Knowing full well that my opinions on the US Men’s Hockey team will not be welcome on the site that I usually write about hockey, it seems like airing my opinions here where they will largely just be viewed by myself will be the cathartic alternative.

The notion that sports are a politics free zone is ridiculous and people far more eloquent than I have delved into that matter repeatedly and the fact that this specific situation involves the Olympics, national teams, and a presidential visit seem to create a particularly asinine argument that doesn’t need much to be refuted.

At the core of the situation is the fact that to some degree I am probably still a Leafs fan. I get paid to cover the Leafs, I enjoy the circus that goes along with the team (usually), and I think that if they were to ever win or come close to winning the Stanley Cup I would experience some level of joy from that.

The current iteration of the Maple Leafs doesn’t do a lot for me. I like William Nylander and John Tavares, I think some players like Matthew Knies are unique talents, and I think Morgan Rielly, while frustrating at times, is still someone worth cheering for but largely this isn’t a group that I would say I’m rooting for.

At the centre of that is Auston Matthews and that brings us back to his captaincy of Team USA and the decision to visit the White House.

Stepping way back, I have to consider my personal feelings about the U.S, where I briefly lived. I did not like living in the United States and never felt comfortable there. Their patriotism seemed misplaced, it always felt incredibly racist, and the consumerist, boisterous nature of the country accompanied by the seemingly blind patriotism that overrides opportunities to improve the country made Winnipeg a welcome alternative for me when high school wrapped up.

Disliking America isn’t new for me and I feel my issues with the country have been around since the Clinton adminstration. (Now as a student of history I can see where a lot more of the issues arose.)

My first attempts at being politically active largely stemmed from the Bush jr. administration, and would have honestly had some level of disheartenment from athletes visiting his White House as well.

Again, back to the original train of thought. There is something different now and the status quo of political discourse no longer exists. This isn’t Republican vs. Democrat politics, this is now Fascism vs. Democracy, and a Trump White House visit at the very least involves condoning fascism, something that even a hockey player can see is a bad thing.

I don’t need to explain Trump here, but it goes beyond fascism as well. The Epstein files truly matter and the acts that Trump is likely guilty of. The Romeo Dallaire autobiography title “Shake Hands With the Devil” feels accurate in this situation but Romeo did it in hopes of staving off a larger genocide, the U.S. Hockey Team did it for some double cheeseburgers.

ICE matters, and for a Mexican American player like Auston Matthews to visit the White House while Latinos are regularly being detained and deported says a lot about Auston’s character.

There is also the matter of the Women’s Hockey Team and the crass joke made at their expense about how they too would have to be invited. The Men’s Hockey Team choosing the President over standing with their slighted peers is an irreparable character flaw in these athletes, and one that particularly needs to fall at the feet of the team captain.

The women gave the men an out. They didn’t refuse the White House visit (publicly) on the grounds of the Trump’s remarks. They refused because of the conflicting schedules that go with being in the middle of a hockey season. Given that the Men’s team players were also back in action on Wednesday and Thursday after the Tuesday scheduled visit, the out was there and no one took it.

That brings me back to Auston Matthews. I’m far removed from any attempt to like hockey players as people. It does happen from time to time where someone stands out as a personality I like or gives glimpses of shared beliefs, but I try to stick with hockey players being just that in my eyes, hockey players.

Matthews has shattered any attempt at that illusion for me and as such it is difficult to support him on the Leafs going forward and it is especially disheartening to see the captain of Canadian hockey team openly standing with a president who has been vocal about his wish to annex Canada and has repeatedly made life more difficult for Canadians through his fever dream tariff policies.

It is not difficult to be done with Auston Matthews and want him off the Leafs in my opinion, and as much as the hockey fan in me would still like to see the Leafs cash out on him, I’d be perfectly content to just have him off the team in 2026-27.