Jan 27, 2026
Forty-six years after the Miracle on Ice, the moments and the meaning still havent faded.Mark Johnson helped deliver one of the most iconic upsets in sports history at the 1980 Winter Olympics. Decades later, the gold medal stil l resonates not just as a memory, but as the foundation of a coaching philosophy that made him the winningest coach in womens hockey history.You know, yesterday someone came up to me and told me their son just watched Miracle for the first time, Johnson said. And my first reaction was, Well who won? Because my worst nightmare is I wake up one day and somebody tells me they lost that game.When asked what stays with him decades later, the answer goes beyond the final score.I think its the true joy of putting everything you had into something, he said. And then when it happened, it was better than you thought.That experience helped shape Johnson into the winningest coach in womens hockey history.My coaching philosophy goes back to Lake Placid, he explained. Playing against a team thats better than you. How you handle adversity. We spent six months together on that journey, and there were a lot of crazy things that happened. How do you push through it? How do you become a team? What does unity actually look like?Watch: Wisconsin Hockey Coach Mark Johnson reflects on Miracle on Ice Wisconsin Hockey Coach Mark Johnson reflects on Miracle on IceIf you want to win, he adds, the best chance you can give yourself is to actually become a team.Now, the eight-time national champion coach takes pride in watching his current and former players take the ice on the international stage.Theyve earned the right to be there, Johnson said. Now they need to go enjoy it. Play free. Dont worry about anything. Go play up to your capabilities and that should be enough.If he could speak to his younger Olympic self today, the message would be simple.If I knew we had a chance, Johnson said, Id tell myself enjoy it. Youve got to enjoy it.Its about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for TMJ4 on your device.Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.Report a typo or error ...read more read less
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