Brunch & 'water' fuel Badgers' national title celebration
Wisconsin women's hockey takes to the sky, sea, and streets for hours on end after winning national championships
Madison, WI — After capping your senior season of college hockey by scoring the game-winning goal in the national championship game, when would you be ready to take off your jersey one last time? Before being the first table seated when doors open for brunch on Monday, or after closing down State Street?
“I haven’t taken it off,” Wisconsin women’s hockey center Marianne Picard said on Monday evening in Madison, more than 24 hours after her final game with the Wisconsin Badgers concluded. “I don’t think I will either for a long time.”
Picard assisted on that third-period game-winner. Her linemate, Claire Enright, scored the goal and is holding onto her sweater even more tightly.
“I did sleep in my jersey,” Enright remarked.
Wisconsin has now won an NCAA record nine women’s ice hockey national championships, including three of the last four and four of the last six titles. With plenty of reps in, the Badgers have the art of throwing a championship-worthy celebration down to a science: taking the party to air, land, and sea (or, lake, at least).
Wisconsin women’s hockey celebrates national title in Madison
After UW won the national title in 2025, captain Caroline Harvey described the bus ride back from the University of Minnesota’s Ridder Arena in a word: ‘loud.’
On one mode of transport or another, that tradition endures. When asked about her favorite part of the 24 hours after Wisconsin’s 3-2 victory in the 2026 national title game, Picard pointed to the plane ride from State College, Pennsylvania to Madison and then the bus ride from the airport to campus.
During that bus ride, the Badgers partook in some lively chants, but Picard, for one reason or another, declined to share specifics.
“I’m not going to tell you what the chants are,” she said with a chuckle, “But I like the chants on the bus.”
After Wisconsin’s late-night arrival home, the celebration continued into the early-morning hours.
“I feel like you don’t sleep, but you’re not tired,” Picard remarked. “You’re like, running on the high. I think I probably closed my eyes for like two minutes in the last 24 hours, but the excitement is there.”
That adrenaline kept the Badgers ready for another one of the fifth-year senior’s favorite post-championship traditions: Team breakfast when Bassett Street Brunch Club opens, bright and early.
“We got back at 3:00 a.m. I think,” UW’s alternate captain said. “And then we told the girls in the group chat, we’re getting brunch. 8:00 a.m. tomorrow. Set your alarm, 7:30.”
Lacey Eden’s lake-bound rollerblading
No one has had more opportunities to perfect the craft of the national championship celebration than Lacey Eden. The Wisconsin Badgers captain is the only player to win four NCAA national collegiate women’s ice hockey titles in history.
On Monday, the fourth 100-goal scorer in program history pulled off one of her signature moves: rollerblading into the frigid waters of Lake Mendota.
Eden’s teammates are familiar with the maneuver that has become a personal tradition of the Annapolis, Maryland native. So, after four trips off the pier for Eden, who takes the mantle if and when the Badgers capture national title number ten?
“Lacey’s coming back,” Enright said about the sixth-year senior. “I don’t really care.”
“A seventh year?” Picard responded.
“No, I know she’s not going to be on the team,” Enright admitted. “But I’m bringing her back no matter what, because nobody’s gonna do it like she does.”
Picard and Enright did point to sophomore forward Hannah Halverson, who followed Eden into the lake this year, albeit without rollerblades, so she is “one step” away, potentially preparing for the honor.
The duo that made the game-changing play in the national title game tossed around a couple of other names, including sophomore Finley McCarthy and rookie Charlotte Pieckenhagen, as potential candidates before Enright made a declaration.
“There’s a lot of people that could take over, honestly, but no one will ever be as famous as Lacey in that. So she’ll have to come back every time it happens again and we’ll have to video it again until she gets to be a grandma.”
One last ‘bittersweet’ celebration with fans inside LaBahn Arena
Wisconsin women’s hockey fans know the drill, too. Ahead of Monday evening’s celebratory event open to the public inside LaBahn Arena, the Wisconsin Badgers faithful lined up long before doors opened to see their national champions one more time.
Players do not take that dedication for granted either.
“These fans are the best in the country,” Enright said. “It’s just amazing to feel their support and see them come out once again, to even just celebrate us. Like, we’re not even playing a game now; they’re just coming to celebrate a win with us.”
“On a Monday afternoon!” Picard added.
With that welcome home celebration, capped by one final rendition of the UW-Madison alma mater, however, comes the realization that it is all coming to an end, a feeling Enright described as “bittersweet.”
“I was sad when it was the last ‘Varsity,’” Picard said of her last championship-go-around as a Badger. “During the game, the emotions are so high, and you’re kind of focused on the hockey part. And I feel like now that the dust is kind of settled, and then you see the fans, it’s like, okay, this is it. I’m never going to put this jersey on again after this week. So, yeah, I feel like today was kind of an emotional moment.”
“Each time I put this jersey on, it never gets old,” Enright added later. “It is just insane that we have all this support, and no one will ever have this in college hockey like we do.”
‘Water’ for everyone
The event at the rink is not where the team’s celebration ended, though. One of Enright’s favorite post-championship traditions still awaited. Wisconsin is accustomed to the calendar of winning a national championship and then going to an aptly named establishment the following evening.
“I feel like we always play on Sundays,” Enright began. “And so I feel like we always go to Mondays.”
“On Monday!” Enright and Picard declared in unison about the State Street establishment.
“The Neighborhood Bar on State” boasts a tagline on its website reading, “Generously poured, Graciously served,” along with a photo of the Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey team celebrating the 2021 national championship.
“They have really good water at Mondays,” Picard said.
“Well, yeah, we eat food there,” Enright added.
“Yeah, great restaurant, great institution,” Picard said at the interview’s close.
Per a Badger Breakaway investigation, the only food Mondays serves is popcorn.
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