The Quinnipiac University men’s ice hockey team accepted an invitation from President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden to celebrate the team’s 2023 NCAA Division I national championship at the White House on June 12.

“Championship teams being honored at the White House is one of the great traditions in our sports culture, and we are very excited to be invited,” head coach Rand Pecknold wrote in a June 7 press release. “We embraced the grind from day one and our players and staff continue to be rewarded for it.”

The Bobcats, who secured Quinnipiac’s first NCAA national championship on April 8, are scheduled to attend a ceremony at 11:30 a.m. Monday on the White House’s South Lawn as part of “College Athlete Day.”

“We’re delighted that our championship team will have the honor of visiting with President Biden at the White House, an occasion that will add to the indelible memories of the win for the coaches and the student-athletes,” Quinnipiac University President Judy Olian wrote in the release. 

Connecticut’s five representatives and two senators previously urged Biden to invite the Bobcats to Washington, D.C. 

“As proud members of the Connecticut delegation, we join the entire state in celebrating the Quinnipiac Bobcats on their historic season and extraordinary victory,” the seven Connecticut lawmakers wrote in an April 20 letter to Biden. “We hope you are able to honor the Bobcats at the White House in recognition of their incredible achievements.”

The state’s congressional delegates also sponsored resolutions in both the Senate and the House of Representatives to congratulate the team’s national championship.

“We are most grateful to the governor, and to our Congressional delegation for advocating for this visit after a season that has brought so much pride to the Bobcat community, and to the entire state of Connecticut,” Olian wrote.

The team will attend the June 12 ceremony at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. alongside dozens of other men’s and women’s national championship-winning teams from colleges across the country and from a range of NCAA Division I sports.

“I can’t wait to be part of yet another once-in-a-lifetime experience with our Bobcat family,” Pecknold wrote.