An American hockey icon, Lisa Brown-Miller, has passed away. She was 58.
"Lisa’s passing is an enormous loss to her family, friends, teammates, and all whose lives she touched," her obituary read following her May 2, 2025 passing. "She will be remembered for her fierce love, grit, and her gift for making everyone feel seen and valued. Lisa moved through life with determination and adventure, but always with an open hand, heart, and mind. She walked beside us, being our kickstand when we needed one, and making each journey the best it could be. May we all strive to walk through life with the same kindness and grace as she did."
Brown-Miller, a Michigan product, was a member of USA's inaugural World Championship team in 1990, and also won gold as a member of USA's first ever Olympic women's hockey team in 1998. Brown-Miller, and Hockey Hall of Fame member Cammi Granato were the only members of Team USA to play at both events.
She was first introduced to hockey as a Detroit Red Wings fan, and first tried the game in the living room of a neighbors house in West Bloomfield, Michigan, shooting tennis balls back and forth with hockey sticks. Soon, she found herself on the ice at Lakeland Arena in 1972 for her first time playing the sport for real. At the time however, girls hockey in Michigan was not popular.
“It was definitely not the norm,” Brown-Miller said in Ice In Their Veins: Women's Relentless Pursuit of the Puck. “I knew of no other girls who played hockey.”
Brown-Miller made her first step into girls hockey at age 13 in Royal Oak, Michigan. Soon, she was being called on to join the NCAA with Providence College.
“It was as if we were kind of, just a step or two away, as if doors were opening,” she recalled of the time. “Doors would open, and then we took another step or two and we’re through that door. And then you’re walking along your path, skating along the path, and then there’s another door in front of you, and you’re just one or two steps there, and you’re going to skate through that door. So fortunately for me, when I came into the game, we found this girls’ hockey program. Then I heard somewhere along the line that there was collegiate hockey for women, which became my full focus.”
Collegiate and International Success Followed Brown-Miller
As a rookie at Providence College in 1984, Brown-Miller made an immediate impact scoring the conference championship winning goal for Providence over New Hampshire to capture the ECAC title that year. As a senior in 1988, she was named the ECAC Player of the Year.
Internationally, Brown-Miller won four silver medals with Team USA in the 1990s, and added gold at the historic Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan in 1998. Brown-Miller had a goal and three points in her six Olympic games, and totalled 16 points in 15 games at the World Championships.
In the 1990s, Brown-Miller also served as head coach for Princeton's women's hockey team, and was named ECAC Coach of the Year in 1992. When she learned of the 1998 Olympics, Brown-Miller stepped away form coaching in 1996 to attempt to make USA's national team yet again. She would later return to coaching, serving as head coach for Aquinas College from 2019 to 2022.
Brown-Miller was also a strong advocate for more opportunities for women and girls in sport, including the push for NCAA Division 1 hockey in Michigan.