From budding star, to Olympic and World Champion, All-Star, to coach and now Hall of Famer. Brianna Decker reflects on it all as she's set to be inducted to the US Hockey Hall of Fame.
From budding star, to Olympic and World Champion, All-Star, to coach and now Hall of Famer. Brianna Decker reflects on it all as she's set to be inducted to the US Hockey Hall of Fame.
Brianna Decker was been recognized in many ways as a player. She was a World Championship All-Star and MVP, twice a National Women's Hockey League MVP, winner of the Patty Kazmaier Award and a two-time recipient of the USA Hockey Bob Allen Women’s Player of the Year Award.
Following her career on the ice, which ended with a broken leg at the 2022 Olympics, this week's U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame nod is Decker's first post-career accolade.
"When you start hockey at a young age, you don't think about things like this," said Decker. "You just follow the path and follow the journey. And so it's a pretty surreal moment being inducted.
At 33, fans certainly wish she was still on the ice. Instead, she's already leading another generation of women's hockey players as coach at Shattuck St. Mary's.
"Honestly, I look at my career and when I got on the National team consistently back in 2011...I had opportunity to play with Angela Ruggiero and Julie Chu. And you know, those guys made such an impact on the game early on. And so, I think our generation of players made an... impact that we would try to raise the bar and continue to do the same thing and impact the game as much as possible," Decker said at a U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame press conference. "Being a part of that, was obviously super special and then kind of coming full circle, going back to Shattuck and coaching. I just take responsibility to try to impact the kids here, and make their development impactful and hopefully that they can go, and...play for the US Team one day or play for the Olympics. You know, for either USA or Canada."
Decker has certainly had the desired impact on her Shattuck St. Mary's team already, guiding them to a 2024 USA Hockey Tier 1 19U national championship where they edged powerhouse Bishop Kearney.
Growing up, Decker played boys hockey, competing against her brothers, and competing in Wisconsin until she herself headed to Shattuck alongside future American standouts like Amanda Kessel.
That was the start of her career. Toward the end, Decker turned her focus not only to her own game, but to improving opportunities for girls in Wisconsin, and across the United States.
She's hoping by continuing to act as a role model herself, and to develop new generations of role models, she'll give more girls something to look forward to whether they want to play hockey for fun, or to pursue the game at a higher level. For her growing up, Decker primarily looked up to men's hockey players, although Cammi Granato stood out as a women's hockey player that impacted her. When she watched USA compete at the first women's hockey tournament at the Olympics in 1998, then 7-year-old Brianna Decker saw the dream she wanted to pursue.
"That was kind of the real dream," said Decker. "Obviously I didn't really think I was ever gonna play in the NHL... I think some young girls still think they are. But now there's a league that they can play. Those are my people."
There were many moments across Brianna Decker's career where she could see the doors opening for women. The 1998 Olympics were a paramount event. By 2011 she was in on USA's national team herself winning six World Championship gold medals, and an Olympic gold herself. And in 2019, while Kendall Coyne Schofield took much of the accolades for her 14.346 finish in the Fastest Skater competition, Decker's performance, unofficially winning the Premier Passer event was a game changer. Her unofficial win, as the NHL did not time her, while they timed the NHL players, sparked an online campaign to get Decker the $25,000 prize money for winning the event, a call that was eventually answered by CCM.
"That weekend was definitely not intended to do that," Decker said. "I think the NHL obviously brought us into get women's hockey exposed a little bit more. What happened with Kendall and I, and all the publicity that we got, I think we didn't expect that. It was incredible."
It was also another catalysing moment in Decker's career.
"That was a big moment, and I think it did springboard what the league is today."
From a budding star, to gold medalist and All-Star, to a youth hockey coach, and now a U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer, Brianna Decker's career has come full circle, but it's not over. She'll continue to positively impact the sport for decades to come.