US women’s hockey team has date in July with Flavor Flav in Vegas to celebrate gold medal victory

By JOHN WAWROW, AP Hockey Writer

The United States women’s hockey team has a date with Flavor Flav in Las Vegas in July to celebrate its gold medal victory from the Milan Cortina Olympics.

Under the heading “IT’S HAPPENING,” the rapper posted a note on his X account on Thursday, announcing he’s hosting a “She Got Game” weekend event from July 16-19 in partnership with MGM Resorts. The post said the event was being held to honor the women’s hockey team and other female athletes, with details to follow. The message featured a picture of the U.S. women’s hockey players celebrating in a circle.

A publicist for Flavor Flav confirmed the event without providing further details.

The women’s players worked on their own to accept the invitation, without input from USA Hockey, a person familiar with discussions told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were private.

The person added that while the team is excited to attend, it’s unclear if the entire 23-player roster will be on hand because of potential scheduling conflicts.

The team has yet to determine whether to visit the White House after USA Hockey cited logistics and travel issues in politely declining President Donald Trump’s invitation to join the U.S. men’s gold medal-winning team at his State of the Union speech on Tuesday.

Flav is a long-time supporter of women’s sports and attended various Olympic competitions this month. He posted his invitation on Monday, shortly after the women turned down the trip to Washington.

“If the USA Women’s Hockey team wants a real celebration and invite ,,, I’ll host them in Las Vegas. Do some nice dinners and shows and good times,” he wrote. “I’m sure I can get a hotel and airline to help me out here and celebrate these women for real for real.”

The women’s team was originally scheduled to fly commercially to New York on Monday, but was forced to reroute through Atlanta because of a snowstorm in the Northeast. The timing and storm made it difficult for the women to change plans as they returned to their Professional Women’s Hockey League and college teams across the country.

The PWHL schedule resumed on Thursday with Montreal playing at New York following a month-long Olympic break, while college players open their conference playoffs this weekend.

In his address, Trump said plans were in the works to have the women’s team visit the White House, though it’s unclear when that could happen, USA Hockey said. The earliest the team could travel to Washington would be in late spring after the conclusion of the PWHL season.

The president’s invitation came late Sunday, when he called to congratulate the men for their 2-1 overtime win over Canada. The women’s team was still in Milan, three days after also beating Canada 2-1 in overtime.

In speaking to the men’s team following their win, Trump said: “We’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that.” He later joked that if he didn’t extend the invitation, he would probably be impeached.

U.S. women’s captain Hilary Knight on Wednesday referred to the comment as being “distasteful and unfortunate.”

“I think just the way women are represented, it’s a great teaching point and really shines light on how women should be championed for their amazing feats,” she said.

AP Olympic coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

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