Team USA gold medalists, Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin, took to the ice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex without the rest of their Vegas Golden Knights teammates on Thursday.
After the Capitals’ optional skate, Eichel and Hanifin ambled onto the ice wearing their Team USA gear. The Golden Knights play the Capitals on Friday night at Capital One Arena, but had not yet arrived in DC.
Eichel and Hanifin were already in town ahead of their teammates after getting a tour of the White House and meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday. They later attended the State of the Union Address, where they were honored by the president during the speech, and Connor Hellebuyck was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
On Wednesday, the two newly minted Olympic champions then joined ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt in-studio, where he films at the ABC News Washington Bureau building in DC.
Bill Bride, a photographer, attended Capitals practice hoping to see the full squad skate, but only a few players took the ice. He instead got a nice surprise when the USA Olympians showed up.
“I went to practice thinking maybe it was with a full squad, but with a game the night before, I realized it was an optional practice,” Bride said. “I shoot high school sports in Loudoun County and like to make it out to Caps practice a couple times a month. It was a short practice, so I packed up my Nikon D5 and 70-200mm f2.8 Nikon lens and was heading out when I saw Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin getting in some work. Then I remembered they did not fly back to Las Vegas since the team was playing in Washington on Friday night. It was a thrill because I was still on a rush from the gold medal win over Canada, and that they were skating in their USA practice gear made it that much cooler.”
Here are his photos from their skate.
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