Role models shouldn’t be worshipped or idolized, but that’s not to say people can’t look up to them. When you have a little sister with hockey jerseys lining her room, including one of her favorite players, Jack Hughes, you can’t help but be excited to watch the Team USA versus Team Canada gold medal match in the 2026 Winter Olympics. When the final goal roared in overtime, securing the USA’s 2-1 victory against Canada, she was on top of the world.
The same day, the men’s team decided to crush my excitement, as well as that of many others. This includes my sister, one of the team's most devoted fans.
The team got on a phone call with President Donald Trump after receiving an immediate invite to the State of the Union Address and laughed along as the president said he should invite the women’s team to celebrate because “if they weren’t invited, I would probably be impeached.”
This isn’t OK now, or ever. It’s crushing to little boys who had a hero on the ice, now laughing at the idea of celebrating the same feat with their female counterparts. It’s repulsive to girls who have heard these jokes time and time again. It’s insulting to my younger sister, who admires multiple professional players in the league, as athletes and as people.
This behavior is the effect of normalizing “locker room talk” or “distasteful jokes,” and it’s unacceptable for the president of the U.S. to begrudgingly invite the women’s hockey team to avoid impeachment.
When a joke is tolerated on the bench, it carries over into the world. The tolerance in an enclosed space only prolongs its tolerance outside of it. It doesn’t require effort to stand against an administration that has, time and time again, ignored constitutionality. Accepting Trump’s invite is a huge slap in the face. It associates the team with someone who has degraded women and disrespected them. It requires very little self-control not to laugh at a joke at women's expense coming from a convicted sex offender.
The outrage shouldn’t stop at the men’s team's invitation or even a surprise appearance from FBI Director Kash Patel. Patel spent nearly $75,000 taxpayer dollars on a jet to go to the Olympic village in Italy to party with the team in the locker room. It’s a slap in the face to anyone who has income, which includes both U.S. and non-U.S. citizens.
It shouldn’t stop at the responsibilities Patel is currently in charge of, such as his involvement in the release of the Epstein files, which, after his joyride, it was confirmed pages had been withheld from the public.
The most insulting part of all this was the lack of celebration the USA Women’s team received after taking the same gold medal back to the U.S. The women’s team had scheduling conflicts and were given no accommodations for what would be an honorable celebration. They didn’t hear any wind of an invite at all until the video in the men’s locker room circulated.
Their decline of the late invite felt like a statement, unlike the men’s team, who puckered up immediately.
With a Cleveland Heights native, Laila Edwards, and even an Athens native, Gwyneth Phillips, making up key members of the women’s team, this one hits close to home and should be for every student on campus. This is a peer. A colleague. She didn’t receive a personal phone call or congratulations from the president after the win. She didn’t receive an invitation to the State of the Union Address until after the men got theirs.
It goes beyond the games themselves. This misogyny is not only rooted in our country, but in the disparities in treatment between the women's and men’s teams. The USA Women’s Hockey team flies commercial, while the men get privileged treatment and travel is taken care of. The men’s team has established personnel and even has a doctor who travels with them. The women’s team receives none of this treatment, and the only medical resource available is their physician. The women’s team isn’t just responsible for their own baggage check and flight plan, but also for finding the right help in case of emergency or injury.
When you are on the world stage, you are setting an example to young fans or players who have a dream of making it there. Having a role model fumble every good thing leading up to it’s all too common, but this could have been so easily prevented. This could have been an incredible joint celebration and a time to unite in a country that is so divided. Save the jokes. As Women’s Team USA player Hilary Knight said, we’ve heard them enough.
“I just thought the joke was distasteful and unfortunate,” Knight said. “I think 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. Now I have to sort of sit in front of you…and explain someone else’s behavior. It’s not my responsibility.”
Abby Jenkins is a senior studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note the opinions expressed in this column do not represent those of The Post. Want to talk to Abby about her column? Email her at aj205621@ohio.edu.
