In his first time hosting Saturday Night Live, Heated Rivalry breakout star Connor Storrie was a consummate pro while delivering his opening monologue — though his words provided an assist for the Team USA men’s hockey team to seemingly patch up its recent controversy.
Storrie began with the typical opener fare, poking fun at the Crave Canada show’s “spicy” scenes by showcasing a single-second clip of his character, Ilya Rozanov delivering the word “OK,” as the only one cleared to air for promo on broadcast.
In an extended bit, an earnest Storrie then pivoted to a trio of dramatic asides, in which he played up being a self-serious actor. But upon delving into the difficulties of his HR role — learning Russian and how to play hockey — he was interrupted by brothers Quinn Hughes and Jack Hughes, who were part of the men’s hockey team that won Olympic gold in Milan.
Quinn Hughes assured Storrie he was “great” at playing hockey on screen, while Jack Hughes said, “I got my teeth knocked out in the final, does that happen in your show?”
“Metaphorically,” Storrie replied cheekily, wagging his eyebrows at the Studio 8H audience.
But the applause the Hughes siblings got paled in comparison to the extended cheers received by Team USA women’s hockey champions Hilary Knight and Megan Keller, who also clinched Olympic gold.
“Don’t worry, we saw your show,” Keller told Storrie, after the Hughes brothers admitted they hadn’t watched Heated Rivalry yet.
It was a not-so-subtle truce to end the kerfuffle spurred by a locker room video that featured the men’s team, post-win, laughing along with President Donald Trump when he joked he had to reluctantly also invite the women’s team to the White House.
“It was gonna be just us, but we thought we’d invite the guys too,” Knight said knowingly.
Meanwhile, Quinn Hughes admitted that the last time the men won gold was 46 years ago, while the women did so two “whole Olympics ago.”
Watch the monologue above.
Admittedly, it’s frustrating that Storrie’s debut was overshadowed by the Hugheses having to awkwardly deliver redress for their team’s misogyny. Earlier this week, the two had appeared on Good Morning America and tepidly addressed the video, as well as the men’s team’s decision to visit with Trump in the Oval Office. (The women’s team declined the invitation.)
“I’m glad you mentioned the women’s team again. We’re extremely happy for them. Obviously, a lot going on with social media right now surrounding our team and their team,” Quinn Hughes said in part.
Meanwhile, Jack Hughes said during a press conference later: “It is what it is now, like, we have so much respect for the women’s team, they have so much respect for us, and we’re all just proud Americans. We’re happy that we both swept the Olympics.”
Knight told GMA Thursday, “I thought the call in itself was distasteful and an awesome learning moment to refocus the narrative and understand our words matter, and how we speak about women matters, and we need to celebrate this team.”