Golden Again: The Wisconsin Badgers Win Back-to-back National Championships

We all are no strangers to storied rivalries in sports. The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, and the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears are just two examples of what we know is true: in sports, rivalries make games exciting, and we all care a little more when our team is playing their rivals in a meaningful game. 

Nowhere is this more evident than in National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) women’s hockey. For the past four years, the gold medal game in the women’s Frozen Four tournament has come down to the Ohio State Buckeyes and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Badgers. The Badgers defeated their rivals in this year’s tournament by a score of 3-2, capturing their ninth National title and focusing our attention on women’s hockey along the way. We’re all watching women’s hockey after the United States’ women’s hockey team’s incredible performance at the 2026 Winter Olympics, and this year’s Championship game proved why we love women’s hockey so much! 

Badgers team celebrating as time expires in the 3rd period of the 2026 Championship game. Courtesy of news.wisc.com

The Big Game 

Not only was 2026’s tournament the fourth straight matchup between the Badgers and Buckeyes, but it was also the fourth straight time the game was decided by one goal. The Badgers established dominance by going up 2-0 early, but the Buckeyes proved why they’re in the championship game every year and came back to tie it, scoring two goals in under six minutes in the third period. 

With six minutes left and overtime in the championship game looming, Badgers senior Claire Enright cemented her legacy at UW forever by beating Buckeyes goalie Hailey MacLeod for the game-winning goal. “I don’t score many goals,” Enright said after the game, “but it feels amazing.” As a defender, Enright has 9 goals and 20 points this season, but we’re sure this goal has been her favorite to date.

The Badgers’ first two goals came from Kelly Gorbatenko and Laney Potter just six minutes apart. Gorbatenko's goal was the 50th of her career, but goalie Ava McNaughton took home the award for the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament with a stellar performance in the crease. She allowed the Badgers to hang on to their 1-goal lead, and even robbed OSU’s Joy Dunne on a breakaway in the first period. The incredible save prompted ESPN to declare it the “save of the game” and ultimately foreshadowed UW’s success to come.

Goaltender Ava McNaughton blocking Joy Dunne's shot. Courtesy of news.wisc.com

A Familiar Feeling 

If you’re new to UW’s stellar hockey program, then we want you to know one thing: your relationship with the Badgers is not like your toxic relationship with your favorite NHL team. 

With their win this year, the Badgers have won nine national tournaments – the most of any D1 school in the country. In fact, since 2019, the Badgers have won five NCAA titles, and forward Lacey Eden was on the roster for the last four of those, becoming the first in program history to win four separate times. 

The feeling of winning is not unique to head coach Mark Johnson, either. With a career record of 667-120-55, Johnson is not only the winningest coach in Wisconsin's history, but in all of collegiate NCAA women’s hockey history. Stepping into the role of head coach all the way back in 2002, Johnson has contributed immensely to the Badgers’ success, leading them to 8 NCAA titles and coaching 6 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winners. 

And the feeling of beating the odds and winning it all? Johnson knows it well: he was part of the 1980 U.S Men’s Hockey team, which won gold in the Miracle on Ice. In the gold medal game, he scored two goals and took home the MVP award – an experience he applies to the Badgers to coach them to success each year. 

UW Badgers head coach Mark Johnson. Courtesy of captimes.com

Double Gold

The Badgers had four Olympians from the U.S Women’s hockey team: Caroline Harvey, Laila Edwards, Kristen Simms, and Ava McNaughton. These four experienced every athlete’s dream, winning both an Olympic gold and then following that stellar performance with a National title just a month later.  

Current Badgers’ captain Caroline Harvey had an unbelievable performance at the 2026 Winter Games, with 7 assists and two goals across 7 games. This earned her the MVP award in the tournament, making her the first Badger to ever win an Olympic MVP award. Harvey’s teammate and best friend, Laila Edwards, made history as the first black player to suit up for women’s hockey, and then she shattered more barriers by becoming the first black women’s hockey player to win an Olympic gold. 

Harvey and Edwards have been winning and playing together for their entire careers, so this double gold feels inevitable. Meeting at a tournament around 8 years old, the pair quickly pushed past their initial fashion judgments of each other (hey, we’ve all been there!) and became best friends. “I’m so proud of what she’s done on the ice . . . she’s inspired so many people like myself”, Edwards said of Harvey at the All-American awards summit.  We love a good friendship in sports, but when the athletes care for each other as much as Harvey and Edwards do, it means that much more.

Best friends Caroline Harvey (left) and Laila Edwards (right) posing on media day. Courtesy of uwbadgers.com

Lasting Legacy 

The last Winter Olympics took place in 2022, where Team Canada defeated Team USA for the gold medal. The celebration was short-lived for Team Canada, however, because after the Gold Medal game, the women’s team fell into an achingly familiar habit: waiting another four years for the chance to play pro women’s hockey again. 

But that (thankfully) didn’t pan out. Instead, on January 1st, 2024, the puck dropped for the inaugural season of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), and with it brought the expansion of women’s hockey to North America, and the chance for female hockey players to finally play in a professional league.

And this year? After Team USA’s incredible Olympic performance, there was not only an increase in viewership in the PWHL but in interest in women’s hockey on a much wider scale. We’re all here to support women’s hockey, and the Badgers keep proving year in and year out why it’s worth it. 

Edwards and Harvey are draft eligible for the PWHL this year, and while we hate to see the duo separate, watching both of them suit up with or against iconic players like Hilary Knight or Marie-Philip Poulin is beyond exciting! Between the NCAA and PWHL, women’s hockey is gaining traction, and these leagues, with all their incredible athletes, deserve your attention. 

It comes down to this: for the first time, women’s hockey isn’t done for four more years after the Olympics, and that’s pretty cool. 

Edited by Olivia Feldgus