If the U.S. president gets his way, there may be an additional guest of honour at an upcoming state dinner at the White House.
Barack Obama joked on Thursday that he’d like to casually place the Stanley Cup in the middle of the room during the glittering event — set for March 10 — that will see Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau, welcomed by the Obamas.
Trudeau fired back Thursday evening on Twitter, telling the world he would bring Canada’s Olympic Gold medals from 2002 and 2010, both games which the Canadians beat the Americans.
The iconic trophy made an initial appearance at the White House on Thursday as the president greeted the 2015 Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.
“It is always fun to have the Stanley Cup here,” Obama said. “By the way, we’ve got a state dinner with Canada coming up, so we might just leave it right in the middle of the room – to gloat a little bit.”
Gloating gets a little harder, however, when you take a closer look at the Blackhawks roster. Out of a total of 37 players, 15 are Canadians. Only 10 are Americans.
The prime minister is a dedicated Montreal Canadiens fan, and recently responded to an attempt by the mayor of Toronto to hand him a Maple Leafs jersey by pulling up his pant leg to reveal Habs-themed socks.