White House Visit

2016

The Pittsburgh Penguins visit to the White House took place on Wednesday 6 October where they were honored by President Barack Obama for their 2016 Stanley Cup win. The Penguins bookend the President's tenure by being the first and last NHL team he invited to the White House.

The players arrived in DC via plane roughly at 9 a.m. before boarding a bus and being police escorted through traffic. The group arrived at the White House a little after 10 a.m. and was given a tour of the East Wing, which features the Red, Green and Blue Rooms.

The had a private meeting with the owners, coaches and players before they joined the rest of the media and attendees.

The President's wasted no time in jumping on the Phil Kessel meme. His opening statement was, "We are here to celebrate an extraordinary achievement. Phil Kessel is a Stanley Cup champion." He also pointed out that the last time the Penguins were in the White House, Sid the Kid was "actually a kid" and "Geno was still snapping pictures with his flip phone."

2017

The Penguins' 2017 visit to the White House was widely questioned and reviled as then-president Donald Trump was in a culture war with the NFL and the NBA, critiquing black athletes in particular who was kneeling during the national anthem as a form of peaceful protest against social inequality and police brutality.

Reporters who were present during the event reporter that the Penguins players looked collectively uncomfortable, and Sidney Crosby, who'd received the brunt of the criticism--especially as he continued to maintain that the decision to go was not a political one; they'd visited in the past and considered it an honour to be invited--did his best to avoid Trump with some success. He stood at the back of the group, and wouldn't come forward even after Trump gestured for him.

Although the Penguins maintained that their visit was non-political and that they weren't choosing a side one way or the other, there were several aberrations that marked this visit as different from their previous ones, not least of all Crosby's refusal to stand at the front of the podium with Trump. Unlike previous visits, Trump did not receive a Penguins jersey, and the players did not speak with the media after the event, although there was a private photo op behind closed doors with the president in the oval office.

Most notably, except for a single press release via their website and facebook page, the Penguins' media accounts went dark for the duration of the visit.