Teammates were still celebrating a record-breaking season and national title when five members of the Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey team locked in on their next goal.
Senior forward Lacey Eden, junior forwards Laila Edwards and Kirsten Simms, junior defender Caroline Harvey and sophomore goaltender Ava McNaughton are in Czechia, suiting up for Team USA as it chases an 11th gold medal in the IIHF women’s world championship.
The first of four preliminary round games is Wednesday against Finland; quarterfinals are April 17, semifinals April 19 and the championship and bronze-medal games April 20. All games are set for coverage by the NHL Network.
Eden, Edwards, Harvey and Simms were part of the team that won the silver medal last year, and Eden and Harvey won gold in 2023.
Other members on the Team USA roster familiar to fans of the 2024-25 Badgers include Minnesota’s Abbey Murphy, who leveled Harvey with a questionable hit in their Frozen Four semifinal, and Ohio State’s Joy Dunne, who scored against UW in the championship game.
In a telephone interview after practice Sunday, Eden talked about the lingering joy of the championship, the quick turnaround and the adjustment to wearing the same uniform as players who just had been fierce rivals.
Q: These past couple of weeks have been such a such a whirlwind. How did you celebrate the national championship?
Edens: Obviously it was super fun. Really good group that we had together. Once we got home, we took a couple days and hung out, had a good time together, kind of enjoyed each other’s company as the season came to an end. It was spring break, so a lot of people went in different directions after that. So it was nice to have a day just to be together after that type of accomplishment.
Q: Do you have those moments where the feeling of accomplishment just sort of hits you out of the blue, moments of realization?
A: Especially with how that game went down, that game was special because of how we won. Going into those last couple of minutes, we were obviously fighting for our lives in that moment to come out on top. It was kind of like a “wow” moment, like, “wow, we did that!” That made it super special. And I don’t think it sunk in right away. I think there was a lot of shock that went with how the game went down. So I think it took a little bit to sink in, but once it did, we were able to look back on our season and be proud of everything that we’ve accomplished.
