MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin women’s hockey coach Mark Johnson was in his hotel room in Bemidji, Minnesota, on Feb. 22, when his phone buzzed at around 5:30 a.m.
Jack O’Callahan, Johnson’s teammate on the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, had sent a text message to the group. Exactly 45 years earlier, Team USA had delivered the “Miracle on Ice,” stunning the Soviet squad in the Olympic semifinals for one of the biggest upsets in sports history. O’Callahan, with time to burn after dropping his family off at the airport, reflected on a moment that would forever bind those young players.
“Oh my gosh, it’s lengthy,” Johnson, who scored two goals in the 4-3 win over the Russians, said of O’Callahan’s text. “But it’s fun and enjoyable, meaningful, impactful. It always puts a smile on your face. Then, you look at the number — 45, that’s a long time ago.”
Johnson is 67, a lifetime removed from the Miracle. He showed up to LaBahn Arena on Feb. 25 with a hospital visitor’s sticker on his shirt. Earlier that morning, he had stopped to see his daughter, Mikayla, who had given birth to a son, Johnson’s ninth grandchild.
More than most, Johnson understands why certain…
