BY MIKE LUCAS • UWBadgers.com
A
s the youngest of five siblings, including three older
brothers, Ann-Renée Desbiens knew where she
stood in the pecking order and decision-making process.
She usually didn't have a choice.
That's how she became a goaltender.
"They used to play hockey and they'd need someone to
shoot on," she explained.
Not that she was complaining. She kind of grew into
the posi on. Learning the ropes from her brothers also
made for an easier transi on when she began playing
compe vely against the boys.
"That was easiest way to find compe on," she pointed out.
So that's how she became an elite goalie
for her age group while growing up in La
Malbaie, a community of less than 10,000
on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence
River in Quebec, Canada.
She said playing boys hockey was "the way to make
sure I kept pushing myself to get be er because the
guys were so good and I wanted to do be er than them.
The game was more challenging."
Wisconsin women's coach Mark Johnson had traveled this
road before with two of his former goaltenders – Jesse
Ve er and Alex Rigsby – both of whom had played on
boys teams prior to college.
On his recrui ng trip to watch Desbiens – who was named
the best goalie in the Quebec Midget AA League – Johnson
sat down with her parents, Raynold, a factory worker; and
Claire, a nurse.
"I don't know any French and her parents don't know any
English," Johnson said. "Her parents would ask a ques on,
Ann would interpret, I would tell Ann, and we'd go back
and forth. Interes ng."
At the me, Ann-Renée Desbiens had li le knowledge of
college women's hockey. And she really didn't know much
about Mark Johnson, even though he's a household name
in U.S. hockey circles.
On the other hand, she said, "I feel like every single hockey
player has watched 'Miracle."'
The 2004 movie "Miracle" documented how Team USA
won the gold medal at the 1980 Olympics. Kurt Russell
portrayed Herb Brooks; Eric Peter-Kaiser, a Canadian, was
cast as Mark Johnson.
"That's how I learned about him (Johnson),"
Desbiens admi ed.
Success translates the same in any
language.
WHAT'S
NEXT:
ANN-RENÉE
DESBIENS
4
