White House Blasts 'Freebird' As Team USA Stars Visit 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
The Team USA victory tour continues...
It has been a whirlwind couple of days for the US men's national hockey team.
After New Jersey Devils star Jack Hughes potted the Golden Goal to defeat the Canadians 2-1, the boys were partying it up in the locker room and in Milan.
Then, in a fortuitous bounce for the ages, a blizzard in New York meant that they had to fly to Miami, where they partied it up at nightclub E11even Miami.
And on Tuesday, they were visiting the White House ahead of President Donald Trump's State of the Union address.
And boy, did they ever arrive in style…
And what better way to check out the White House than by cruising around the hallways to the Lynyrd Skynyrd classic "Freebird."
A song that, in recent years, has become the American goal song on the international stage.
This is one of those moments where I just don't get the people who are mad about all of this.
If you don't like the president's politics, that's fine, but how could you get worked up over Team USA in the halls of the White House while they blast Skynyrd?!
I mean, I thought a Ben Franklin was about to swoop down on the back of the bald eagle. It was such a gloriously American scene.
I guess some people are just really committed to the bit…
Of course, they had to make a stop at the Oval Office, and the team got an incredible photo with the president in there.
Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk is second from the left in that picture, and I bet by this point he could practically give the White House tour himself.
Thanks to the Cats' back-to-back Cup Championships and now the gold medal, it's Tkachuk's third visit to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in the last couple of years.
READ: MATTHEW TKACHUK JUST STAMPED HIS TICKET FOR THE HALL OF FAME IN MILAN
If they have some kind of punch card or rewards program, he has to be closing in on a free visit or complimentary photo of himself behind the White House press room podium.
The forward also let the president try on his gold medal, and joked that he'd trade it to the Commander-In-Chief for an Oval Office pen.
Jack Hughes sliding into the photo at the end of that clip was smooth as silk.
That's the kind of slickness that helps you score a game-winner against Canada while also (reportedly) dating their most high-profile popstar.
What a moment, and I think those of us whose brains haven't been riddled by Trump Derangement Syndrome are nothing but proud of this team, and proud to be Americans ourselves.