U.S. hockey star Hilary Knight delivers joke on SNL featuring women's, men's Olympic champions

This time it was Hilary Knight's turn to provide a big laugh, with an assist from the Saturday Night Live writers, in the wake of a weeklong dust-up involving the United States women's and men's Olympic gold medal-winning hockey teams.

Knight, the U.S. women's captain, along with teammate Megan Keller and men's team brothers Jack and Quinn Hughes, made a surprise appearance during Heated Rivalry star Connor Storrie's opening monologue on SNL on Saturday night.

With the Hughes brothers already on stage alongside Storrie, Knight and Keller joined them to a loud and lengthy ovation. The four players wore USA jerseys with their gold medals draped from their necks.

Knight opened by saying: "It was going to be just us, but we thought we'd invite the guys, too."

The remark was a clear reference to a controversy that arose when the men received a congratulatory call from President Donald Trump following their 2-1 overtime win against Canada on Sunday at the Milano-Cortina Games.

Addressing the team over a speakerphone, Trump invited the men to his state of the union speech, before adding he'd have to also invite the women, too. The president later said if he didn't invite the women, he'd risk being impeached, which led to the players laughing at a comment many saw as sexist.

Knight on Wednesday referred to the joke as being "distasteful and unfortunate."

Many of the men, meantime, said they laughed while being caught up in the celebration. Boston Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman acknowledged they "should have reacted differently" to Trump's remarks.

Team USA women's hockey players asked if they felt 'disrespected' by Trump phone call

The U.S. women, who also beat Canada 2-1 in overtime three days earlier, politely declined