Wisconsin’s Brianna Decker named to Hockey Hall of Fame

The hall of fame parade for Brianna Decker continued, and there isn’t a bigger honor in hockey than the one the former University of Wisconsin star received Tuesday.

Decker will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2025, making her the first player from the Badgers women’s team to be an honored member.

The announcement came less than a year after Decker was named to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. She was inducted into the Wisconsin Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019 and the University of Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 2023.

Decker said she got the call Tuesday while she was on her riding lawnmower.

“That’s pretty small-town Wisconsin fitting, though I’m back in Minnesota coaching at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, where I attended school,” she said.

The Patty Kazmaier Award winner in 2012 as top NCAA women’s hockey player, Decker is second all-time in Badgers history with 115 career goals. The player at the top of that list is another likely Hockey Hall of Famer: Hilary Knight, whose playing career is ongoing.

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Another Badgers teammate was Meghan Duggan, who was captain of championship-winning groups both at Wisconsin and with the U.S. Olympic team.

“They made the game easy every single day,” Decker said. “But I think the impact they had on me from an off-ice and teammate standpoint is what made a difference in my career.

“Meghan Duggan was the best leader I’ve had a chance to play with at Wisconsin and on the U.S. team. She pushed me out of my comfort zone every day at practice. She truly taught me how to lead when it was her time to not play anymore. And it was pretty easy to play on a line with Hilary Knight when I had the opportunity there.”

Decker, a Dousman native, is third behind Casey O’Brien and Knight on the Badgers’ all-time scoring list for points in a collegiate career, totaling 244 from 2009-13.

Brianna Decker won an Olympic gold medal and two silvers after her Badgers women’s hockey career.

Petr David Josek, Associated Press archives

The other members of the Class of 2025 were Jack Parker, Danièle Sauvageau, Jennifer Botterill, Zdeno Chara, Duncan Keith, Alexander Mogilny and Joe Thornton. The induction ceremony is scheduled for Nov. 10 in Toronto.

“A lot of things come full circle but at the end of the day, I never dreamt to ever be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame,” Decker said. “It was just a place where I would go and admire all the people in it and all the teams in it. To be a part of this class with the incredible athletes and builders, it’s pretty special.”

Decker had 80 points as a sophomore when the 2010-11 Badgers team that also featured Knight and Meghan Duggan as forwards captured the team’s fourth NCAA championship in six seasons. She followed it up by winning the Patty Kaz as a junior on the strength of an 82-point season.

She won an Olympic gold medal with Team USA in 2018 and was part of silver medal-winning teams in 2014 and 2022. She suffered a leg injury in the team’s opening game in the latter one, and it was her final national team appearance.

Decker was the winner of USA Hockey’s Bob Allen Women’s Player of the Year Award in 2015 and 2017 and played in eight World Championship tournaments.

She won two MVP awards during her time playing in the National Women’s Hockey League. More recently, she has returned to Shattuck-St. Mary’s prep school in Minnesota, where she went to high school, as a girls hockey coach.

She called Shattuck coach Gordie Stafford, who coached her and is still the school’s girls hockey director, “like another dad to me.”

“Giving him the phone call and telling him as well was a pretty special moment for myself, pretty emotional,” Decker said.

Decker is the third person with Wisconsin ties in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Former coach Bob Johnson was inducted as a builder in 1992 and defenseman Chris Chelios went in as a player in 2013.

Photos: Wisconsin women’s hockey wins national championship