U.S. Olympic hockey teams have Wisconsin flavor
Wisconsin will be well-represented on the other side of the world next month, when the U.S. men’s and women’s hockey teams compete in the Winter Olympics in South Korea.
The women’s team includes Madison native Amanda Kessel and four former University of Wisconsin players: forwards Meghan Duggan, Hilary Knight and Brianna Decker of Dousman and goaltender Alex Rigsby of Delafield.
Badgers senior forward Annie Pankowski was among the final cuts as the team reached its 23-player roster limit.
The men’s team includes winger Bobby Butler, who leads the Milwaukee Admirals in scoring with 13 goals and 25 points in 32 games.
Wisconsin head coach Tony Granato is the U.S. men's coach and his assistants include former Badgers star Chris Chelios. The general manager is Jim Johannson, another former UW player.
The team rosters were announced Monday during the NHL Winter Classic.
The NHL is not allowing its active players to participate in the Olympics for the first time since 1994. The men’s team consists of former NHL players, college players, minor-leaguers and players competing professionally in Europe.
Brian Gionta, 38, who played last
year for the Buffalo Sabres, is the team captain. He was the leading scorer on the 2006 U.S. Olympic team.
The team also includes Chris Bourque, the son of Hockey Hall of Famer Ray Bourque.
The U.S. women will be looking to end Canada’s streak of four consecutive Olympic gold medals. The Americans beat the Canadians to win gold in the inaugural women’s Olympic tournament in 1998 but since have settled for three silver medals and one bronze.
In 2014, Canada came back to tie the score in the final minutes and then beat the U.S. in overtime.
“It’s truly an honor to win an Olympic medal, but you have to lose to win silver and it just doesn’t feel good,” Knight said in a taped interview on NBC. “I’ve done it twice. We really need a gold medal. Our country is thirsty for the gold, and we’ve got to deliver.”
Duggan, the team captain, also is a two-time Olympian while Decker and Kessel were members of the 2014 silver medal-winning team.
“For us, it’s just staying focused on the process, sticking together and believing in ourselves and all the hard work we’ve put in,” Duggan said. “I’m excited for the world to see what we’ve got.”
Kessel, the younger sister of Pittsburgh Penguins forward Phil Kessel, will return to the Olympics after nearly retiring due to the effects of a concussion. She suffered the head injury in 2013 and recovered to play in Sochi, but the concussion effects returned and she sat out nearly two years.
The fierce Canada-U.S. rivalry is expected to culminate in the gold medal game again in Pyeongchang. The Canadians have some momentum, having beaten Team USA in the last four games of an eight-game pre-Olympic series that concluded two weeks ago.
The Canadian roster includes Emily Clark, a senior at Wisconsin, and four former Badgers: Ann-Renee Desbiens, Meaghan Mikkelson, Sarah Nurse and Blayre Turnbull.
Mikkelson helped Canada win gold in 2010 and ’14. Clark, Desbiens, Nurse and Turnbull will make their Olympic debuts.