Twin Pucks
When Wisconsin’s two hockey teams each brought home national titles, it marked an unprecedented feat. But winning isn’t all these programs have in common.
By Dan Uttech ’01
By Dan Uttech ’01
One day after watching the men’s hockey team win its first national championship since 1990, UW athletic director Barry Alvarez stood in the company of champions and declared: “We own college hockey!”
You could argue that Alvarez, the former football coach and newly addicted Badger hockey fan, was caught up in the euphoria of the moment. But no college hockey program had ever had a moment like this. Flanking Alvarez were two tall trophies, marking the first time in NCAA history that a university won both the men’s and women’s national championships. The women paved the way, routing Minnesota, 3–0, on the last weekend in March to win the program’s first NCAA title. Two weeks later, the men completed the sweep with a thrilling 2–1 victory over Boston College.
At a jubilant rally the following day, more than two thousand Badger fans turned out to celebrate the dual championships. “To bring home two national championships in one year is just over the top,” Chancellor John Wiley MS’65, PhD’68 told the gathering.
For the Badger hockey programs, the joint celebration was fitting, because this year’s teams have been linked by so many similarities. That each wound up hoisting national championship trophies is only the beginning.
Each team, for example, is led by a former Badger legend. Women’s coach Mark Johnson ’94 and men’s coach Mike Eaves ’78 were teammates on the UW’s 1977 national championship team, and Johnson trails only Eaves as the program’s career leading scorer. (Johnson completed his UW degree after his National Hockey League career.) Both coaches took their jobs in 2002, and each built his program to a championship level in four seasons on the job.
You could argue that Alvarez, the former football coach and newly addicted Badger hockey fan, was caught up in the euphoria of the moment. But no college hockey program had ever had a moment like this. Flanking Alvarez were two tall trophies, marking the first time in NCAA history that a university won both the men’s and women’s national championships. The women paved the way, routing Minnesota, 3–0, on the last weekend in March to win the program’s first NCAA title. Two weeks later, the men completed the sweep with a thrilling 2–1 victory over Boston College.
At a jubilant rally the following day, more than two thousand Badger fans turned out to celebrate the dual championships. “To bring home two national championships in one year is just over the top,” Chancellor John Wiley MS’65, PhD’68 told the gathering.
For the Badger hockey programs, the joint celebration was fitting, because this year’s teams have been linked by so many similarities. That each wound up hoisting national championship trophies is only the beginning.
Each team, for example, is led by a former Badger legend. Women’s coach Mark Johnson ’94 and men’s coach Mike Eaves ’78 were teammates on the UW’s 1977 national championship team, and Johnson trails only Eaves as the program’s career leading scorer. (Johnson completed his UW degree after his National Hockey League career.) Both coaches took their jobs in 2002, and each built his program to a championship level in four seasons on the job.
This season, both Eaves and Johnson could call on a national player-of-the- year candidate to lead their squads. Junior Sara Bauer led the women’s team in scoring and won the Patty Kazmaier Award, given to the nation’s top player. For the men, junior goaltender Brian Elliott was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award and earned first-team All-America honors. Both coaches surrounded their stars with plenty of homegrown talent: thirteen players on the men’s roster hail from Wisconsin, as do eight on the women’s team.
The connections don’t end there. The teams’ top goal scorers — sophomore Jinelle Zaugg and junior Robbie Earl — each netted twenty-four scores. Their leading scorers (combining goals and assists) were underclassmen — Bauer for the women, and sophomore Joe Pavelski for the men. And each team had a Burish as captain. Adam ’06 was a fifth-year senior for the men’s team, while his sister Nikki ’06 was a senior co-captain for the women.
The Burishes, from Verona, Wisconsin, were the first brother and sister to skate for the Badgers, forcing their parents at times to choose which team’s games to attend.
“[Our parents] said all year, ‘We’re only going to watch the number one team in the country.’ So when the girls were number one, they watched the number one team in the country, and when we were number one, they watched us,” Adam says. “What a neat problem to have.”
With all that in common, Wisconsin’s hockey teams seemed destined to wind up in the same place. But destiny’s course is usually riddled with storms. And this, too, links the teams.
In January, both teams stood atop the national rankings, the first time in history they’d held those spots at the same time. Things were looking bright for the Badgers, but the storm clouds were gathering.
The connections don’t end there. The teams’ top goal scorers — sophomore Jinelle Zaugg and junior Robbie Earl — each netted twenty-four scores. Their leading scorers (combining goals and assists) were underclassmen — Bauer for the women, and sophomore Joe Pavelski for the men. And each team had a Burish as captain. Adam ’06 was a fifth-year senior for the men’s team, while his sister Nikki ’06 was a senior co-captain for the women.
The Burishes, from Verona, Wisconsin, were the first brother and sister to skate for the Badgers, forcing their parents at times to choose which team’s games to attend.
“[Our parents] said all year, ‘We’re only going to watch the number one team in the country.’ So when the girls were number one, they watched the number one team in the country, and when we were number one, they watched us,” Adam says. “What a neat problem to have.”
With all that in common, Wisconsin’s hockey teams seemed destined to wind up in the same place. But destiny’s course is usually riddled with storms. And this, too, links the teams.
In January, both teams stood atop the national rankings, the first time in history they’d held those spots at the same time. Things were looking bright for the Badgers, but the storm clouds were gathering.
The men’s team had an 18-2-2 record and was heading into a big weekend series with Denver when its star goalie, Elliott, injured his knee during practice. He missed the next eight games, and the Badgers lost seven of their next ten. Elliott regained his health and his form in time to help Wisconsin win nine of its last ten games and earn the number one seed in the NCAA tournament.
“I’m proud of our players and our coaching staff, in the way we handled the adverse situations that we had,” Eaves says. “We stayed focused on trying to control the things we could. You need the recognition that there are things out of your control — things that you hope fall into place.”
The women’s team lost its top ranking after back-to-back conference losses in early February, the only time all year the team dropped consecutive games. The latter was a 3-1 defeat to Minnesota, whom the UW would face again in the national title game.
Women’s goaltender Jessie Vetter also overcame health problems, missing the first eight weeks of the season while battling mononucleosis. But like Elliott, the redshirt freshman recovered in epic fashion, earning an 11–1 record and becoming the first woman to post two shutouts in the Frozen Four, where she was named as the tournament’s most outstanding player.
“I’m proud of our players and our coaching staff, in the way we handled the adverse situations that we had,” Eaves says. “We stayed focused on trying to control the things we could. You need the recognition that there are things out of your control — things that you hope fall into place.”
The women’s team lost its top ranking after back-to-back conference losses in early February, the only time all year the team dropped consecutive games. The latter was a 3-1 defeat to Minnesota, whom the UW would face again in the national title game.
Women’s goaltender Jessie Vetter also overcame health problems, missing the first eight weeks of the season while battling mononucleosis. But like Elliott, the redshirt freshman recovered in epic fashion, earning an 11–1 record and becoming the first woman to post two shutouts in the Frozen Four, where she was named as the tournament’s most outstanding player.
After enduring regular-season storms, the UW squads each caught a break in the NCAA tournament schedules, playing all their matches within easy driving distance of Madison. The men never left the state, winning two games in Green Bay before advancing to the Frozen Four round in Milwaukee. After hosting the first round in nearby Middleton, the women’s team traveled up I-94 to Minneapolis for the Frozen Four. And although the women ultimately had to defeat Minnesota on its home ice, a huge Badger crowd turned out for virtually all of the teams’ tournament games. Some fans, including Alvarez, the Burishes, and even a tuba player from the Alumni Band, traveled back and forth between Minneapolis and Green Bay to catch both the men’s first round games and the women’s Frozen Four.
“We live in a real unique city, and we have an unbelievable university,” Johnson says. “But the support [the fans] give to us is unmatched anywhere in the country.”
In their tournaments, both Badger teams survived multiple-overtime games to advance to the Frozen Four. The women needed two overtime periods, a total of 90 minutes and 10 seconds, to top Mercyhurst, 2–1. The men went to three overtime periods — 111 minutes and 13 seconds — to defeat Cornell, 1–0. And to add to the similarities, the winning goals in both games were scored by freshman forwards: Tia Hanson for the women, Jack Skille for the men.
“We live in a real unique city, and we have an unbelievable university,” Johnson says. “But the support [the fans] give to us is unmatched anywhere in the country.”
In their tournaments, both Badger teams survived multiple-overtime games to advance to the Frozen Four. The women needed two overtime periods, a total of 90 minutes and 10 seconds, to top Mercyhurst, 2–1. The men went to three overtime periods — 111 minutes and 13 seconds — to defeat Cornell, 1–0. And to add to the similarities, the winning goals in both games were scored by freshman forwards: Tia Hanson for the women, Jack Skille for the men.
So was it all destiny, a predetermined course that drew both teams toward the top?
“Destiny is a combination of preparation meeting opportunity,” says Eaves.
“It’s the habits that form and what you do with opportunities,” adds Johnson. “In order to get opportunities, you have to prepare and have things go your way.”
Eaves notes that it was Forrest Gump who said: “I don’t know if we each have a destiny, or if we’re all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze, but I, I think maybe it’s both.”
Maybe it was destiny, maybe it was “floating around accidental-like,” and maybe it was both. Whatever you choose to believe, some force underlies this unique and landmark year for Badger hockey, a year that led members of the women’s team to start labeling Wisconsin as “the new state of hockey.” Destiny is one word for it, but historians may some day look back on the unprecedented achievements of 2006 and choose another term:
Legacy.
“Destiny is a combination of preparation meeting opportunity,” says Eaves.
“It’s the habits that form and what you do with opportunities,” adds Johnson. “In order to get opportunities, you have to prepare and have things go your way.”
Eaves notes that it was Forrest Gump who said: “I don’t know if we each have a destiny, or if we’re all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze, but I, I think maybe it’s both.”
Maybe it was destiny, maybe it was “floating around accidental-like,” and maybe it was both. Whatever you choose to believe, some force underlies this unique and landmark year for Badger hockey, a year that led members of the women’s team to start labeling Wisconsin as “the new state of hockey.” Destiny is one word for it, but historians may some day look back on the unprecedented achievements of 2006 and choose another term:
Legacy.
Find out more about the UW men's and women's hockey teams.
Read about previous UW hockey titles.
Download a list of Badger NCAA champions. (PDF file)
A printable version of this article is available in PDF form.
