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MADISON – Late Monday night the four Wisconsin women’s hockey players who helped Team USA win the gold medal at the Olympics exited their flight at the Dane County Regional Airport and were greeted by a police escort.
It was time to get back to campus and get back to work.
Seniors Caroline Harvey and Laila Edwards admittedly took it easy and eased back into college life on Day 1. Kirsten Simms and Ava McNaughton took the opposite approach.
Simms, another senior, practiced and fought through jet lag to show up to class where her presence caught the instuctor by surprise “My (teacher's assistant) was actually like, what are you doing here?,” she said. “Didn’t you just get back?”
McNaughton, a junior goaltender, topped that. She went to her job in the genetics lab in the biotech building.
“It's just an hourly job and I work to help the research team there and so it's kind of helping me work towards going to medical school,” she said. “It helps with the application to be involved with research and that kind of thing.”
The moral of the story is that life gets back to normal quickly when you’re an Olympian who is also a college athlete whose season is about to kick into the postseason mode.
McNaughton, Simms, Edwards and Harvey will go from winning the gold medal in Italy on Feb. 19 to the playing in the first round of the WCHA playoffs Feb. 27 and 28 versus Bemidji State at LaBahn Arena. The transition back involves not only catching up on assignments but also adjusting to the 7-hour time difference.
“Definitely catching up on schoolwork is a huge thing, getting back in the groove,” Harvey said. “It's crazy to think a week ago we were in Milan and we were getting ready for that gold medal game.”
Team USA scored a 2-1 overtime victory over Canada in the final to claim the gold medal Feb. 19 and finished the Olympics 7-0.
This marked the first gold for the United States in women’s hockey since 2018 and the third overall (1998).
Wednesday, Feb. 25 the UW Olympians talked about their experience.
“Just all being united arm in arm and hearing the national anthem and looking up at the flags being raised I think kind of gave me chills and almost kind of brought me to tears,” Simms said. “It was kind of like the best way to cap it off and I think it really just was really proud to be American at that moment.”
Wisconsin was one of four college programs to send a current player to the Olympic but no other program had more than one representative.
Those Badgers acquitted themselves well.
Harvey shared the tournament lead with nine points (two goals, seven assists) and led all Olympic players with a plus/minus of +14. Edwards was second on the team with eight points (two goals, six assists) and had a plus/minus of +6.
The two ranked 1-2 on the team in minutes played and were part of multiple major endorsements during the Games.
Edwards also made history as the first African-American women to play hockey in the Olympics. She played in the last two World Championships, but the Olympics brought with a new audience.
"The Olympics were great for my story and not in terms of the fame," she said. "To get my story out in front of as many people as I can is the goal because that in turn can inspire even just one person or be a role model to one person. It inspires you to want to try hockey, to stick with hockey."
Harvey, meanwhile, was named the Most Outstanding player of the event and the top defender.
“I think it was a great team effort,” she said. “We were playing so united the whole time and obviously even showing in the final game when we went down, we never gave up. (We) had full belief and were able to come back the way we did and win in overtime and come on top.
“But for me it's not something I consider much at all. I'm playing with amazing teammates alongside and they're the ones that are making it happen and I'm just super grateful to be on that world stage with them and playing that amazing hockey we were.”
The final was an instant classic that required the United States to come from behind for the first time in the tournament. Team USA needed almost the entire 60 minutes to tie the game but finally pushed the puck across in the 58th minute.
Edwards got the primarily assist after she fired a shot that former Badger Hilary Knight deflected into the goal.
The final unfolded in a similar fashion as the Badgers’ 2025 national championship, which required a goal late in regulation before beating Ohio State in overtime.
According to multiple reports, the audience for the gold medal game peaked at 7.7 million viewers, more than twice as many as watched the 2022 final from Beijing.
"Throughout the Olympics, the growth has been tremendous," Edwards said. "It's so cool to see. Even just on social media, you see people that you didn't really think would know about women's hockey, like Tom Brady was at our game. That was a really cool one. I've seen Jason Kelce, Kylie Kelce, a long list of people who are also helping grow the women's team just by being there and just by showcasing it."
The Badgers (29-3-2) not only missed its four U.S. Olympians, they were also were without standout freshman center Adela Sapovalivova, who played for Czechia.
While shorthanded Wisconsin split series with No. 3 Minnesota Jan. 30-31 and No. 2 Ohio State Feb. 7-8 before closing out the season with sweeps of Minnesota State Feb. 13-14 and St. Cloud State Feb. 21-22 to capture the WCHA regular season title and the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament.
Assuming UW takes care of Bemidji State – the Badgers swept the Beavers by an average margin of four goals this season – it will travel to Minneapolis where the semifinals and finals will be played March 5 and 7.
The NCAA tournament begins March 12. Four weekends we’ll know if Wisconsin’s Olympians brought home a second straight national title.
"I feel like what they've been doing has been good and there's not much to have to be said," Harvey said. "It's just more so getting the whole group back on the same page and on board and united as a group, and I feel like we'll have no problem doing that.
"There's a lot of excitement around playoffs now, so this is a time especially when we all naturally come together and we're united for a common goal, and we know that's winning a couple championship."
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin's Olympians return to campus, shift into postseason mode
Continue reading...
It was time to get back to campus and get back to work.
Seniors Caroline Harvey and Laila Edwards admittedly took it easy and eased back into college life on Day 1. Kirsten Simms and Ava McNaughton took the opposite approach.
Simms, another senior, practiced and fought through jet lag to show up to class where her presence caught the instuctor by surprise “My (teacher's assistant) was actually like, what are you doing here?,” she said. “Didn’t you just get back?”
McNaughton, a junior goaltender, topped that. She went to her job in the genetics lab in the biotech building.
“It's just an hourly job and I work to help the research team there and so it's kind of helping me work towards going to medical school,” she said. “It helps with the application to be involved with research and that kind of thing.”
The moral of the story is that life gets back to normal quickly when you’re an Olympian who is also a college athlete whose season is about to kick into the postseason mode.
McNaughton, Simms, Edwards and Harvey will go from winning the gold medal in Italy on Feb. 19 to the playing in the first round of the WCHA playoffs Feb. 27 and 28 versus Bemidji State at LaBahn Arena. The transition back involves not only catching up on assignments but also adjusting to the 7-hour time difference.
“Definitely catching up on schoolwork is a huge thing, getting back in the groove,” Harvey said. “It's crazy to think a week ago we were in Milan and we were getting ready for that gold medal game.”
The Badgers helped Team USA win third gold medal
Team USA scored a 2-1 overtime victory over Canada in the final to claim the gold medal Feb. 19 and finished the Olympics 7-0.
This marked the first gold for the United States in women’s hockey since 2018 and the third overall (1998).
Wednesday, Feb. 25 the UW Olympians talked about their experience.
“Just all being united arm in arm and hearing the national anthem and looking up at the flags being raised I think kind of gave me chills and almost kind of brought me to tears,” Simms said. “It was kind of like the best way to cap it off and I think it really just was really proud to be American at that moment.”
Wisconsin was one of four college programs to send a current player to the Olympic but no other program had more than one representative.
Those Badgers acquitted themselves well.
Harvey shared the tournament lead with nine points (two goals, seven assists) and led all Olympic players with a plus/minus of +14. Edwards was second on the team with eight points (two goals, six assists) and had a plus/minus of +6.
The two ranked 1-2 on the team in minutes played and were part of multiple major endorsements during the Games.
Edwards also made history as the first African-American women to play hockey in the Olympics. She played in the last two World Championships, but the Olympics brought with a new audience.
"The Olympics were great for my story and not in terms of the fame," she said. "To get my story out in front of as many people as I can is the goal because that in turn can inspire even just one person or be a role model to one person. It inspires you to want to try hockey, to stick with hockey."
Harvey, meanwhile, was named the Most Outstanding player of the event and the top defender.
“I think it was a great team effort,” she said. “We were playing so united the whole time and obviously even showing in the final game when we went down, we never gave up. (We) had full belief and were able to come back the way we did and win in overtime and come on top.
“But for me it's not something I consider much at all. I'm playing with amazing teammates alongside and they're the ones that are making it happen and I'm just super grateful to be on that world stage with them and playing that amazing hockey we were.”
Women's hockey draws record TV audience
The final was an instant classic that required the United States to come from behind for the first time in the tournament. Team USA needed almost the entire 60 minutes to tie the game but finally pushed the puck across in the 58th minute.
Edwards got the primarily assist after she fired a shot that former Badger Hilary Knight deflected into the goal.
The final unfolded in a similar fashion as the Badgers’ 2025 national championship, which required a goal late in regulation before beating Ohio State in overtime.
According to multiple reports, the audience for the gold medal game peaked at 7.7 million viewers, more than twice as many as watched the 2022 final from Beijing.
"Throughout the Olympics, the growth has been tremendous," Edwards said. "It's so cool to see. Even just on social media, you see people that you didn't really think would know about women's hockey, like Tom Brady was at our game. That was a really cool one. I've seen Jason Kelce, Kylie Kelce, a long list of people who are also helping grow the women's team just by being there and just by showcasing it."
UW's Olympians return in time for WCHA, NCAA tournaments
The Badgers (29-3-2) not only missed its four U.S. Olympians, they were also were without standout freshman center Adela Sapovalivova, who played for Czechia.
While shorthanded Wisconsin split series with No. 3 Minnesota Jan. 30-31 and No. 2 Ohio State Feb. 7-8 before closing out the season with sweeps of Minnesota State Feb. 13-14 and St. Cloud State Feb. 21-22 to capture the WCHA regular season title and the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament.
Assuming UW takes care of Bemidji State – the Badgers swept the Beavers by an average margin of four goals this season – it will travel to Minneapolis where the semifinals and finals will be played March 5 and 7.
The NCAA tournament begins March 12. Four weekends we’ll know if Wisconsin’s Olympians brought home a second straight national title.
"I feel like what they've been doing has been good and there's not much to have to be said," Harvey said. "It's just more so getting the whole group back on the same page and on board and united as a group, and I feel like we'll have no problem doing that.
"There's a lot of excitement around playoffs now, so this is a time especially when we all naturally come together and we're united for a common goal, and we know that's winning a couple championship."
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin's Olympians return to campus, shift into postseason mode
Continue reading...
