Wisconsin junior forward Adam Burish never had a brother to play hockey with when he was growing up. That did not matter. He had something better-a little sister who could kick all the little boys' butts.
Meet Nikki Burish, the other half of the first brother-sister combination to play hockey at Wisconsin. The Burish hockey careers started when Adam was three, Nikki was two and the mother of one of Adam's friends convinced Mrs. Burish to get her son involved with the sport. He commented that his mom would bring Nikki up to the pond to watch all the boys play, and soon after she was out there playing with them.
\When I started playing I was the only girl, so I didn't like it at first, but I just kept going,"" Nikki said. I think the fact that he was there is what made me stay.""
Prior to coming to Wisconsin, Nikki was always playing with the guys, especially her brother. First it was chasing her brother around the house and playing hockey with him in the garage, then onto pee-wee league teams with Adam. In high school they even played on the same team. Adam admits to Nikki being the stronger of the two while growing up.
""It was totally normal, it was just like she was one of the guys,"" Adam said. ""She would give it to the guys, they would give it back to her. When we first became pee-wees and we were checking, she was hitting guys, knocking guys over. She had her hair all tucked in her helmet so you couldn't even tell she was a girl.""
However, when Nikki entered her first year at Edgewood High School in Madison, she was not sure if she wanted to play with the guys anymore. Since Edgewood had an all-male team, she questioned whether or not she wanted to be the first female ever on the team or if it was time to go with the girls. Ultimately, she decided to stay with the guys, including her brother.
""She's played with boys her whole life and she didn't know anything else so she went out there and said 'I'm going to be the first girl who plays at Edgewood, I want to play with the boys,'"" Adam said.
Once Adam finished high school, he took a year off to play with the Green Bay Gamblers, a USHL team. While he was with the Gamblers, current women's hockey coach Mark Johnson was an assistant for the men's team and was recruiting Adam for Wisconsin. One year later Johnson switched over to the women's team and started recruiting Nikki.
""This was the dream for me especially to come here and play for the Badgers,"" Adam said. ""As soon as talk of the women's hockey team at Wisconsin came about Nikki was sure she was going to come too if she could. It's funny, when we were growing up, she was playing with the boys and she said 'I'm going to play for the Badgers too' before there was a women's team. That was the idea that this is the dream.""
""We both grew up watching the Badgers play,"" Nikki said. ""It was sort of neat because we played on the same team every year. So, now we're as close as we can get to be playing together. It's neat for me to be able to watch him and him to be able to watch me.""
Now that Nikki is playing with the girls, she is known as the ""feisty"" one among her teammates.
""She's not afraid to stick her nose in the corners or areas where there might be a collision: I mean, she's a tough gal,"" Johnson said. ""You can definitely see a difference between someone that has played at a real high level of competitive boys' hockey compared to someone who has gone through and played against girls and women the whole time.""
While both play on separate teams with completely different schedules, they still find time for one another. Both live in the same apartment complex, are in class together and try to watch one another play whenever they can. With the WCHA playoffs approaching this weekend for the men's team and the NCAA tournament on the horizon for the women's team, their will be a lot of hockey to attend for the Burish parents.
""I know last weekend they went and watched her in Minneapolis so now I gotta bug them. It's their turn to watch us,"" Adam said. Even though they are no longer playing alongside one another, Adam, as well as the rest of his teammates, serve the role of big brother.
""I still look out for her and so do the other guys on the team. She's like their little sister,"" Adam said. ""That's just her personality and that's the way she's grown up-she's just one of the guys and she enjoys that.""
-Max Hooker contributed
to this story
