UW in position to build on its run to national title game
DURHAM, N.H. – Mark Johnson stood before his hockey team Sunday after its 1-0 loss to Ohio State in the national championship game and assured the players that the pain would ease. He knew the defeat hurt but that it should considering all the work and time invested. “We ended up winning 35 games this year and as I told the squad after the game, once the sting goes away and the hurt subsides and you reflect on your season, there is a lot to be proud of,” he said. “We still have a young team. I thought they did well this afternoon. They gave us an opportunity to win the game.” Indeed, the Badgers had so much success this season that its youth could be easily overlooked. There were just six seniors on the roster. (Ohio State, for the sake of comparison, had 15.) The picture looks even better moving forward when considering a senior like Casey O’Brien could use the COVID exemption awarded to athletes who competed in 2020-21 and return for a fifth year in 2024-25. Including O’Brien, Wisconsin would
return five of the six players who scored at least 30 points this season and six of the team’s top seven scorers overall. Its three first-team All-Americans, O’Brien and sophomores Kirsten Simms and Caroline Harvey, would also return.
The situation at goalie is stable, too, with freshman Ava McNaughton and redshirt junior Jane Gervais.
McNaugton had a .963 save percentage at the Frozen Four. She started the final six games after rotating with Gervais for most of the season.
“With her getting the experience she got all season, especially the last three or four weekends, that is going to help her down the road,” Johnson said. “It will help her for next year as she continues her career at Wisconsin.
“We had two freshmen defensemen in the lineup tonight. We had two sophomore defensemen who have been through this before. … Great experiences for those young players as we move forward.”
Wisconsin accomplishments
For the record, here are some of the
Badgers’ accomplishment in 2023-24.
* Three first-team American Hockey Coaches Association All-Americans for the second time in program history.
* Two Badgers named among the top three finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award for the first time (Simms and O’Brien, although neither won).
* WCHA Final Faceoff champions for the first time since 2021.
* At 35-6, UW tied its fourth-most wins in a season.
* A 15th Frozen Four appearance and 11th trip to the championship game.
There also could be a player or two who makes the national team for the world championships that will be played in New York next month. Seven Badgers – Harvey, Simms, O’Brien, graduate student Britta Curl, senior Anna Wilgren, junior Lacey Eden and sophomore Laila Edwards – are among the 39 players invited to the U.S. women’s national evaluation camp that runs Wednesday through Saturday.
“Definitely hit a lot of bumps in the road personally and as a team this year, but it helped our group grow stronger,” Harvey said. “We’re definitely going to use that going into next year. I wouldn’t have wanted to have done it with any other group. I’m so proud of these girls and how far we’ve come and we’re hungry for next year already.”