Brianna Decker retires from hockey

Brianna Deckerstar forward on the 2018 US Olympic champion ice hockey team and three-time Olympic medalist, retired from the sport at age 31.

He set a new goal to return to the Olympics in a different capacity.

In the last match of his career, Decker fractured his left fibula and tore ankle ligaments less than 10 minutes into last year’s Olympics against Finland. Decker stayed with the team through the silver medal.

He wanted to take a full year to recover and see where he is before deciding whether to continue playing. The turning point came in August when he was named head girls coach and Shattuck-St. Mary’s hockey program in Faribault, Minnesota, where she played in high school.

The top U.S. national teams often coach in between playing — and Decker previously did so with the U.S. Women’s U18 team — but she also used the beginning of this continuous stint to see if coaching without playing still fulfills her passion for the sport.

“It was,” he said, “and I felt it was a good time for me to decide to retire [and focus on coaching].”

A native of Wisconsin, Decker made his senior debut at the 2008 Four Nations Cup as a 17-year-old. In 2009, after his senior year of high school, he was the third youngest of the 41 players who generally tried out for the 2010 Olympics. team, but he didn’t make it to the block.

He graduated from the University of Wisconsin, won a national title in 2011 (which he ranks as his best national team memories) and won the 2012 Patty Kazmaier Award as the NCAA’s top player.

Decker played in the first of his eight consecutive World Championships in 2011, including tournament MVP in 2017.

He then made his first Olympic team in 2014. Decker led the United States with six points in Sochi en route to a silver medal.

She was the Vice-Captain of the 2018 team that won the USA’s first Olympic hockey championship since women’s hockey debuted at the 1998 Nagano Games. A tenacious, 5-foot-5 forward he played with on the top line Hilary Knight and Kendall Coyne Schofield.

After returning from double groin and double sports hernia surgery in October 2019, he was the third-oldest player on the 2022 Olympic roster behind Knight and Author: Megan Boze. He was in the second row of attackers Amanda Kessel and Alex Carpenter.

In the late 2010s, the United States won five straight world championships (one Olympics, four worlds) to become a dynasty for the first time. Maybe a trademark the the trademark of these teams was fast, skilful forwards, personified by Decker.

“In terms of playing time, it was unbelievable,” he said. “One thing that gets a little bit overlooked – you’re competing against those players every day in training. So you’re competing against some of the best players in the world every single day, and that’s how you shine your game. So I commend them for training so hard to do also better than our team.

Decker, third on the U.S. career scoring list in world championship matches behind Knight and Walk grenadesaid he brings his game mentality to his coaching.

“I’m pretty intense,” he said. “When we’re in the ice rink, it’s business for me. I want to get the most out of the players, and of course I want them to make the most of every training session. But from the outside of the ice, of course I’m goofing around with them and having fun and making them understand that it’s about balance.

When Decker told family members he was hanging up his skates, one of his three brothers texted him and told him it was time to repeat his playing accomplishments as a coach.

“Let’s see if I can mark those things,” Decker said. “My list starts now.”

The goal is to coach the Olympic team. Women’s ice hockey has been contested in seven winter games. The United States has never had a former women’s national team player as an Olympic head coach, and only once had a female head coach (Katey Stone2014).

“Right now, I’m in the best possible place,” said Decker, whose duties at the boarding school include doing laundry and helping with equipment. “I have a great mentor, [girls hockey director] Gordie Stafford at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, so I have a good place to start my coaching.”

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– Brianna Decker (@Bdecker14) March 2, 2023