The US men’s Olympic hockey team itself did not make any public statement directly disparaging the women’s team; the controversy is about how they reacted to someone else’s comments, not about words they chose themselves.

What actually happened

After the U.S. men’s team beat Canada 2–1 in overtime to win gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics, President Donald Trump called the locker room to congratulate them. During that call, he made a joking comment about “having” to invite the women’s team as well, framing including the women as more of an obligation than a genuine desire to celebrate them.

The key points:

  • The women’s team had also just beaten Canada 2–1 in overtime to win gold a few days earlier.
  • In the locker room, when Trump joked about needing to invite the women’s team or he’d be in trouble, the men’s players were heard laughing.
  • The backlash online focused on the men laughing along at the joke, which many fans and commentators saw as disrespectful to the women’s team and their success.

So, the “what did the US men’s hockey team say about the women’s team?” discussion is really:

  • They did not publicly insult the women’s team in their own words.
  • They laughed at a dismissive joke about the women being included or invited, and that reaction was widely interpreted as them agreeing with or validating the disrespectful tone.

How the women’s side and fans reacted

  • The U.S. women’s team declined an invitation to attend President Trump’s State of the Union address, officially citing schedule and prior commitments.
  • However, fans and forum users connected that decision to the disrespect they felt from Trump’s comments and the men’s locker-room reaction.
  • Some supporters urged others to call or email USA Hockey to complain that the men had failed to push back on the joke and that the women deserved a public apology.

In short

The viral controversy isn’t about a formal quote from the men criticizing the women, but about:

  • Trump joking that inviting the women’s team was something he “had” to do, not something he genuinely wanted to do.
  • The men’s team laughing along instead of pushing back, which many people read as them disrespecting the women’s accomplishment.

Bottom line: There’s no widely reported direct insult from the men toward the women, but their on-camera reaction to a dismissive joke about the women’s team is what sparked the backlash and the perception that they disrespected them.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.