Mark Johnson was the sparkplug of the 1980 Olympic team. He came to them from the University of Wisconsin, where he played on the 1977 NCAA champions, and was known as the top collegiate forward in the country He was an All-American twice and was named college player of the year in 1979. Although small at 5-10 (1.78) and 170 lbs. (77 kg.), he was highly sought by the Pittsburgh Penguins, whom he joined shortly after the Olympics. Late in the 1981-82 season he was traded to Minnesota, and before the next season began, he joined Hartford. Johnson finished his NHL career with five years with the New Jersey Devils, retiring in 1990, with 203 goals and 508 points. He then played for two years in Italy and Austria with club teams. Johnson came out of retirement to play for the USA in the 1998 World Championships.
After serving as assistant men’s coach at his alma mater, he was named the head women’s coach at Wisconsin in 2002. He coached the University of Wisconsin – Madison to back-to-back NCAA women’s championships in 2006 and 2007 and was appointed head coach to the US women’s team following the Torino Winter Games. Thru 2019 he has led Wisconsin to five NCAA women’s ice hockey titles, with 3 runner-up finishes and four other appearances at the Frozen Four. He has also coached the Badger women to 500+ wins, and counting.
United States