President Obama: ‘Phil Kessel is a Stanley Cup champion’

US President Barack Obama joins in on the Phil Kessel fun as the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins visit the White House.

The Phil Kessel victory tour has now touched down in Washington, D.C.

As the President of the United States of America welcomed the National Hockey League’s best team to the White House Thursday, he made sure to mention the Pittsburgh Penguins top playoff scorer.

“We are here to celebrate an extraordinary achievement,” President Obama began his address. “Phil Kessel is a Stanley Cup champion.”

The remark was greeted with laughter and applause and Phil’s face like this:

Watch Obama’s welcoming remarks in full here, which includes a Primanti Bros. sandwich joke and a nice shoutout to Trevor Daley:

Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton will have big shoes to fill when it comes to good-natured sports jokes.

Things have come full circle for the Penguins and Obama, the only President to have welcomed eight Cup-winning teams.

When Pittsburgh triumphed the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Final in 2009, it was Obama’s first year in office. Sidney Crosby & Co. traveled to the White House a few months later to meet the rookie POTUS.

“This is a nice bookend to my presidency,” Obama said. “Back in 2009, my hair matched the colour of the puck more than the ice. Sid the Kid was actually still a kid.”

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