Mark Johnson

Mark "Magic" Johnson (born September 22, 1957 in Minneapolis, Minnesota and raised in Madison, Wisconsin) is a current ice hockey coach and 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 American team in the 1980 Olympics.

Amateur career
Johnson played for the University of Wisconsin ice hockey team for three years under his father, legendary coach Bob Johnson.As a teenager he went to Madison Memorial High School and was on the hockey team. 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.

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 Tretiak was considered the best goalie in the world at the time. 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.

He is the player who has played the most games in the United States National Team and is also the player with the most points in the national team.

Coaching career
Johnson coached the Madison Monsters in 1995-1996. Then he moved to Univ. of Wisconsin. He coached men's team between 1996 and 2002 and women's team between 2002 and 2009 and between 2010 and 2018. The team won its first NCAA national championship on March 26, 2006. They won their second and third titles respectively on March 18, 2007, and March 22, 2009.

He served as an assistant coach for the men's team at the 2000 and 2002 World Championships. On July 6, 2006, he was named coach of the American women's team as part of a general reorganization of the program. He coached the United States Women's National Team at the 2007 and 2009 World Women's Championships and also at the 2010 Olympics. In 2009 Johnson also coached the United States Women's National U18 Team at the 2009 World Women's U18 Championship.

Honors and Awards
He was inducted into the Wisconsin Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001 and the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004.
 * 2011 WCHA Coach of the Year

Awards and Achievements
United States National Team Coach
 * 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)
 * 2000 Men’s World Championship (Assistant)
 * 2002 Men’s World Championship (Assistant)
 * 2006 Women’s Four Nations Cup (Head)
 * 2007 Women’s World Championship (Head)
 * 2007 Women’s Under-22 Select Team (Head)
 * 2008 Women’s Under-18 Select Team (Head)
 * 2010 Women's Olympic Team (Head)

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

Links

 * Audio interview with Mark Johnson from Wisconsin Public Television