Olympic hero Connor Hellebuyck shows off 'Secretary of Defense' plaque on flight to White House

The U.S. men’s ice hockey team stops to take photos with members of the military, letting them pose with their gold medals, after arriving at Joint Base Andrews on Tuesday.

The "Secretary of Defense" nickname seems to be sticking for Team USA goaltender Connor Hellebuyck after he was spotted with a sweet plaque while flying to Washington D.C. to meet President Donald Trump in the Oval Office ahead of his State of the Union address. 

Hellebuyck and many of his U.S. teammates took an Air Force plane to the nation’s capital to visit the White House, and Dylan Larkin shared a photo of the netminder holding a light-blue-colored plaque with a bald eagle and "Secretary of Defense" written across the top. 

Hellebuyck was all smiles, holding his Olympic gold medal in front of it. 

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Connor Hellebuyck of Team United States saves the shot taken by Devon Toews #7 of Team Canada in the third period during the Men's Gold Medal match between Canada and the United States on day 16 of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on Feb. 22, 2026 in Milan, Italy. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

After the nickname started to circulate around social media following his incredible, 41-save performance on Sunday in the 2-1 overtime victory against Team Canada, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth loved it.

"Now we have a Secretary of War…and a Secretary of Defense!" Hegseth said over the post showing Hellebuyck’s now-iconic stick save on Devon Toews’ third-period shot that would’ve broken the 1-1 tie at the time. 

Hegseth held the Secretary of Defense title before the agency became known as the Department of War last September. The DOW Rapid Response X page saw