Team USA goalkeeper Connor Hellebuyck will be receiving one more medal, President Donald Trump announced Tuesday during his State of the Union address.
Two days afterthe Americans' victory over Canada in the men's hockey gold-medal game of the 2026 Winter Olympics,Trump welcomed the team to the White House then brought them onto the floor during his address to Congress.
Trump then singled out Hellebuyck, who stopped 41 of 42 shots from the favored Canadians and delivered an iconic moment with his stick save to preserve a 1-1 tie early in the third period. The U.S. went on to win 2-1 in overtime for the first gold medal in men's hockey since the Miracle on Ice in 1980.
Trump praised Hellebuyck's performance and said he had decided to give Hellebuyck the Presidential Medal of Freedom after asking the goalkeeper's teammates:
"We took a vote of the team and I said, 'Anybody votes no, I'm not doing it.' So they stood there and they weren't about to say no, because I had never seen a goaltender play as well as goalie Connor Hellebuyck ... 46 shots on goal and I asked him, 'The one shot, the one where you put your stick in the back and it hit the neck of your stick and bounced off, you practice that or was that a little lucky?' He refused to answer that question.
I just want to tell you that the members of this great hockey squad will be very happy to hear, based on their vote and my vote, and in this case my vote was more important, that I will soon be presenting Connor with our highest civilian honor, which will be given, and which has been given to many athletes over the years — but when I say 'many,' not too many, like 12 — it's called the highest civilian honor in our country, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Great athletes have gotten that, the best."
Of the 24 Medals of Freedom Trump awarded in his first term as president, 14 of them were athletes or affiliated with sports in some way: Alan Page, Babe Ruth, Roger Staubach, Bob Cousy, Roger Penske, Mariano Rivera, Jerry West, Tiger Woods, Dan Gable, Lou Holtz, Jim Ryun, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Gary Player and Annika Sorenstam.
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By comparison, six of former president Joe Biden's 57 Medals of Freedom were awarded to athletes: Simone Biles, Megan Rapinoe, Katie Ledecky, Jim Thorpe, Magic Johnson and Lionel Messi.
So far in this term, Hellebuyck is one of four people to be announced as a Medal of Freedom winner, alongside Charlie Kirk, Rudy Giuliani and Ben Carson.
The 32-year-old Hellebuyck, who plays for the Winnipeg Jets, is already one of the NHL's most decorated goaltenders, with three Vezina Trophies and last year's Hart Trophy for MVP of the league.
Team USA's embrace of Trump and vice versa has proven a controversial development in some areas, most notably when the president joked he would have to invite the women's team or get impeached, which was received with laughter by the men's team.The historically dominant Team USA women's hockey team declined the invite, citing "previously scheduled academic and professional commitments."
Trump, however, claimed during the State of the Union the women's team "will soon" visit the White House.
FBI director Kash Patel has also faced a backlash for raucously celebrating in the Team USA locker room after the gold medal game, after traveling to Italy at the taxpayers' expense.
