US Olympic Hockey Gold Medalists Appear on Late-Night Shows

US Olympic hockey gold medalists Hilary Knight, Jack Hughes, and Quinn Hughes appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday night. The trio shared the stage with host Jimmy Fallon to discuss their recent victories at the Milan Games.

Asked what was more nerve-wracking, playing in the Olympics or going on SNL, Knight responded without hesitation: “SNL.” Fallon brought up how Knight told her mother at age 5 she wanted to take part in Olympic hockey one day. “I’m just dialed like that,” Knight said. “We didn’t even have women’s hockey in the Olympics at the time. I just must have seen it on TV and was like: ‘That’s what I’m doing. I want to play hockey.’”

Fallon read a letter Jack Hughes wrote to himself before being selected with the first pick in the 2019 NHL draft that included the lines: “Maybe we all represented the United States at the Olympics. Maybe we won a gold medal or gold medals together. What an honor that would be.” The three players then fist-bumped as the studio audience, including youngest brother Luke Hughes, applauded.

The Hughes brothers joked about being roommates in the athletes’ village — and their interaction after Jack got high-sticked in the mouth by Canada’s Sam Bennett in the third period of the gold-medal game. “Quinn, he was the first guy closest to me, and I remember him coming up to me at the TV timeout, and he was like: ‘It’s not that bad. it’s only chipped,’” Jack Hughes said.

Jack Hughes promised Fallon his gap-toothed smile “won’t be my thing,” even after the hockey storybook finish of losing a tooth and scoring an Olympic-winning goal. “That is the most hockey thing I could even think of ever happening in the world,” Fallon said.

Fallon also brought up Knight’s storybook time in Milan that included getting engaged to U.S. speedskater Brittany Bowe, who was in attendance. He wondered aloud why she chose to propose on a grate instead of the nearby grass and asked Knight if she worried about dropping the ring. “Almost,” Knight said. “I like high-pressure situations, I guess.”

Knight won her second Olympic gold medal at age 36 in what she has said will be her final time on the biggest international stage in sports. She did so playing with a torn medial collateral ligament in one of her knees, something she revealed earlier Monday on CBS Mornings. “I’m not walking around the best, and I’m missing a few games for the (PWHL’s) Seattle Torrent,” Knight said.

The athletes' appearances on late-night shows followed their surprise cameo on Saturday Night Live, where they joined host Connor Storrie during his opening monologue. The four players wore USA jerseys with their gold medals draped from their necks, and Knight delivered a joke referencing the controversy surrounding President Donald Trump's invitation to the State of the Union address.

Knight, along with teammate Megan Keller and men’s team brothers Jack and Quinn Hughes, made a surprise appearance during Heated Rivalry star Connor Storrie’s opening monologue on SNL. With the Hughes brothers already on stage alongside Storrie, Knight and Keller joined them to a loud and lengthy ovation. The four players wore USA jerseys with their gold medals draped from their necks.

Knight opened by saying: “It was going to be just us, but we thought we’d invite the guys, too.” The remark was a clear reference to a controversy that arose when the men received a congratulatory call from President Donald Trump following their 2-1 overtime win against Canada on Sunday at the Milan Cortina Games.

Addressing the team over a speakerphone, Trump invited the men to his State of the Union speech, before adding he’d have to also invite the women, too. The president later said if he didn’t invite the women, he’d risk being impeached, which led to the players laughing at a comment many saw as sexist.

Knight referred to the joke as being “distasteful and unfortunate.” Many of the men said they laughed while being caught up in the celebration. Boston Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman acknowledged they “should have reacted differently” to Trump’s remarks, according to chicagotribune.com. The U.S. women, who also beat Canada 2-1 in overtime three days earlier, politely declined Trump’s invitation due to travel plans.

The athletes' appearances on late-night shows have been part of a coordinated effort to shift the focus back to their achievements at the Olympics, according to apnews.com. The plan involved coordinating with multiple agencies, leagues, and networks to ensure the players could make media appearances while also resuming their professional hockey schedules.

According to salon.com, Connor Storrie’s hosting debut on SNL was transformed into an exercise in damage control due to the controversy surrounding the men's team and President Trump. The article suggests that the appearance of Knight and Keller was a way for the show to address the situation without requiring the Hughes brothers to directly acknowledge their role in it.

The article also notes that while Storrie handled the situation well, the show used the women’s achievements to scrub away public indignance without requiring their male counterparts to lend any muscle at all. The presence of Knight and Keller helped to highlight the women's team's accomplishments, but it did not entirely ameliorate the White House’s intrusion into both hockey teams’ Olympic glory.