Gold-medal Olympian Brianna Decker, former star at University of Wisconsin, retiring from hockey
Brianna Decker, the Dousman native who played at the University of Wisconsin and appeared in three Winter Olympics, has announced she's retiring from playing hockey. The 31-year-old won gold with the United States in 2018 at the Pyeongchang Olympics and was part of the silver-medal squad in the 2022 Beijing Olympics, though an injury in the first game kept her off the ice for the majority of action.
Decker won the Patty Kazmaier Award at UW in 2012, acknowledging the best female hockey player in NCAA Division I, part of three All-American nods in her career (two second team, one first team). She's second in UW history in points, shots, goals and hat tricks, while sitting third in assists, and she was part of the 2011 NCAA championship team and 2012 runner-up.
Her professional hockey career included the first hat trick in the history of the newly formed National Women's Hockey League in 2015, and she also played several years in the Canadian Women's Hockey League. On the international stage, she's won six gold medals and two silvers at the women's world championships in addition to two silvers and a gold at the Olympics. She was named the MVP of the 2017 championships.
"My parents and brothers made me work for everything when I was young," Decker said in her farewell. "My teammates made me laugh and grow, coaches supported me and taught me something every day, and the support staff made everything possible day in and day out. … My entire support system genuinely cared for me as a person first, not just an athlete.
"I want to give a special thank you to all the fans, especially at THE University of Wisconsin. You all continue to impact the women's game more than credit or recognition are given. Without you all, women's hockey wouldn't be where it is today."
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Decker made her Olympics debut in 2014 at Sochi, taking silver when the U.S. fell to Canada in overtime, 3-2. In Pyeongchang, she registered an assist in the gold-medal game, where the U.S. turned the tables for a 3-2 win over Canada. At one point in her career, she held the record for U.S. career championship assists, with 40.
She endured torn ankle ligaments and a broken fibula in the first few minutes of the U.S. preliminary match against Finland, costing her the rest of the 2022 Olympics. It was her 146th appearance overall for the United States national team.
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She's been working as an assistant coach for the U.S. women's U18 team at the world championships since 2019.
Decker began playing in Waukesha Warhawks youth hockey and attended Kettle Moraine Middle School; she attended high school at Shattuck St. Mary's in Minnesota to further her hockey aspirations.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Dousman's Brianna Decker, Olympic gold medalist, retires from hockey
