A Badger women's hockey first: Brianna Decker in Hockey Hall of Fame
Decker's former Wisconsin women's hockey coach, and the current Wisconsin Badgers captains, reflect on Decker's legacy
With a legacy built on national championships and gaudy records, if you see a Wisconsin women’s hockey player accomplish a program-first, it is undoubtedly a special moment. There will perhaps be no moment more special than the Wisconsin Badgers having their first player enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
When Brianna Decker joined the Badgers in the fall of 2009, Wisconsin had firmly established itself as a powerhouse. Coming off four-straight national title game appearances, three national titles in four years, and five straight NCAA Tournament appearances, the bar was as high as it could be in a program that, a decade earlier, had not yet played a game.
Decker did not back down from the challenge she saw in Wisconsin’s record books. Instead, she rewrote them, flipped the hockey world on its head with a nearly decade-long professional career, and, on Monday night, became the first Badgers women’s hockey player inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Ontario.
In an age of redshirts, COVID exemptions, and immediate eligibility after entering the transfer portal, some of Decker’s records have fallen, but what remains is more transcendent: a legacy for other Wisconsin natives, women and girls, and dreamers to follow.
“We as a staff here in Madison are certainly proud of her for what she did for us, but more importantly what she’s doing now with the game of hockey after playing,” Wisconsin women’s hockey head coach Mark Johnson said.
But she did also leave behind a seemingly untouchable record of 1.71 points per game at UW.
Brianna Decker’s Hockey Hall of Fame induction speech starts with Badger surprise
Decker’s induction began with some Badgers flair even before her speech. As she took the stage, Chris Chelios, a national champion with the Wisconsin men’s hockey team and 2013 Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, greeted Decker with her plaque, making the induction official.
“If you just looked around the room, who was getting inducted last night, and it was like who’s who and very impressive,” Johnson said of the star-studded and Badger-brimmed event. “And then, you know, have Brianna up there giving her speech and being inducted.”
Telling her hockey story, Decker appeared to ad-lib just one line of her written remarks: an excited “go Badgers!” when beginning to speak of her time in Madison.
“Those years were transformative for me,” the 2012 Patty Kazmiaer Award winner recalled. “We weren’t just building a team; we were building a family. And we pushed each other every single day. It wasn’t just the wins or the titles that made it special. It was the accountability and the trust that we had, and the love that we had for one another.”
“That’s part of what we try to do,” Johnson said. “I mean, obviously, you want to win games, you know, you’re trying to chase the next championship, but along the way, I think more importantly, you want to impact them and mentor them, you know, off the ice.”
During Decker’s time at Wisconsin, the Badgers did plenty of winning. En route to a 2011 national championship, Decker scored a program-record 12 game-winning goals. Her Badgers-record 75 goals in WCHA play lifted Wisconsin to back-to-back conference titles in 2011 and 2012. Over the course of those two seasons, Decker recorded a point in 32 straight games—a point streak seven games longer, and with 20 more points scored, than any other in Wisconsin women’s hockey history.
Wisconsin women’s hockey Hall of Famer turns to coaching
Now, Decker is using her championship experience off the ice, but not away from it. After winning an Olympic Gold Medal at the 2018 Winter Games, the former Badgers captain took up coaching with Team USA’s Under-18 women’s national team before becoming the Associate Head Coach for the Shattuck-St. Mary’s prep girls’ hockey team. Finally, this winter, she will make her debut as a coach in the professional hockey ranks with the PWHL Minnesota Frost.
“We as a staff here in Madison are certainly proud of her; what she did for us, but more importantly, what she’s doing now with the game of hockey after playing,” Johnson said. “She’s giving back; she’s been part of Shattuck, her prep school, for a number of years, and now obviously going to step into the pro world, pro hockey up in Minnesota. So, well-earned, well-deserved, very proud of her.”
Current Wisconsin captain, Caroline Harvey, made her Olympic debut in 2022, Decker’s final of three appearances at the Games. Before taking the ice together as competitors, they had the opportunity to bond as player and coach. Harvey, along with UW alternate captain Lacey Eden, learned under Decker’s tutelage at the 2019 and 2020 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championships.
“Now, being a coach myself, I see things from a different perspective. But I see the same fire, the same dreams, and the same drive with the players that I work with,” Decker said of her future in hockey. “And my mission is simple: to pass on everything that was given to me, and to be the kind of mentor, teammate, and coach that my hockey family was for me.”
According to her former students and teammates, the six-time World Championship gold medalist is doing just that.
“It’s super special to see her succeed like that, and it’s super special for her, and we’re really happy for her,” said Eden.”
“It’s unbelievable to see that and just the legacy she left and how many people she’s inspired and what she really has done for women’s hockey,” Harvey added. “It was — I got chills watching that [induction ceremony.] I’m just so proud of her.”
Brianna Decker serves as inspiration
Whether it is Eden, Harvey, or any other young woman or girl growing up in hockey, Decker serves as a trailblazer. The first, with many more sure to come, of Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey standouts inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
“She’s one that got a chance to do it all and to do it at a real high level and for all her efforts and all her commitment and all her hard work she got rewarded in a lot of special areas,” Johnson reflected. “Whether it was a national championship, Patty Kazmaier, world championship gold medals, Olympic Gold Medal, I mean you look at her resume it’s quite impressive.”
Those accolades, while impressive, will not be Decker’s lasting legacy in Wisconsin nor in hockey writ large. Johnson, reminiscing on a “Skate with the Badgers” event, saw the throughlines between what the newest Hockey Hall of Fame inductee has done for the game, and what the players on his current team can be for the next generation.
“They get a chance to skate with our players and i’m sure some of them you know when they’re young look up to Laila Edwards, look up to KK [Harvey], look up to some other players and say oh boy would I love to do that one day.”
Before Edwards, Harvey, or Eden, there was Decker. A Dousman, Wisconsin native who, at the time she joined the Wisconsin Badgers, had never seen a woman in the pantheon of hockey’s greats enshrined in Toronto.
“Decker growing up in Wisconsin, not too far from Madison, you know, she got the impression somewhere along the line that hey, you know, girls can play hockey, and oh, I wanna play hockey,” Johnson said of his former player turned role model.
“To every young player out there, dreaming of what is possible, know it’s not about how many goals you score or how many games you win, it’s about the people you meet. The relationships you build and the character you grow, that truly is the real reward,” Decker said, nearing the finish of her induction speech.
“And finally, for every young girl out there, never let anyone tell you a woman can’t be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.”
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