Rangers' J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck honored to attend State of the Union, White House

GREENBURGH — J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck were back practicing with the Rangers on Wednesday, a day after joining the U.S. men’s ice hockey team on a visit to the White House to meet President Donald Trump and attend the State of the Union address at the Capitol.

Trump invited the team to visit Washington after the U.S. beat Canada, 2-1, in overtime in Sunday’s gold- medal game on the final day of the Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy.

“Just to be invited, that's so special,’’ said Miller, the Rangers’ captain. “I just felt super honored to be a part of that and represent our country. And obviously, the reason we got to go there was a special reason also. So, it was a really whirlwind of a two-, three-day period, for sure.’’

Trump called the team in the locker room following the gold-medal game and extended the invitation to come to Washington and stay for the speech. The president said he was going to have to invite the women’s ice hockey team as well since they also won a gold medal, also beating Canada in overtime, and joked he would “probably be impeached’’ if he didn’t.

The women’s team declined the invitation, noting prior commitments involving the players’ returns to their respective colleges and professional teams. The men’s team accepting the invitation was criticized by some, but Trocheck and Miller defended the team’s decision to go. Twenty of the 25 players on the roster attended.

“It's just so sad, really,’’ Trocheck said. “It's sad that it's getting politicized the way it is. We're just, we're all very proud to be Americans, and we were all so proud to go over there and win a gold medal. We went over there with a job, and it was to win gold, and do it for our country, and for everybody back here. And we were able to do that. It's sad that it automatically gets turned into something political when all we really wanted to do was represent everybody in here, and everybody in our country.’’

“We got invited to go, right?’’ Miller said. “That's a super humbling opportunity [and] we feel really proud and lucky to have all the opportunities we've had over the last couple days."

Trump said during his State of the Union address that the women's team would visit the White House "soon."

Rangers coach Mike Sullivan, the U.S. team head coach; general manager Chris Drury, an assistant to U.S. team GM Bill Guerin; and assistant coach David Quinn, who was part of Sullivan’s Olympic coaching staff, didn’t go to Washington. Drury and Quinn were at practice Tuesday, while Sullivan said he didn’t get home until about 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Sullivan was asked if he had a sense of what it meant to the entire country to have won the gold medal.

“I think we're still trying to digest that,’’ he said, adding that he received literally thousands of text messages after Sunday’s game. “One of the greatest things about sports is it can bring people together. And I think when you look at both the men's team and the women's team and what they accomplished over there, it's a remarkable achievement.’’

Miller and Trocheck flew home Tuesday night after the speech and Miller said they got home around 2 a.m. Both players said they were exhausted after all they’ve done the past few days.

“I'm actually really looking forward to going home today and sitting on my couch for the first time, and just, I don't know, reflecting,’’ Trocheck said. “Because we haven't stopped. We literally have not stopped since the game. I mean, it was game and to party, and to fly to Miami and to party, and to fly to Washington, White House, flying home last night and coming straight here this morning. So I haven't really had time to look back at it all yet.’’

But Miller said it was important for them to be at practice Wednesday, as the Rangers prepared to return to the NHL regular season Thursday with a home game against the Philadelphia Flyers.

“We needed to get on the ice and be back with the team. We’ve got a game tomorrow,’’ he said, adding he missed his Rangers teammates. “It's no secret, we needed to go out and sweat a little bit today, and get back and get to touch the puck, and have a couple reps in the power play, and stuff like that.’’

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.