The Wisconsin women’s hockey team earned its 10th WCHA regular season title after defeating the Minnesota Golden Gophers 8-2 at Labahn Arena on Feb. 8. Winning is a tradition for this program, as the team holds the second most titles in conference history.
Celebrating its 26th season of competition, the Women's League of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association has contained years of women’s hockey success. But the Wisconsin Badgers played women's hockey even since they joined the association.
Here’s a look at what the past 10 WCHA titles have meant for the Wisconsin women’s hockey team.
Marianne (Anderson) Larson, Jill Steinberg and Karen Schwarz founded the UW Women’s Hockey Club in 1973 in the wake of Title IX opening up greater opportunities for women in college athletics. Then, 25 years later, the University of Wisconsin-MadisonAthletic Board added women’s ice hockey to the intercollegiate athletic program. At the turn of the century, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) added women’s competition in the 1999-2000 seasons.
From there, the Badgers played their first game against the University of Minnesota-Duluth in the Kohl Center on Oct. 8, 1999. Nearly 4,000 fans, including members of the 1998 U.S. Olympic women’s gold medal debut ice hockey team, watched. The Badgers finished their first season 19–14–2 overall and 15–8–1 in the WCHA that year, placing third in the regular season.
In 2006, the Badgers claimed their first WCHA regular-season, playoff and NCAA championship titles and then defended all three in 2006–07. With the following wins in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2024, the Badgers have won 10 WCHA titles.
In 2002, the Badgers hired Mark Johnson as head coach. Johnson is no stranger to winning himself, earning the 2003 WCHA Co-Coach of the Year, guiding Wisconsin to a 22-8-5 overall and 14-6-4 WCHA record in his first season with the team. Johnson and the Badgers claimed their second WCHA playoff title in 2009, en-route to their third national championship in four years.
Jumping ahead, the 2014-15 season was a special one for coaches and players alike. Johnson became only the fourth coach in NCAA women's hockey history to win 350 games, as he led the Badgers to their fifth WCHA playoff title.
The team began the 2015-16 season with an 18-game winning streak, winning the WCHA regular season and tournament titles, shutting out opponents in 23 of its 40 games during the season. The following season, Wisconsin won the WCHA regular season and tournament title and had a 33-3-4 record. Wisconsin claimed their eighth in 2019-2020 when the Badgers led the NCAA in scoring offense and ninth in a shortened 2020-21 season.
This brings us to today. Fifth-year forward Casey O'Brien and junior forward Laila Edwards scored twice each to lead the Badgers to a WCHA regular season championship with an 8-2 win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers at LaBahn Arena on Feb. 8. With her overall three points, O'Brien now has 248 points and is two points away from becoming the second Badger to ever record 250 career points. Johnson's 10th WCHA regular season title is the most of any coach in WCHA history. The win extends Wisconsin's unbeaten run to 17 games.
"Minnesota, Wisconsin. Both teams are gonna be excited to play each other whether it's here or up at Ridder Arena,” Johnson said after the historic matchup. “Enjoy it. I think we came into the rink today wanting to enjoy this experience, and I think they were able to do that obviously by winning."
"We were just firing all cylinders. We're all playing a 200-foot game, all on the same page; when we're clicking like that, we're a dangerous team, and it showed today,” Laila Edwards said in a press conference after the game.
The Badgers will face Bemidji State in the playoffs. If their winning history is any indication, the team has no intention of slowing down.
