Team USA hockey stars Hilary Knight and Megan Keller reunited with men’s team members Jack and Quinn Hughes on Saturday Night Live to poke fun at the women’s feud with President Donald Trump.
“It was going to be just [me and Megan] but we thought we’d invite the guys too,” Knight told SNL guest host and Heated Rivalry star Connor Storrie on Saturday, February 28, to loud applause.
Storrie — who plays Russian hockey star Ilya Rozanov on Heated Rivalry — was first joined on stage by the Hughes brothers after praising the “amazing players’ from Team USA hockey during the Milan and Cortina Winter Olympic Games.
“I don’t think I pulled it off,” he said of his portrayal of a hockey star.
Quinn and Jack — the latter of whom was still sporting a toothless grin after an injury in the gold medal game — interrupted Storrie, 26, to assure him he did a “great” job on Heated Rivalry.
“We’ve been so busy playing that we haven’t had time to see your show yet,” Jack, 24, admitted, with Quinn, 26, chiming in: “It’s about hockey, right?”
Storrie waited a beat before answering: “Kind of.”
The Heated Rivalry actor joked that his character Ilya may have “metaphorically” had his teeth knocked out like Jack, though likely for different reasons. Knight, 36, and Keller, 29, then showed up to assure Storrie that they’d “seen your show.”
Knight got her joke in about President Trump’s snub before Keller quipped that she wanted to give the boys “a little moment to shine” by coming out first on SNL.
“It’s very important,” Storrie agreed. “My show speaks to people who are not always represented in hockey so this is great to have actual hockey legends here tonight.”
Jack pointed out that it had been 46 years since the USA Hockey men’s team won a gold medal at the Winter Olympics.
“And the last time we did that was two whole Olympics ago,” Knight added to a huge cheer from the studio audience.
“Nice burn,” Jack admitted. “These gold medals aren’t just for us. They’re for all hockey fans.”
It has been an eventful week for the men and women of USA Hockey. On Sunday, February 22, the Hughes brothers took home a gold medal after an overtime victory against Team Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina.
The team’s win was almost immediately shrouded in controversy when FBI director Kash Patel joined the men in their locker room to celebrate the medal win. President Trump called to congratulate the men and made a crack about the Team USA women’s hockey players, who also won a gold medal in Milan and Cortina.
After inviting the men to visit the White House and attend his State of the Union speech, Trump quipped, “We have medals for you guys. I must tell you, we‘re going to have to bring the women’s team. [If I don’t invite them] I do believe I probably would be impeached.”
Several of the men’s players were seen laughing at Trump’s joke. Quinn later denied that there was any tension between the men and women’s teams.
“I’m glad you mentioned the women’s team again,” Quinn told Good Morning America on Tuesday. “We’re extremely happy for them. There’s a lot going on on social media right now surrounding our team and [the women’s team].”
He went on, “In the last couple summers, we did a lot of training with them and got to know [them] really well.”
His brother Jack reiterated his and Quinn’s support for the women’s team during a press conference on Wednesday, February 25.
“We have so much respect for the women’s team,” Jack said. “They have so much respect for us. We’re all just proud Americans. We’re happy that we both swept the Olympics.”
Jack and Quinn’s mother Ellen Hughes — who is a consultant for USA Hockey — subsequently downplayed the political significance of the men’s team partying with Patel and attending the State of the Union speech
“I think at the end of the day, it’s just about the country and the moment that these players, both the men and women, can bring so much unity to a group and to a country,” Ellen, 56, told Today on Tuesday. “People that cheered on that don’t watch hockey, people that have politics on one side or on the other side. And that’s all both the men’s team and the women’s team care about.”
Ellen argued that there is a camaraderie between the men and women’s hockey teams that transcends any potential political divide.
“If you could see what we see from the inside and the men and women sharing, you know, dorm rooms and halls and flex floors and the camaraderie and the synergy, and the way the women cheered on the men and the way the men cheered on the women,” she insisted. “That’s what it’s all about.”
She added, “The other things, they cannot control. They care about humanity. They care about unity and they care about the country. I hope everybody just understands what we did in the moment, both the men and women to bring this country together and let everybody cheer in the same direction.”
Jack and Quinn were among the Team USA men’s hockey players to visit the White House and attend Trump’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday. During his remarks, Trump brought out the men’s team and credited them for making “the entire nation proud.” (Trump also mentioned the women’s gold medal victory and said they would “soon be coming to the White House.”)
The next day, Knight tackled the controversy over Trump’s initial snub during a press conference, calling his joke “distasteful and unfortunate.”
“I think, just the way women are represented, it’s a great teaching point to really shine light on how women should be championed for their amazing feats,” she told reporters. “And now I sort of have to sit, or anybody has to sit in front of you and explain someone else’s behavior. It’s not my responsibility.”
Saturday Night Live continues on NBC March 7 at 11.30 p.m. ET with host Ryan Gosling and musical guests Gorillaz.
Read the full article here
