U.S women's hockey team declines invitation to attend Trump's state of the union address

The U.S. women's hockey team said it has to decline an invitation from President Donald Trump to attend the state of the union address on Tuesday night.

"We are sincerely grateful for the invitation extended to our gold medal-winning U.S. women's hockey team and deeply appreciate the recognition of their extraordinary achievement," the team said in a statement released Monday. "Due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games, the athletes are unable to participate. They were honoured to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgment."

Logistics played a role in the decision, as many of the players were not scheduled to arrive in North America until Monday evening. The men's team flew by charter to Miami earlier Monday. The women took a commercial flight and were scheduled to land in Atlanta.

Trump invited the U.S. men's gold medal-winning team on a phone call to congratulate the team as it celebrated in the dressing room in Italy after its win over Canada.

"I could send a military plane or something, if you would like to — it's the coolest night, it's the biggest speech," Trump said, according to a recording of the phone call obtained by multiple media outlets.

Trump was interrupted before finishing his thoughts, with multiple unidentified players saying, "We're in."

Trump in his phone call also alluded to having the team come to the White House at some point for a ceremony.

"I'm gonna shake hands with everybody, but I gotta shake hands with that goalie," said Trump in reference to Connor Hellebuyck, the Winnipeg Jets goalie who stonewalled Canada in the final.

When extending the state of the union invitation to the men's team on Sunday night, Trump said, "I must