Ex-Penguin Mark Johnson has made his own impact in women's hockey

He is very much his father’s son.

There is the thick gray hair.

A constant smile.

But Mark Johnson claimed one prominent difference from Bob Johnson.

“I don’t think I quite have the nose.”

Olfactory concerns noted, the most prominent trait shared by the Johnsons is how they talk.

And it’s not because they have a Wis-cahn-son accent.

Much like his father, revered in Pittsburgh for directing the Penguins to their first Stanley Cup title in 1991, Mark Johnson is unrelentingly positive about the family business of coaching hockey.

“It’s a game and it’s a sport,” Mark Johnson said. “And if you treat it that way and guys are having fun and enjoying what they’re doing — it’s a grind — if they can come to the rink and enjoy what their doing and you have some talented kids and they understand the team concept, anything is possible.”

It’s not as catchy as “It’s a Great Day for Hockey,” but the sentiment is pretty much the same.

It’s a sentiment Mark Johnson carries as the coach of Wisconsin’s women’s hockey coach. Currently in his 18th season with the Badgers, Johnson, 62, has won five national titles, including last season, and is the winningest women’s coach in NCAA history with a career record of 517-89-44.

He has been custodian to one of the best women’s college programs and marvels at the leaps the game has made for women during his nearly two decades in the position.

“It’s come a long way,” Johnson said in an interview with the Tribune-Review on Jan. 2 in Cranberry when his team participated in a tournament hosted by Robert Morris. “It’s sort of been in increments. My first probably five to 10 years, there was quite a bit of growth. When I first started, teams maybe had one, one-and-a-half good lines. After about eight or 10 years, everybody was at two, two-and-a-half lines. Now, everybody has got quality players. Everybody’s got quality teams. Most games are extremely competitive.

“What I’ve seen probably as the biggest change, more young ladies getting an opportunity to play.”

Where ever we travel with my team, or in the summer when I’m traveling around doing hockey schools, I just see a lot more girls getting involved in the sport. Certainly in Madison, I’ve seen a lot of growth. In our state, I’ve seen a lot of growth. Then in different pockets … we were in California last year at the nationals in Anaheim, they build a brand new rink similar to what Pittsburgh has done here (in Cranberry). So these NHL teams that are building these new facilities help spurs the growth. (Several) sheets of ice out there, from eight in the morning to 10 at nights with girls hockey going on, it’s remarkable.”

As a member of the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” Olympic team — Johnson scored the gold medal-winning goal — he has had a unique role in helping grow the sport in the United States, first in the early 1980s then in the early 2000s after taking over as Wisconsin’s coach.

“Pat LaFontaine, Chris Chelios, those type of players looked at what we did in 1980 and they wanted to be part of the ‘84 team,” Johnson said. “So it spurred this growth of those younger players wanting to get a chance to play in the Olympics, wanting to get a chance to play in the NHL. Prior to that, there weren’t a lot of Americans playing in the NHL. We were able to get a bunch of guys on our (1980) team go have success.

“It was very similar after the ’98 Olympics in Nagano, where the women won the gold medal. All of a sudden, you had this spike in female hockey. Then 2002 and 2006 and 2010, it just kept going. So that visibility is priceless. People see it, and all of a sudden, you have these different areas building rinks. All of a sudden, you have a bunch of these young ladies playing hockey.”

Johnson enjoyed a 10-year career in the NHL, including parts of three seasons with the Penguins in the early 1980s.

After retiring as a professional player after a stint in Austria in 1991-92, coaching was an obvious career route. After completing a kinesiology degree at Wisconsin, Johnson served as an assistant coach at his alma mater with the men’s team for six seasons.

What prompted him to make the considerable jump to coaching women?

“I was just trying to figure out what my next step was,” Johnson said. “Was I going to be part of the NHL as a coach? I was a player for a long time. I was obviously thinking about doing that. But with a young family and wanting some stability and things like that, everybody told me, ‘Once you go to the women’s side, you don’t come back.’ I went over, and it’s been all good. Seen a lot of growth.”

In 2018-19, USA Hockey boasted of more than 83,000 females playing the sport. In 1990, that number was just over 6,300.

For Johnson, the growth is more evident in a more anecdotal sense.

“The visibility of it, Johnson said. “When you see the Olympics on TV, people that normally wouldn’t watch a female hockey game see the women win the gold medal or have success, then it’s, ‘Hey, I have a daughter. I’m going to get her involved in hockey.’

“Then you have the last probably five to eight years, where these NHL teams have done what Pittsburgh has done here. We played in Nashville on Thanksgiving. We played in San Jose a couple years ago. They’re building these (multirink) facilities. Well, they have to use the ice other than (with) their NHL teams. So with those youth programs, it becomes easier. It becomes more visible, and it gets more people involved.”

Are there differences between coaching men and women? Or are hockey players just hockey players regardless of gender?

“Once you recognize that men and women are different, your approach has to be somewhat different,” Johnson said. “Not in the sense that when I get on the ice, they’re just hockey players, whether they’re female or male. But I think the communication part of it. If you have a wife, if you have a sister, if you have a mother, women communicate a little bit different than most men. I learned that early on in my career that they just want to learn why they’re doing things.

“It’s all been positive. It’s all been good. I’ve gotten a lot out of it.”

Bob Johnson died in 1991 at the age of 60 after a bout with brain cancer, a handful of months after the Penguins won the Stanley Cup in his only season with the franchise.

Despite such a brief tenure with the team, he’s not just a footnote in the franchise’s history. Bob Johnson is part of the sport’s identity in Pittsburgh, where the Penguins are quick to remind, “It’s a great day for hockey.”

It could be argued his son has done the same, if not more, for the women’s game in this country.

“I figured I was going to give coaching five years and see where that takes me,” Johnson said. “That was 23 years ago. I was on the men’s side. I got to coach in some (IIHF World Championship tournaments) on the men’s side. The last 17, 18 years on the women’s side, it’s just been a pleasure. I’ve been able to keep my family in one spot. Been able to grow the sport. Obviously had some success winning some championships.

“No complaints whatsoever.”

Not that anyone would ever expect a Johnson to complain.

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