'Just not fair' for wife to take blowback for White House visit: Connor Hellebuyck

Connor Hellebuyck can handle the criticism he received for attending a White House reception hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump, but the Winnipeg Jets goalie is upset that his wife has had to bear the brunt of it.

After Hellebuyck backstopped the United States to victory over Canada in the gold-medal final of the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympic Games, he and his teammates received a phone call from Trump in their dressing room.

In that call, captured on video, Trump belittled the U.S. women's team, who had also won gold, as he invited the men's team to a celebratory reception.

All but five of the American players attended the reception where Trump announced that Hellebuyck would be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Hellebuyck and his teammates who visited the White House have been heavily criticized on social media.

Hellebuyck was asked about that blowback for the first time on Friday.

"The blowback that my wife [Andrea] was getting is just not fair. I don't understand how she can take so much heat for just being with me as a hockey player. We've done nothing wrong, she's done nothing wrong, my kids have done nothing wrong and everyone in my family is happy.

"I'm just going to continue living and moving on with my life and let that just fizzle out, because it always will."

Jets coach Scott Arniel also took exception to Hellebuyck's loved ones being dragged into the controversy.

"I really feel for him [because] it got real personal, not just with him, but with his family, with his wife," Arniel said.

"That's the stuff that is out of bounds for me, and that's the part that really, really upset him. I think he's handled it well."

Hellebuyck said he did not have any regrets about the experience.

"I didn't get booed