JANA CHYTILOVA/HHOF-IIHF IMAGES
W
hen the leaders spoke, Wisconsin women's hockey goaltender
Alex Rigsby heeded their words.
When the playmakers made
plays, she recorded their impact. When the crowd roared, she stood in awe on
the bench.
"You could feel the vibrations,'' said Rigsby, a
21-year-old UW junior from Delafield, Wis. "Oh,
my gosh, it was awesome.''
Rigsby collected a gold medal and gained invaluable experience at the recent IIHF Women's World
Championship in Ottawa, Ontario, even though
she never got into a game for Team USA.
48 ยป VARSITY
APR I L 18, 2013
"Just spending eight to 10 days with the better
players that we have in this country,'' said Badgers
coach Mark Johnson, "and watching how they operate and conduct themselves is very helpful.''
Priceless would be the word.
Nobody may have a better pulse on this level
of competition and what it means to don a USA
sweater than Johnson, one of the heroes of the
1980 gold-medal winning Olympic team in Lake
Placid.
Johnson's rich international background has extended from the ice to the bench. In 2010, he guided the American women to a silver medal at the
Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia.
