U.S. Men's Hockey Player Jake Guentzel Explains Why He Skipped Donald Trump-White House Visit

Tampa Bay Lightning NHL player Jake Guentzel is clarifying why he did not join his Team USA hockey teammates at the White House and in Washington, DC for the State of the Union.

The 31-year-old athlete was one of a handful of players, including Brock Nelson, Kyle Connor and Jake Oettinger, who skipped the White House visit.

As a result, some believed this could mean they were opposed to Donald Trump‘s views, while others thought perhaps there were scheduling conflicts.

Jake is clarifying that he would have gone, had he not had games coming up.

Keep reading to find out more…

“I was definitely not denying the request to go. It was a dream come true to go, I was fortunate to go in 2017 when Trump was in office,” he said in an interview. “We’ve got a lot of games coming up the rest of the year, gonna be a tough schedule. So, two weeks of Olympic break, thought it good to come home, rest and recover and try to spend some time with my family before we get going.”

Team USA Men’s Hockey won the gold medal on Sunday (February 22) at the Olympics, and Jake has a Tampa Bay Lightning game tonight (February 25).

There has been some backlash regarding the Men’s Hockey team for the USA. See why.