The past few days have been special to say the least, for Team USA women’s ice hockey. They clinched their third Olympic gold by defeating arch-rivals Canada 2-1 in overtime on February 19. A victory of such magnitude called for a big celebration. The team soon received an invitation to President Donald Trump’s White House in order to celebrate the glorious achievement. But the gold medalists decided to make a surprising choice.

They decided to decline the invite from the White House due to “timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments.” However, the team surprisingly accepted rapper Flavor Flav‘s invitation for a celebration in Las Vegas. He himself gave an update about the situation on Instagram, saying, “But they accepted my invitation to celebrate in Las Vegas.”

This came after Trump had given a rather bizarre statement during his phone call with the USA’s men’s ice hockey side. They had also clinched gold by defeating Canada in the final with the same scoreline of 2-1. After inviting the men’s team to the White House, Trump was heard saying that “he would be impeached” if he didn’t extend an invitation to the women’s team as well.

They declined the invitation a day after the call and this is when Flavor Flav decided to join the fray. He first invited the women’s team to Las Vegas through a simple social media post on February 24 where he offered to host them for a “real celebration.”

“If the USA Women’s Hockey team wants a real celebration and invite ,,, I’ll host them in Las Vegas. Do some nice dinners and shows and good times. I’m sure I can get a hotel and airline to help me out here and celebrate these women for real for real,” Flav wrote in a post on X.

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He didn’t stop there and decided to send out a formal invitation to the team through an email just one hour later. “First, massive congratulations on the gold!! We saw the story about the men’s invite to the White House, and the not quite invite for the women’s team,” a part of the email read.

Looking at Team USA’s performance at the Olympics, they do deserve a grand party that will be fitting to celebrate such a monumental achievement.  It was a dominant campaign indeed as they went unbeaten through their seven matches. They won their first six clashes in regular time before the final got stretched to overtime due to the score being tied at 1-1.

Notably, this was the first time since the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics that USA’s women’s team clinched gold without losing a single match. They outscored their opponents by 33-2, maintaining a blistering form throughout the campaign. The final against Canada was undoubtedly their biggest test of the Olympics.

Although they declined the White House invitation and drew some criticism, the men’s team had their back during the backlash.

Jack Hughes speaks up for Team USA women amid controversy

The men’s hockey team said yes, the women’s team politely said no. And just like that, a simple invitation turned into a national debate with a political edge.

Speculation quickly spread that the President’s style of invitation didn’t sit quite right with the women’s squad. But speaking to the Daily Mail, Hughes decided to clear the air with a calmer take.

“They’ve got busy schedules, too. Everyone is giving us backlash for all the social media stuff today. People are so negative out there and they are just trying to find a reason to put people down and make something out of almost nothing.”

It all started when President Trump, moments after the men’s gold medal win over Canada, made a lighthearted remark about the women’s team. “I must tell you, we’re gonna have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” he said during the congratulatory call.

Hughes steered the spotlight away from politics and back to the human side of the story. He spoke about the genuine connection formed between the men’s and women’s teams during their time at the Winter Games. “Our relationship with them, over the course of being in the Athletes’ Village, I think we are so tight with their group. After we won the gold medal, we were in the cafeteria at 3:30 am with them, and we go from there, pack our bags, and we’re on the bus,” the 24-year-old explained.

In the end, the women’s team delivered their own golden moment. They brought pride to the nation with their stellar performance, and now, with medals in hand and confidence soaring, they’ll look to carry that energy straight into their upcoming seasons.