As Stanley Cup champions for the second straight year, the Pittsburgh Penguins have a busy few months of celebrating ahead—including potentially another trip to the White House.
According to Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Penguins would indeed go to the White House if President Donald Trump’s administration extends an invitation.
“The Pittsburgh Penguins would never turn down a visit to the White House and, if invited, we would go as a team,” Penguins CEO and president David Morehouse told Molinari via a statement on Tuesday.
“We respect the office of the presidency of the United States and what it stands for,” Morehouse said. “Any opposition or disagreement with a president’s policies, or agenda, can be expressed in other ways.”
This news comes after several reports said the NBA champion Golden State Warriors had voted against a White House visit. (Like the Penguins, they have not yet been invited.)
If called, the Penguins and Warriors would be the second and third professional franchises to be invited by Trump’s White House staff during his term as president of the United States. The Super Bowl-winning New England Patriots visited in April (though quarterback Tom Brady wasn’t there due to personal obligations).
The Penguins visited the White House in October 2016 following last year’s Cup victory, when then-President Barack Obama spoke these immortal words:
Morehouse’s statement did not touch on specific players who could express their desire to skip the potential visit due to issues with Trump’s presidency, but Molinari reported that “no player would be forced to attend.”
He also pointed out in Tuesday’s report that Pittsburgh’s front office includes several democrats—including owner Ron Burkle, who has donated to the party’s causes and Morehouse, who was involved with the Clinton administration and Al Gore’s presidential campaign.
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