{"id":122207,"date":"2026-02-24T18:25:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T23:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/olympic-hero-connor-hellebuyck-shows-off-secretary-of-defense-plaque-on-flight-to-white-house-122207"},"modified":"2026-02-24T18:25:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T23:25:45","slug":"olympic-hero-connor-hellebuyck-shows-off-secretary-of-defense-plaque-on-flight-to-white-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/olympic-hero-connor-hellebuyck-shows-off-secretary-of-defense-plaque-on-flight-to-white-house-122207","title":{"rendered":"Olympic hero Connor Hellebuyck shows off ‘Secretary of Defense’ plaque on flight to White House"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The “Secretary of Defense” nickname seems to be sticking for Team USA<\/a> goaltender Connor Hellebuyck after he was spotted with a sweet plaque while flying to Washington D.C. to meet President Donald Trump in the Oval Office ahead of his State of the Union address.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hellebuyck and many of his U.S. teammates took an Air Force plane to the nation\u2019s capital to visit the White House, and Dylan Larkin shared a photo of the netminder holding a light-blue-colored plaque with a bald eagle and “Secretary of Defense” written across the top.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hellebuyck was all smiles, holding his Olympic gold medal in front of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

After the nickname started to circulate around social media following his incredible, 41-save performance on Sunday in the 2-1 overtime victory against Team Canada, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth<\/a> loved it.<\/p>\n

“Now we have a Secretary of War\u2026and a Secretary of Defense!” Hegseth said over the post showing Hellebuyck\u2019s now-iconic stick save on Devon Toews\u2019 third-period shot that would\u2019ve broken the 1-1 tie at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hegseth held the Secretary of Defense title before the agency became known as the Department of War last September. The DOW Rapid Response X page saw Larkin\u2019s post on his Instagram Story and sent it out to the masses as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST US MEN’S HOCKEY TEAM VISITS WHITE HOUSE TO CELEBRATE HISTORIC WIN OVER CANADA<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“AMERICA\u2019S SECRETARY OF DEFENSE!” the post read.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hegseth was one of many showing American pride when the U.S. took down Canada, which couldn\u2019t capitalize on some grade-A chances on Hellebuyck, including assistant captain\u00a0Nathan MacKinnon<\/a>\u00a0missing a wide-open net in the third period.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s a dream come true,” Hellebuyck said, via\u00a0NBC, after the game. “We grinded, we battled, and this was some of the best and most fun hockey that I\u2019ve ever played.”<\/p>\n

Hellebuyck helped the U.S. make history as the first team since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” squad to win Olympic gold. Jack Hughes scored the overtime goal to strike gold in Milan, and it\u2019s been a party ever since for Team USA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was the same result the U.S. women\u2019s hockey team had just days prior to Hughes\u2019 goal, as Megan Keller scored the game-winner against Team Canada in overtime to win gold as well. The women\u2019s hockey team declined Trump\u2019s invitation to his State of the Union address on Tuesday, citing scheduling conflicts due to “academic and professional commitments.”<\/p>\n

Trump told the men’s team after inviting them to Tuesday’s\u00a0State of the Union<\/a>\u00a0that he’d “have” to invite the women’s team, otherwise, “I probably would be impeached.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the men\u2019s hockey team was heard laughing at Trump\u2019s joke, the phone call exchange has since gone viral, with some criticizing Trump and the team for joking about the women\u2019s accomplishment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Members of the men\u2019s hockey team were in attendance for the women\u2019s gold-medal victory, including Hughes, who said after his own heroics that he thought about Keller\u2019s goal immediately after while celebrating with his teammates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

U.S. pride was on full display in Milan as well, with Hellebuyck skating around the ice alone with an American flag on his back, as the crowd roared its approval.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Larkin and Zach Werenski also appeared\u00a0on Fox News Channel\u2019s\u00a0“Fox & Friends”<\/a>\u00a0on Tuesday morning, hours after the team\u2019s Miami celebration at E11EVEN MIAMI nightclub, where they talked about representing the country in the Olympics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I think a lot of us played at the U.S. National Team Development Program \u2026 When we were there, you get to put the jersey on every day for two years, before you\u2019re drafted. We go through training. We\u2019re not military by any means but they put us through some training, and they really instill in you some pride,” Larkin explained. “Once you go through that, you take the jersey off \u2026 and every time you take it off, for me at least, I don\u2019t know the next time I\u2019m going to put it on.”<\/p>\n

Werenski added: “You get reminded of how great the United States of America is when you get back here. And we love representing our country, we love wearing those colors.”<\/p>\n

Fox News\u2019 Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n

Follow Fox News Digital\u2019s<\/strong><\/i>\u00a0sports coverage on X<\/strong><\/i><\/a>\u00a0and subscribe to<\/strong><\/i>\u00a0the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter<\/strong><\/i><\/a>.<\/strong><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source – https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/olympic-hero-connor-hellebuyck-shows-off-secretary-defense-plaque-flight-white-house <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The “Secretary of Defense” nickname seems to be sticking for Team USA goaltender Connor Hellebuyck after he was spotted with a sweet plaque while flying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_2902945987_2902945987":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[16563],"tags":[],"stock_ticker":[],"class_list":["post-122207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOlympic hero Connor Hellebuyck shows off 'Secretary of Defense' plaque on flight to White House - Wall Street PR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/olympic-hero-connor-hellebuyck-shows-off-secretary-of-defense-plaque-on-flight-to-white-house-122207\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Olympic hero Connor Hellebuyck shows off 'Secretary of Defense' plaque on flight to White House - 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