3 Wild stars visit White House after Olympic win; 4 with Minnesota ties decline invitation

Minnesota Wild stars Quinn Hughes, Matt Boldy, and Brock Faber boarded US Air Force 757 jet in Miami and landed inWashington, D.C. to visit the White House and attend President Donald Trump's State of the Union address on Tuesday night. 

All of them helped the United States defeat Canada in an overtime thriller in Sunday's gold-medal game at the Milano Cortina Olympics. After the win, FBI Director Kash Patel, celebrating in the locker room with the players, held up his cellphone so Trump could congratulate them over the speaker, and invite them to the nation's capital to celebrate the first men's hockey Olympic gold for the U.S. since the 1980 "Miracle on Ice." 

During the call, Trump joked with the men's team that he's “going to have to bring the women’s team" as well, noting that he'd "probably get impeached" if he didn't invite them after they went undefeated in Italy and beat Canada in the gold-medal game.  

Of the 23 players on the women's roster, eight had connections to Minnesota: 

• Rory Guilday (Chanhassen)
• Taylor Heise (Lake City, Minnesota Frost)
• Kelly Pannek (Plymouth, Minnesota Frost)
• Lee Stelein (Roseville, Minnesota Frost)
• Grace Zumwinkle (Excelsior, Minnesota Frost)
• Kendall Coyne-Schofield (Minnesota Frost)
• Britta Curl-Salemme (Minnesota Frost)
• Abbey Murphy (Minnesota Gophers)

The women's team declined the invitation from Trump, citing "timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments." 

During an interview on "Good Morning America" on Tuesday, Quinn and his brother Jack Hughes, who scored the winning goal in overtime against Canada in the gold-medal game, were asked if they were going to D.C. 

"I don't know how much I'm allowed to say, but yes," Quinn said. "We're excited to go. It's something you don't get to do (every) Tuesday."