Feb 22, 2026; Milan, Italy; Connor Hellebuyck #37 of Staff United States celebrates after successful the purpose medal sport in opposition to Staff Canada in the course of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Video games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Enviornment. Obligatory Credit score: Geoff Burke-Imagn Photographs Connor Hellebuyck remodeled himself from an NHL star right into a mainstream American hero whereas main the U.S. males’s hockey group to the gold medal on the Milan Cortina Olympics.
The efficiency by the Winnipeg Jets goalie caught the attention of President Donald Trump, who introduced Tuesday in his State of the Union handle that Hellebuyck would obtain the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Twenty gamers from the lads’s Olympic group visited the White Home on Tuesday, in response to a number of media experiences, forward of being honored visitors on the Capitol for the State of the Union.
Trump polled the gamers if Hellebuyck ought to get the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
“I mentioned, ‘I am not giving it if anybody goes no,'” the president mentioned. “And each single one among them quickly put up their hand. So I need to thanks all. What a particular job you probably did. What particular champions you’re.”
Trump added, “I’ve by no means seen a goaltender play in addition to goalie Connor Hellebuyck.”
Hellebuyck, among the many Olympic contingent in attendance, tapped his coronary heart and waved.
Trump mentioned throughout his speech, “Our nation is successful once more. In reality, we’re successful a lot that we actually do not know what to do about it. Individuals are asking me — please, please, please Mr. President, we’re successful an excessive amount of. We will not take it anymore. We’re not used to successful in our nation. Till you got here alongside, we’re simply at all times shedding, however now, we’re successful an excessive amount of.
“And I say, no no no. You are going to win once more. You are going to win massive. You are gonna win larger than ever, and to show that time — to show that time — right here with us tonight is a gaggle of winners who simply made the complete nation proud: the lads’s gold medal Olympic hockey group.”
Two higher doorways within the Home of Representatives then opened, and the U.S. gamers entered and had been greeted with bipartisan cheering.
Hellebuyck made 41 saves in the US’ 2-1 time beyond regulation win in opposition to Canada within the gold-medal match at Milan. A 3-time winner of the NHL’s Vezina Trophy (greatest goaltender), the 32-year-old Michigan native can also be the reigning winner of the Hart Trophy (league MVP).
Trump invited the gold-medal-winning U.S. girls’s Olympic group to the White Home and the State of the Union, however that squad declined the provide, citing “timing and beforehand scheduled tutorial {and professional} commitments.”
Throughout his speech, Trump mentioned the U.S. girls’s group “will quickly be coming to the White Home.”
Latest athletes to obtain the Presidential Medal of Freedom embody Simone Biles (2022), Megan Rapinoe (2022), Katie Ledecky (2024), Jim Thorpe (posthumously in 2024), Magic Johnson (2025) and Lionel Messi (2025).
Previous winners embody Tiger Woods, Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Billie Jean King, Muhammad Ali, Arnold Palmer, Arthur Ashe and Jackie Robinson.
–Subject Stage Media
