Tage Thompson just helped end a 46-year U.S. Olympic hockey drought. Two days later, people aren’t talking about the gold medal.
They’re talking about his hat.
What Happened
After defeating Canada 2-1 in overtime at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, Team USA accepted an invitation from President Trump to visit the White House and attend Tuesday’s State of the Union address. It was a natural victory lap — the kind of thing championship teams do.
Then White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted a photo posing with several players, including Buffalo Sabres forward Tage Thompson. The Hughes brothers wore red and white “USA 45-47” hats. Thompson wore a full “Make America Great Again” hat.
The photo went viral and the backlash that followed has been unrelenting.
The Real Question
Here’s the thing worth asking: is supporting the sitting president at a White House visit actually controversial?
Probably not, on its own. Plenty of championship teams have visited the White House under presidents of both parties. Attending isn’t a political statement, it’s a longstanding tradition.
But Thompson didn’t just attend. He wore a campaign hat with specific cultural weight in a moment that was already politically charged.
The same celebration had already drawn attention for a video of FBI Director Kash Patel chugging beers with the team in the locker room, and another of Trump joking on speakerphone that he’d “probably be impeached” if he didn’t also invite the gold medal-winning women’s team.
The women’s team declined his invitation, and the outage has persisted ever since.
The Reaction
Critics flooded Thompson’s Instagram. One comment read: “Your actions spoke louder than any cheap words you’ll invariably post as damage control. We will remember you as the losers you are.”
Another: “A MAGA hat is disgraceful. You should be ashamed.”
Keith Olbermann — never one for understatement — posted that every Canadian player in the NHL would “break him in half.” That comment itself backfired for calling for physical harm over a political choice.
Hi I'm Tage Thompson of the @BuffaloSabres and I'm going to spend the next few months complaining that all you people made this political (while every player on every Canadian team breaks me in half) 🤷🏼♂️ pic.twitter.com/q8za4MbBz2
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) February 25, 2026
Thompson, for his part, called the visit “a very cool experience and something that I’ll probably never get to do again”.
That quote accidentally opened a second wound with Sabres fans, who read it as a quiet admission he doesn’t expect a Stanley Cup visit anytime soon.
The Bigger Picture
USA Hockey sits in a uniquely complicated spot right now.
The NHL has spent years deliberately expanding its fanbase to a younger, more diverse, and more international demographic. A MAGA hat in a viral White House photo complicates that effort, at least symbolically.
Thompson is an American athlete who supported the American president. That’s not inherently wrong. But context matters — and the context here was a celebration that had already become a culture war flashpoint before he ever put on the hat.
Whether that makes the criticism fair is a different question. What’s certain is that it’s real and here to stay.
