In the fall of 2010 a pair of Wisconsin skaters — Hilary Knight and Meghan Duggan — returned to Madison after a year spent chasing Olympic glory and showed the college hockey world just how much they had learned in Vancouver.
Knight and Duggan’s achievements in the 2010-’11 season wrote their names, quite literally, into the program’s history. Then a junior, Knight scored 47 goals while Duggan notched 87 points in her senior season, both still program records.
Eight years later, a new Wisconsin duo are entering their final seasons looking to follow in the same footsteps and lead the Badgers to the national championship that has eluded them.
Senior forwards Emily Clark and Annie Pankowski both redshirted last year to pursue their Olympic dreams — Clark won a silver medal with Team Canada, while Pankowski was one of the last players cut from the American roster — and now they’re back at UW for one last shot at the national championship that has narrowly eluded them so far.
Although their paths ended differently, both Clark and Pankowski are bringing lessons and a newfound maturity to the ice as they return to NCAA competition after a trying 12 months.
“When they come back after that year of playing in the Olympics and with the national team, they’re better players and they’re better people,” head coach Mark Johnson said. “So not only what they’ll do for us on the ice but more importantly what they do for us off the ice — you really can’t measure those things.”
Clark and Pankowski aren’t the only players on Wisconsin’s roster who have had the opportunity to play with their national teams — and both have previously competed at the world championships — but the Olympic centralization process is unlike any other competition.
The 28 best players from each of the two most talent-rich countries in the world gather together for five months, training, competing and battling each day to make their nation’s final 23-woman roster. For collegiate players accustomed to a couple hours of practice per day amid a busy schedule of classes and travel, the chance to spend day after day at the rink with the best professional players in the world is an unparalleled training ground.
“You’re so immersed in hockey, you don’t have that school aspect so we’re at the rink probably five, six, seven hours a day practicing, analyzing game film, having the coaches deliver video to us and also us critiquing our own video and cutting clips,” Clark said. “You learn little things that you never really thought of before, and I think that will definitely help me going into this year, knowing the game better.”
The year off was an especially tough learning process for Pankowski. As Clark travelled to Korea and collected an olympic silver medal for Canada and her Wisconsin teammates made a run to the Frozen Four, the Laguna, California native returned to campus unable to play competitive hockey at any level.
“When someone faces adversity like that they can go one of two ways,” Clark said. “I have nothing but respect for how she rolled up her sleeves and came to work all summer.”
The return from Olympic competition can present challenges for players like Clark and Pankowski who are talented enough to be competing professionally. After proving yourself against the best players in the world, it’s easy to lose focus on the day-to-day grind of the college season.
“I’ve talked to Hilary Knight about it, and she said it was really tough for her because she was kind of checked out of school and she was excited about hockey but on the next level,” Pankowski said.
Knight and Duggan were already national champions when they chose to return to Madison. For Wisconsin's current duo, there’s still a line left to add before they submit their collegiate resumes.
“We’re definitely still hungry to win,” Pankowski said. “I think we all have that on this team so it’s a really good motivator for us.”
