Mark Johnson (ice hockey)

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Olympic medal record
Men's Ice Hockey
Gold 1980 Lake Placid Team
Position Forward
Height
Weight
5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
160 lb (73 kg/11 st 6 lb)
NHL Team
F. teams
Retired
Pittsburgh Penguins
Minnesota North Stars
Hartford Whalers
St. Louis Blues
New Jersey Devils
Nationality Flag of the United States United States
Born September 22, 1957 (1957-09-22) (age 50),
Minneapolis, Minnesota
NHL Draft NHL, 1977
Pittsburgh Penguins
Pro career 1979 – 1990

Mark Johnson (b. September 22, 1957 in Minneapolis, Minnesota and raised in Madison, Wisconsin) is a former United States ice hockey player who appeared in 669 NHL regular season games between 1980 and 1990 after playing for the Gold medal winning 1980 US Olympic Hockey team.

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[edit] Amateur career

Johnson played for the University of Wisconsin-Madison ice hockey team for three years under his father, legendary coach Bob Johnson. In 1977, during his first year at the university, he helped the Badgers win the NCAA national championship. He was the first Badger ever to win WCHA Rookie of the year. He went on to become the school's second all-time scorer. Johnson was also a two time All-American.

[edit] International and Professional Career

Johnson made his international debut with the United States national team as an 18-year-old in 1976, when he played in 11 training games for the 1976 US Olympic ice hockey team coached by his father. He would represent the United States in 13 international tournaments (including the 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990 Ice Hockey World Championship tournaments as well as the 1981,1984 and 1987 Canada Cup). He is most famous for being a star player on the US Olympic Hockey team at the 1980 Lake Placid winter games. Playing for the United States Of America against the Soviet Union. Johnson scored in the first period of the game, which directly led to the Soviet coach taking out his goalie Vladislav Tretiak, a questionable move because the United States defeated them. He also scored in the third period to tie the game at 3–3. The team would then go on to defeat Finland to capture the gold medal.

Johnson went on to play professional hockey in the NHL for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Minnesota North Stars, Hartford Whalers, St. Louis Blues, and New Jersey Devils. His NHL accomplishments include playing in the 1984 NHL All Star game as the Whalers representative as well as serving as the Whalers team captain in 1983–85. He also played two seasons with Milan Saima SG in Italy and a final season in Austria before retiring from the game in 1992. He briefly came out of retirement to play two games for Team USA in the 1998 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships qualifying tournament at the age of 41, where he helped Team USA retain its position in the World Championships' Pool A.

[edit] Post Playing Career

Johnson is currently the head coach of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's women's hockey team, a position he has held since 2002. The team won its first NCAA national championship on March 26, 2006 and became repeat winners on March 18, 2007. Prior to coaching the women's team, Johnson was an assistant coach for the Wisconsin Badgers Men's hockey team from 1996 until 2002.

He was inducted into the Wisconsin Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001 and the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004.

On July 6, 2006, he was named head coach of the American women's team as part of a general reorganization of the program. His previous international coaching experience was as an assistant coach for the men's team in 2000 and 2002.

[edit] Awards and Achievements

  • Played in NHL All-Star Game (1984)
  • WCHA Freshman of the Year (1977)
  • WCHA First All-Star Team (1978, 1979)
  • NCAA West First All-American Team (1978, 1979)
  • WCHA Most Valuable Player (1979)

[edit] Career Statistics

                                  Regular Season              
Season  Team                    Lge   GP   G   A    Pts  PIM   
    
1979-80 Pittsburgh Penguins     NHL   17   3   5    8    4
1980-81 Pittsburgh Penguins     NHL   73   10  23   33   50
1981-82 Pittsburgh/Minnesota    NHL   56   12  13   25   40
1982-83 Hartford Whalers        NHL   73   31  38   69   28
1983-84 Hartford Whalers        NHL   79   35  52   87   27 
1984-85 Hartford/St. Louis      NHL   66   23  34   57   23
1985-86 New Jersey Devils       NHL   80   21  41   62   16
1986-87 New Jersey Devils       NHL   68   25  26   51   22
1987-88 New Jersey Devils       NHL   54   14  19   33   14
1988-89 New Jersey Devils       NHL   40   13  25   38   24
1989-90 New Jersey Devils       NHL   63   16  29   45   12

                   NHL Totals         669  203 305  508  260

[edit] Links

[edit] See also

[edit] References

Preceded by
Russ Anderson
Hartford Whalers captains
1983-85
Succeeded by
Ron Francis
Preceded by
Trish Millines Dziko
Bruce Furniss
Virginia Gilder
Stacey Johnson
Gregory Kelser
Kellen Winslow
Silver Anniversary Awards (NCAA)
Class of 2005
Mark Johnson
Gary Lawrence
Paul McDonald
Greg Meredith
Joan Benoit Samuelson
Dave Stoldt
Succeeded by
Valerie Ackerman
Danny Ainge
Charles Davis
Terry Schroeder
Mike Singletary
Susan Wellington
Preceded by
Ben Smith
American women's hockey team head coach
2006-present
Succeeded by
Current