’d higher invite the ladies’s group to the State of the Union as properly, quipping that if he didn’t, “I do consider I in all probability could be impeached.”

Whereas the “political class” instantly fainted onto their couches, Ellen Hughes—mom of NHL stars Jack and Quinn and a participant improvement advisor for the gold medal-winning ladies’s squad—responded with the type of grace and perspective hardly ever present in Washington.

Showing on NBC’s “TODAY,” Hughes brushed previous the partisan bickering to give attention to the achievement of the athletes.

“On the finish of the day, it’s simply concerning the nation,” she mentioned. “I feel the second that these gamers, each the women and men, can convey a lot unity to a bunch and to a rustic—those that cheered on that don’t watch hockey, those that have politics on one facet or on the opposite facet—that’s all each groups care about.”

Contained in the Olympic bubble, Hughes described a refreshing scene of real camaraderie that stands in stark distinction to at present’s hyper-polarized local weather. The lads’s and ladies’s groups shared dorms, cheered one another on from the stands, and celebrated as one American unit.

“It couldn’t have gone higher,” Hughes mentioned. “Each groups going undefeated. We couldn’t have written a greater story.”

Her son, Jack Hughes, echoed that sentiment, making it clear that the bond between the 2 squads is much deeper than any political headline.

“If there’s a digicam on me and Quinn when the ladies’s group gained, we seem like the most important superfans of all time,” Jack mentioned. “We have been simply leaping up and down. We couldn’t consider it. We locked in and mentioned goodbye to everybody as a result of we had a sport the following night time … however I bear in mind I noticed [Megan Keller] the night time after they gained. I used to be identical to, ‘Megan, I’m so happy with you. I’m so pleased for you.’ When mine went in, one in every of my first ideas was her … I’m so proud to affix her as a gold medalist.”

Jack Hughes on supporting the U.S. ladies’s hockey group…

“I want — if there is a digicam on me and Quinn when the ladies's group gained, we’d seem like the most important superfans of all time. We have been simply leaping up and down. We could not consider it. And we locked in, mentioned goodbye as a result of… pic.twitter.com/41Z8PnEjnd

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 24, 2026

Whereas the ladies’s group finally declined the State of the Union invitation because of skilled and educational scheduling conflicts, they remained “sincerely grateful” for the popularity. In the meantime, the boys’s group is predicted to be in attendance tonight on the U.S. Capitol, “one way or the other, a way,” in line with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).

Regardless of the media’s greatest efforts to show a historic sporting achievement right into a partisan wedge difficulty, the Hughes household and Staff USA have stayed centered on the mission.

Two gold medals. Two time beyond regulation wins over Canada. One nation celebrating collectively. Ultimately, it was a uncommon second the place excellence and patriotism took a entrance seat, and the political noise was left within the locker room.