Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk says he doesn’t “really have an answer” for the U.S. men’s Olympic team’s reaction to a comment by U.S. President Donald Trump in the moments after the team won gold at the Winter Games.
A video posted to social media on Sunday shows Trump speaking to the team via speakerphone in the locker room following the championship game. At one point, Trump invites the team to Tuesday’s State of the Union Address and the White House and then says, “I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team,” and jokes if he didn’t, “I do believe I’d probably be impeached.”
The comment faced immediate criticism as downplaying the achievements of the U.S. women’s national team, which also won gold after defeating Team Canada in overtime. The men’s team faced backlash for laughing.
Speaking to reporters at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa on Thursday, Tkachuk said the team was riding the high of being world champions when Trump called.
“I don’t really have an answer,” he said, when asked why the team laughed at Trump’s comment about the women’s team.
“Honestly, it was just a whirlwind of a moment, and you can’t control what somebody says and… I guess caught off guard a little bit,” he said. “When you’re talking to the president 10 minutes after you just achieve your dream, it’s just the fact that you’re talking to him. You can’t really believe where your life’s at that you’re talking to the president of the United States after you just won a gold medal.”
‘Not my voice’
Tkachuk denied he was the person who said “close the northern border” in the video.
“I have seen stuff that people think it’s me. If you watch the video, that’s not my voice and it’s something that I’d never say,” he said.
He also responded to a post by the official White House TikTok account that uses part of an AI-edited video purporting to show him making derogatory comments about Canada.
“It’s clearly fake. It’s not my voice and not my lips moving,” he said. “I’m not in control of any of those accounts and I know that those words never came out of my mouth, so I can’t do anything about it… That’s not who I am so, yeah, I guess I don’t like that video because that would never come out of my mouth, never thought, so we’ll leave it at that.”
Tkachuk said he was honoured, as an American, to visit the White House after winning gold, and said he wasn’t thinking about the politics.
“For me, I achieved my childhood dream,” he said. “I know I wasn’t thinking about the politics of it because at the end of the day, we’re the guys on the ice playing, sacrificing our bodies and doing whatever it takes to win and a lot of that other stuff, you can’t control, can’t do anything about it.”
‘It was a mistake’: Sanderson
Fellow gold medal winner and Ottawa Senator Jake Sanderson also addressed the controversy, calling the team’s response “a mistake.”
“Looking back at it now, I think it was a mistake, but I think things got blown out of proportion a little bit,” he said. “We have nothing but the utmost respect for the women… If we were to do it again, I think we wouldn’t do that, and we made a mistake, but, again, I think it kind of got blown out of proportion a little bit.”
Sanderson said he’s excited to get back to playing for Ottawa.
“I’m juiced up right now. I’m very energized. I’m not tired one bit,” he said. “I’m so excited to play tonight and see where these next 25 games or so go.”
Back to the Sens
Tkachuk also said he’s ready to get back to playing for the Sens.
“I love playing for this team. I love the guys in this room, and I really believe in what we’re all about,” he said. “I’ve had some amazing moments and I want those moments to continue. And I believe that this stretch here is going to be a lot of fun to be a part of. I know we’re going to give everything we have to this team.”
On Wednesday, Senators head coach Travis Green said he was not concerned about politics affecting the team now that the Olympic break is over.
“This isn’t about politics. I’m not going to stand and talk about personal political views and I’m sure they’re not doing that either. This is about them celebrating a big win for them and something that they’ve probably dreamed of for a long time. I don’t look at it like they’re making a political statement by any means,” he said.
The Senators are hosting the Detroit Red Wings at the Canadian Tire Centre Thursday night. It is “Women in Sport Night” at the game.
Tkachuk said the men’s and women’s Olympic teams are linked because of their concurrent championships.
“It was fun being around them. It was fun seeing them play. It was fun seeing the excellence that they brought every single game. They were by far the best team in that tournament,” he said.
“I think this is the first time the U.S. has gone two for two in the Olympics as hockey champs, so we’re kind of together forever.”
With files from The Canadian Press
