U.S. President Barack Obama will host Stanley Cup champions the Pittsburgh Penguins at the White House next week.
Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, coach Dan Bylsma and the rest of the Penguins players and coaching staff are scheduled to get the presidential treatment on the evening of Sept. 10.
Obama is an avowed sports fan, but hockey is admittedly not one of his areas of expertise.
After receiving a hockey stick from the University of North Dakota on the campaign trail last year, he said, "It will have a place of honour in my office, but I promise you I will not wield it because my hockey game is worse than my bowling,"
The remark was in reference to Obama's ill-fated attempt to bowl earlier in the year at a Pennsylvania bowling alley.
When he became president-elect, the Chicago native was invited by the Blackhawks to attend the Winter Classic at Wrigley Field on New Year's Day, but he decided the time was better spent vacationing with his family and friends in Hawaii.
Obama took a modest first step since becoming president, awkwardly name-dropping his new hometown's hockey superstar.
"As a resident of Washington, D.C., I continue to benefit from the contributions of Russians — specifically, from Alexander Ovechkin," he said at a speech in Moscow two months ago.
When pressed by a reporter on the issue, Obama called Ovechkin "outstanding" and said he loved watching hockey but that it wasn't exactly on his short list of favourite sports when he grew up in Hawaii.
Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, regularly hosted the Stanley Cup winners and received attention for mispronouncing the name of Detroit Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman.
