Players from the men’s and women’s Olympic gold-medal winning hockey teams appeared together on “Saturday Night Live” amid recent political controversy. The men’s and women’s players had been publicly pitted against each other after President Donald Trump called the men’s team following their gold medal win against Canada to invite them to the State of the Union, and joked that he would have to invite the women too or he’d be impeached. The joke prompted backlash, primarily from American and Canadian liberals, against the men’s team after the players laughed in response.Women’s players Hilary Knight and Megan Keller were joined by men’s players Jack and Quinn Hughes on SNL, and made light of the recent controversy. CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM Knight appeared to reference Trump’s joke.”It was going to be just us, but we thought we’d invite the guys, too,” Knight said. Knight delivered another punchline after Quinn Hughes said the last time the men won gold was 46 years ago at the 1980 Lake Placid Games.Knight followed by saying the women’s team last won gold two Olympics ago, at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games.Jack Hughes responded, saying, “Nice burn. These gold medals aren’t just for us, they’re for all hockey fans.””Heated Rivalry” actor Connor Storrie hosted the episode. Several mainstream media outlets penned op-eds condemning the men’s team for laughing at the joke, visiting the White House to celebrate and attending Trump’s State of the Union address. During an interview on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” Friday, Hughes opened up about his respect for the women’s team after McAfee appeared to reference the controversy by joking that Hughes and his teammates “hate” the women players.US WOMEN’S HOCKEY GOLD MEDALIST SAYS IT’S ‘SAD’ MEN’S TEAM HAD TO APOLOGIZE FOR OLYMPICS CONTROVERSY”We are hanging out with them so much, the women’s team. We were supporting them. Like, we were at their games, they were at our games,” Hughes said. Hughes then appeared to address the recent criticism of his team for its response to Trump’s joke.”Like all these people talking, how many of them watched their gold medal game? Me and Quinn Hughes were at the game. We were at the game until, like, overtime ended on the glass, and we were jumping up and down so excited for these girls, so excited they won,” Hughes said.”And how many of these people watched the gold medal game, watched their semifinals game? Like 10 of the 10 of our players went to their game in the round-robin. Like, we supported them so much, and we’re so proud of them. We’re so happy that they won, and they brought a gold medal back and that, you know, I said it, the men’s and women’s team both brought gold medals back. So, just unbelievable for USA hockey.”Jack Hughes, who scored the game-winning overtime goal against Canada to win gold, reflected on his interaction with the player on the U.S. women’s team who did the same in Keller.”Me and her had a great moment
US women’s hockey players crack jokes about men’s team on ‘Saturday Night Live’ after Trump controversy
