Adam RittenbergMar 13, 2025, 07:40 AM ET
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- Faculty soccer reporter; joined ESPN in 2008. Graduate of Northwestern College.
Editor’s word: This tale, at the beginning printed March 13, used to be up to date after Wisconsin beat Ohio State within the nationwide championship sport March 23.
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin girls’s hockey trainer Mark Johnson used to be in his resort room in Bemidji, Minnesota, on Feb. 22, when his telephone buzzed at round 5:30 a.m.
Jack O’Callahan, Johnson’s teammate at the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey staff, had despatched a textual content message to the gang. Precisely 45 years previous, Group USA had delivered the “Miracle on Ice,” surprising the Soviet squad within the Olympic semifinals for one of the most largest upsets in sports activities historical past. O’Callahan, with time to burn after shedding his circle of relatives off on the airport, mirrored on a second that will without end bind the ones younger avid gamers.
“Oh my gosh, it is long,” Johnson, who scored two aims within the 4-3 win over the Russians, stated of O’Callahan’s textual content. “However it is amusing and stress-free, significant, impactful. It all the time places a grin in your face. Then, you take a look at the quantity — 45, that is a very long time in the past.”
Johnson is 67, an entire life got rid of from the Miracle. He confirmed as much as LaBahn Enviornment on Feb. 25 with a medical institution customer’s sticky label on his blouse. Previous that morning, he had stopped to peer his daughter, Mikayla, who had given start to a son, Johnson’s 9th grandchild.
Greater than maximum, Johnson understands why positive groups are remembered and others are forgotten. If Group USA had no longer overwhelmed the Soviets and long gone directly to win the gold, it would not be respected. There could be no “Miracle” film or lifetime hero standing for trainer Herb Brooks, or avid gamers like Johnson, O’Callahan and Mike Eruzione.
Groups are in the long run judged by way of the results they generate. Johnson’s present Wisconsin staff will likely be no other.
Through beating Ohio State 4-3 in an time beyond regulation mystery to win the nationwide championship, the Badgers will move down as most likely the best staff at school historical past. The victory gave Wisconsin 8 nationwide titles beneath Johnson, who has coached since 2002, and a document of 38-1-2.
Wisconsin is the preeminent program within the recreation. However best as soon as had the Badgers finished a season with just one loss, again in 2006-07, and that staff had 4 ties. The Badgers have outscored their warring parties 221-48 and received 25 video games by way of 4 aims or extra.
Wisconsin’s Kirsten Simms celebrates after scoring the tying target on a penalty shot with 18 seconds left in law. She additionally scored the winner in time beyond regulation. Bailey Hillesheim/Icon Sportswire
They roll 4 traces comfortably and no letup, boast elite forwards in Casey O’Brien, Laila Edwards and Kristen Simms, two-way skills like Edwards and Caroline “Ok.Ok.” Harvey and a fort in Ava McNaughton, who stopped just about 95% of the photographs she confronted this season. Wisconsin’s roster is full of nationwide award applicants and long term Olympians. O’Brien received the Patty Kazmaier Award, given to the country’s best participant, changing into the primary Wisconsin winner since Ann-Renée Desbiens in 2017.
“I don’t believe anyone absolutely grasps how excellent this staff is and the way particular this season has been,” O’Brien stated.
However hockey is a humorous recreation. An ungainly leap of the puck or a superhuman goaltending effort can shift results. The most productive groups do not all the time win, as Wisconsin can attest. The Badgers had 35-win squads in 2015-16 and ultimate season that did not seize nationwide titles.
The randomness of hockey effects is why Johnson desires his staff all for summary aims, even all through a month full of tangible, legacy-defining ones.
“I all the time name it enjoying loose,” Johnson stated. “It is going at the ice, particularly past due within the season, and simply being loose and hanging a grin in your face. Should you get to that house, you normally play personally at an actual prime stage. After which jointly, are we able to do this as a bunch?”
“I don’t believe anyone absolutely grasps how excellent this staff is,” stated Casey O’Brien, the Patty Kazmaier award winner. David Stluka/Wisconsin Athletics
ON THE FIRST day of preseason apply, Wisconsin assistant trainer Jackie Crum appeared out on the ice and preferred what she noticed. Crum, greater than maximum, is aware of what nice Wisconsin groups will have to seem like.
Again when she used to be Jackie Friesen, she performed for Wisconsin from 2001 to 2005 and served as an undergraduate assistant for Johnson’s first nationwide name staff in 2006. Crum has been at the bench for 4 nationwide championships as a full-time assistant.
“You take a look at your lineup chart and you might be like, ‘Oh, wow,'” Crum stated. “Any of those youngsters can play. We have not had that deep stage.”
Even the 2023-24 staff, which fell simply wanting repeating as nationwide champions when it misplaced 1-0 to Ohio State, ended the season rotating best 10 forwards. Because the 2024-25 season neared, Wisconsin projected to have 4 sturdy traces and a couple of protection pairings that would hang up opposed to the push.
The video games validated Crum’s optimism. Wisconsin opened with a 12-0 win opposed to Lindenwood and received each and every of its first seven video games by way of 4 aims or extra. After rallying from a three-goal deficit to overcome Minnesota 4-3 at the street, the Badgers recorded 4 consecutive shutouts opposed to Bemidji State and St. Cloud State, scoring a complete of 20 aims to their warring parties’ none.
“When we do not beat a staff by way of so much, it virtually appears like we did not play neatly, love it’s just a little bit disappointing, despite the fact that a win is a win,” O’Brien stated.
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Wisconsin entered the NCAA event main the country in each issues (576) and aims (207), whilst the No. 2 staff had 391 issues and 207 aims. The Badgers had the country’s best 3 assists leaders — O’Brien, Simms and Harvey — whilst Edwards ranked 5th. They led the country in each energy play proportion (.361) and penalty kill proportion (.916).
Coming into the event, Edwards ranked 3rd in aims in line with sport, whilst 4 Badgers had been within the best 11. McNaughton had six extra wins than another goalie, and led the country in goals-against moderate whilst score moment in save proportion (.947).
“Numerous the groups I have been on, we now have both been more potent at ahead, more potent on D, and it is all the time labored out, however one thing about this 12 months, it is like each and every unmarried facet,” Edwards stated. “We have now were given a really perfect energy play, nice penalty kill, we are scoring, we are having amusing. I simply assume, yeah, it is a particular staff.”
Wisconsin additionally has qualities outdoor of the stat sheet that normally translate towards championship runs. A core of eleven avid gamers stays from the ultimate nationwide name staff, together with O’Brien, who led that squad with 48 issues, and defenders Vivian Jungels and Harvey, who had been plus-45 and plus-42 at the season, respectively. Lots of the staff additionally skilled the heartbreak of ultimate March, when the Badgers had been close out for simply the second one time all season, within the largest sport.
There is additionally revel in won from Group USA’s collegiate make a selection staff, which Harvey captained to a win within the Six International locations event in Finland ultimate 12 months. Seven different present Badgers competed for that squad, whilst 4 others performed for Group Canada. Harvey additionally helped Group USA win a silver medal on the 2022 Wintry weather Olympics, and numerous others have already had in depth world hockey careers.
“What is nice about having a mixture of younger and older, extra skilled avid gamers, is we now have been in those spots prior to,” Harvey stated. “I simply stay reminding the more youthful ladies, ‘Hiya, we are going for this factor. You’ll’t be scared. You have to be in a position for the chance, regardless of who it’s. It might be you guys. Do not glance down the bench. Simply make it occur.’
“There will have to be no worry, simply pleasure.”
The no-fear means feeds into Johnson’s major goal for a staff the place the rest wanting a championship will likely be deemed a unhappiness.
“They are able to play at an actual prime stage,” he stated. “They have got proven it the world over, they have got proven it of their time right here. Now, when they are enjoying neatly, can they play loose and no longer concern concerning the worry of no longer enjoying neatly?”
Laila Edwards, a 30-goal scorer for Wisconsin, has a different courting with Badgers rival Ohio State. David Stluka/Wisconsin Athletics
MARCH IS A hectic month in girls’s school hockey, as championships are received and person honors are passed out. As Wisconsin chases staff titles, for the WCHA after which the NCAA, it additionally will have to care for the flow of awards — and most likely snubs — coming to the most productive roster within the recreation.
“Swiftly, they arrive out with a roster for the arena championships, and right here comes the WCHA staff, right here comes the participant of the 12 months,” Johnson stated. “All these items is available in and it will possibly have an have an effect on in your workforce. I will have to have made second-team, I will have to have made first-team, that is all a part of what we undergo. However are you able to take the ones distractions and do away with them?”
4 Wisconsin avid gamers — O’Brien, Harvey, Edwards and Simms — had been named a number of the 10 finalists for the Patty Kazmaier award. The Badgers claimed the WCHA’s ahead of the 12 months (O’Brien), defender of the 12 months (Harvey) and trainer of the 12 months (Johnson) awards. 5 avid gamers — Edwards, Harvey, McNaughton, Simms and Lacey Eden — had been named to the Group USA roster for the 2025 Global Ice Hockey Federation girls’s global championship, to be performed subsequent month in Czechia.
O’Brien admits the award buzz can have an effect on how people play, and in the long run shift the staff’s efficiency. A place on nationwide groups is each and every hockey participant’s dream, particularly those that play for a Group USA legend in Johnson.
However O’Brien is assured in herself and Wisconsin’s different leaders to not let the rest derail their staff. Particular person popularity is not new for the Badgers stars. Plus, they are able to’t keep watch over who finally ends up the place or with what awards.
“On the finish of the day, none of that issues,” O’Brien stated. “Whilst you step into the Wisconsin locker room, we are our personal staff. We’ve our personal values. We are enjoying for each and every different. We are not enjoying to get a place at the subsequent roster.”
Each sport of the NCAA girls’s hockey event, together with the Frozen 4, will likely be streaming on ESPN+. Subscribe to observe.
The Badgers’ huge revel in is not the one factor that is helping them care for popularity. This actual Wisconsin staff celebrates the whole thing. When they are reviewing sport or apply movie and spot a powerful again test, they “get started screaming for, like, 5 mins,” O’Brien stated.
When Paul Valukas, Wisconsin’s energy and conditioning trainer, just lately offered a brand new intern to the staff, avid gamers erupted into applause.
“We don’t have any thought who this woman is, however everyone’s simply screaming,” O’Brien stated. “It is only a humorous surroundings. However any time you more or less get identified for one thing, you simply really feel that improve from everyone.”
Wisconsin’s dominance has created only a few authentic moments of adversity, however there were some. After a 5-0 win at Minnesota, the Badgers discovered themselves down 3-0 the following evening, halfway thru the second one length. They scored 4 immediately aims to win.
“I did not see a surrender,” Crum stated. “I felt this self belief at the bench, like, ‘Yeah, we are gonna get the following one.'”
Minnesota additionally driven Wisconsin on Saturday evening within the WCHA championship, as neither staff led by way of greater than a target prior to the Badgers responded a Gophers target within the ultimate minute with certainly one of their very own to be successful 4-3.
Instead of Minnesota, just one opponent has in reality examined Wisconsin, a notable and acquainted foe: Ohio State. The Buckeyes passed the Badgers their best law loss, long ago on Nov. 16. After a 6-0 Wisconsin blowout at LaBahn Enviornment on Jan. 2, the groups met two days later at Chicago’s Wrigley Box, the place it used to be 24 levels at puck drop.
The sport featured 3 ties and two lead adjustments, and could not be determined in law. Ohio State’s Jenna Buglioni beat McNaughton for the one target of the shootout, giving the Buckeyes the additional level within the standings, despite the fact that the sport is going within the books as a tie.
“They are our rival, normally on the finish of the 12 months,” Harvey stated. “It is all the time a problem enjoying them and making an attempt to determine that one further cross or shot that is going to overcome them, as a result of clearly, the ultimate two years, it is been 1-0, a detailed sport the entire approach up till the top.”
Sunday’s nationwide championship sport took issues to some other stage, as Wisconsin wanted a penalty-shot target by way of Kirsten Simms with 18 seconds to play in law to tie the Buckeyes 3-3 prior to Simms struck once more in time beyond regulation to win it.
The Ohio State sequence is non-public for Edwards, who grew up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, however left to wait highschool and play for a best prep program in Rochester, New York. She would observe her older sister, Chayla, a defenseman for Wisconsin, and play for the Badgers.
“My complete circle of relatives is obsessive about Ohio State soccer, and I nonetheless love gazing their soccer staff, however soccer best,” Edwards stated with a grin. “I am all the time getting questions, like, ‘Why did not you move there? You might be from Ohio.’ I went to where that checked off all my packing containers, and so being at the different facet of the competition, oh neatly, so be it. It is humorous to peer Ohio at the different facet of my competition.”
Mark Johnson has been Wisconsin’s trainer 2002, profitable 8 nationwide titles with the Badgers. David Stluka/Wisconsin Athletics
JOHNSON ISN’T A large numbers man. He leaves the ones to his longtime assistants, Crum and Dan Koch. Johnson will depend on what he sees, hears and feels from the bench.
He coaches throughout the lens of a former participant. Johnson understands what it is love to be a celebrity, which he used to be at Wisconsin — he helped the Badgers to the 1977 nationwide name and earned All-The usa and WCHA honors — after which with Group USA and within the NHL, the place made the 1984 All-Celebrity Recreation as a member of the Hartford Whalers. However he additionally understands the lifetime of a fourth liner, which he used to be as an NHL rookie with Pittsburgh, not sure of the way lengthy he’d be at hockey’s best possible stage.
“The mindset they are in, I have been in that mindset,” Johnson stated. “I lend a hand them information thru that as a result of, on the finish of the day, very similar to our 1980 staff and different groups that I performed on that had been excellent and had a possibility on the finish, you wish to have everyone. Your 4 to 6 mins or 8 mins are similarly as essential as her 15 to 18 mins. What are you going to do with that? Are you going to embody it? Are you going to possess it?”
Edwards calls it “an honor” to play for Johnson, including that whilst Johnson hardly talks about his previous, the avid gamers are very acutely aware of what he achieved lengthy prior to they had been born. She will get chills when memes of the 1980 Wintry weather Olympics seem in her social media feed. Edwards estimates she has watched the “Miracle” film no less than 50 instances. When O’Brien attended her brother Max’s senior day sport at Colby Faculty, she used to be peppered with questions on what it is love to play for Johnson.
She and Edwards credit score Johnson for no longer making Wisconsin all about himself. He does not overcoach and encourages them to show off their person skills inside some key parameters.
“On the finish of the day, he is aware of that he is no longer the only at the ice, up to he needs he may nonetheless be,” Edwards stated. “We are the ones who must get the process accomplished.”
In fact Johnson enters the NCAA event with a loaded roster and as a heavy favourite — just like the 1980 Soviets did, versus the squad for which he performed 45 years in the past. Any win over Wisconsin, even coming from Ohio State, could be thought to be an disappointed. Through taking house the nationwide name, in the meantime, the Badgers move down as one of the most very best groups since Minnesota’s undefeated 2012-13 squad — the gold usual within the recreation.
Edwards thinks it is vital that avid gamers procedure what the season may imply. The liberty that Johnson desires comes with no longer being frightened of both failure and, most likely, immortality.
“If and when this staff reaches its possible, we will be capable of win each and every sport that we play, beat any staff that we play, and feature amusing whilst doing it,” Edwards stated. “After we’re at our very best sport and all operating in combination, I don’t believe any individual can beat us.”
