{"id":497334,"date":"2026-03-01T10:43:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T10:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/497334\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T10:43:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T10:43:08","slug":"knight-delivers-joke-during-snl-appearance-featuring-us-men-and-women-hockey-gold-medal-winners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/497334\/","title":{"rendered":"Knight delivers joke during ‘SNL’ appearance featuring US men and women hockey gold medal winners"},"content":{"rendered":"

This time it was Hilary Knight\u2019s turn to provide a big laugh \u2014 with an assist from the \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d writers \u2014 in the wake of a weeklong dust-up involving the United States women and men\u2019s Olympic gold medal-winning hockey teams<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Knight, the U.S. women\u2019s captain, along with teammate Megan Keller and men\u2019s team brothers Jack and Quinn Hughes, made a surprise appearance during \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d star Connor Storrie\u2019s opening monologue on \u201cSNL\u201d on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Knight opened by saying: \u201cIt was going to be just us, but we thought we\u2019d invite the guys, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/a> on Sunday at the Milan Cortina Games<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Addressing the team over a speakerphone, Trump invited the men to his State of the Union speech, before adding he\u2019d have to also invite the women, too. The president later said if he didn\u2019t invite the women, he\u2019d risk being impeached, which led to the players laughing at a comment many saw as sexist.<\/p>\n

Knight on Wednesday<\/a> referred to the joke as being \u201cdistasteful and unfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the men, meantime, said they laughed while being caught up in the celebration. Boston Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman acknowledged they \u201cshould have reacted differently\u201d to Trump\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n

The U.S. women, who also beat Canada 2-1 in overtime<\/a> three days earlier, politely declined Trump\u2019s invitation due to travel plans<\/a>. The players traveled commercially and returned to North America late Monday evening, well after the men, who traveled on a charter flight paid for by the NHL and NHL Players\u2019 Association.<\/p>\n

Jack Hughes scored the overtime goal for the men.<\/p>\n

Keller scored the overtime goal for the women, with Knight tying the game in the final minutes of regulation.<\/p>\n

Knight plays for the PWHL\u2019s Seattle Torrent, and made the trip to New York City a day after being placed on long-term injured reserve<\/a>. Keller, who plays for Boston, scrambled to New York hours after playing in the Fleet\u2019s 3-2 shootout win at Ottawa earlier in the day.<\/p>\n

Jack Hughes plays for the NHL New Jersey Devils, and Quinn for the Minnesota Wild.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Knight followed by saying the women last won in 2018.<\/p>\n

Laughing, Jack Hughes responded by saying, \u201cnice burn,\u201d before turning to Storrie and saying: \u201cThese gold medals aren\u2019t just for us, they\u2019re for all hockey fans, yours\u2019 too.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Storrie asked if he could try on one of the medals, all four players turned and said, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d has quickly become a hit<\/a> following its first season on HBO Max. Adapted from Rachel Reid\u2019s novel published in 2019, it features a plot revolving around a gay hockey romance in which two players from opposing teams carry out a secret, long-term relationship.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Olympic coverage: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This time it was Hilary Knight\u2019s turn to provide a big laugh \u2014 with an assist from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[190960,113110,162091,12,88,212921,6755,152840,84817,2001,221267,6429,6661,1997,2005,13145,45567,216129,181897,12015,99,92,2003,2002],"class_list":{"0":"post-497334","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-2026-milan-cortina-olympic-games","9":"tag-2026-winter-olympics","10":"tag-connor-storrie","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-hilary-knight","14":"tag-hockey","15":"tag-jack-hughes","16":"tag-jeremy-swayman","17":"tag-massachusetts","18":"tag-megan-keller","19":"tag-minnesota","20":"tag-mn-state-wire","21":"tag-new-jersey","22":"tag-new-york","23":"tag-nhl-hockey","24":"tag-olympic-games","25":"tag-olympic-hockey","26":"tag-rachel-reid","27":"tag-saturday-night-live","28":"tag-sports","29":"tag-tv","30":"tag-wa-state-wire","31":"tag-washington"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}