Gold medal in hand, weary Kunin returns to Madison part of select club
January 06, 2017 | Men's Hockey, Andy Baggot
Unbeaten run to World Junior title ended Thursday in Montreal
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BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Luke Kunin returned to the Wisconsin men's hockey team Friday triumphant and euphoric, but thoroughly spent.
A sleepless night and a 5 a.m. shuttle ride to the airport will do that to you.
So will having to go through customs and a roundabout series of flights from Montreal to Charlotte, North Carolina, to Madison that stretched into the midafternoon.
So will playing eight pressure-packed games in 13 days as part of the prestigious World Junior Championships, an experience that ended Thursday night and one Kunin will never forget.
Neither will anyone who watched Team USA finish off a gold-medal-winning performance for the ages.
No wonder Kunin, the sophomore center and captain for UW, offered a weary sigh when asked where his exhaustion meter was on a scale of one to 10.
"Eleven," he said.
USA! USA! USA! Troy Terry scores lone goal of five-round shootout. Congrats to Team USA captain @lukekunin9 and @usahockey
— Wisconsin Hockey (@BadgerMHockey) January 5, 2017
No wonder Wisconsin coach Tony Granato made Kunin a healthy scratch for the Big Ten Conference series opener with Michigan State on Friday at the Kohl Center.
"We thought that would be the best thing," Kunin said, noting that he and the coaches are in wait-and-see mode for the series finale on Saturday.
The Americans won their fourth gold medal in WJC history by knocking off their biggest rivals, Russia and Canada, on consecutive nights.
Both medal round games went into overtime. Both required a shootout to decide the winner. Both were riveting affairs that left onlookers emotionally drained.
The fact the gold-medal game was staged at the Bell Center in Montreal, the epicenter of hockey, only added to the drama.
"The last two games, the Russia and Canada games, were probably the two most exciting games I might ever have," Kunin said. "Pretty crazy to go back and forth like that and then end with the shootout.
"It's a pretty crazy chain of events. I'm happy it worked out for us."
Kunin is the latest example of how much UW players and coaches have helped define success at the WJC.
He's the 10th player from the program to win a gold medal in the WJC and all have come since 2004.
The list includes defenseman Jake McCabe (2013), center Derek Stepan ('10), defenseman Jake Gardiner ('10), defenseman John Ramage ('10), defenseman Cody Goloubef ('09), center Kyle Turris ('08), winger Jake Dowell ('04), defenseman Jeff Likens ('04) and defenseman Ryan Suter ('04).
Goloubef and Turris played for Team Canada. The others for Team USA.
The Americans won their first WJC gold medal in 2004 when former UW player and coach Mike Eaves was behind the bench.
Current UW associate head coach Mark Osiecki was an assistant for Team USA when it won gold in 2013 as well as a bronze medal in 2011.
Incidentally, that '11 squad had Ramage serving as captain.
Of the current UW coaching staff, head coach Tony Granato played in the WJC in 1983 and '84, while associate head coach Don Granato assisted Osiecki, the American head coach, in 2015.
Don Granato also helped recruit and coach a majority of the U.S. gold medalists from 2013 and '16 while serving as coach of the U.S. National Team Developmental Program from 2011 to '15.
Team USA has won the WJC gold medal four times and, in the last three instances, the captain also played for the Badgers.
In addition to Kunin, McCabe wore the "C'' in 2013 and Stepan did so in '10.
Kunin said he didn't know that bit of history until Team USA assistant coach Grant Potulny skated up to him during a practice prior to the Russian game and told him.
"He was like, 'Don't mess it up,'" Kunin said with a laugh.
McCabe said having another UW alum in the small, decorated fraternity is cool.
"It's something special and I'm glad I can be part of it," he said.
McCabe joked that maybe Jim Johannson, the assistant executive director for USA Hockey and another UW alum, "is going to have to make sure he takes a kid from Wisconsin every year."
McCabe, who played for the Badgers from 2011 to '14 and now skates a regular shift in the NHL with Buffalo, can relate to the challenges Kunin faced serving as the elected leader of a team weighed down with great expectations.
"It's just kind of playing your role and having everyone buy in as fast as possible because it's a short tournament," McCabe said.
The Sabres were playing in Chicago on Thursday night, but McCabe watched the shootout portion live in the United Center dressing room afterward and saw the highlights of regulation and OT later.
"Looked like a pretty crazy game," he said. "I can only imagine how it was in person.
According to McCabe, the experience Kunin gained in the tournament is immeasurable.
"It's going to be something he'll never forget, that's for sure," McCabe said.
A native of Eau Claire, McCabe said he first crossed paths with Kunin when the latter arrived on campus as a freshman two summers ago. Kunin was subsequently chosen by Minnesota in the first round of the NHL draft in 2016.
"He's a very mature kid," McCabe said of Kunin. "You can tell he's a hard worker."
Kunin is the second sophomore to be named captain in UW history, joining Eaves (1975-76).
"It just goes to show you why he is such a good leader," McCabe said. "Watching the games, he's a heck of a player, too."
But a tired one for the moment.
#mnwild prospect @LukeKunin9 captained @USAHockey to a #WJC2017 Gold Medal! He spoke w/ @PONDcast about the tourney? http://ow.ly/38aE307LaVS
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) January 6, 2017
Kunin was asked for his favorite congratulatory text message.
"The ones that are the best are from the coaches and people that helped me along the way," he said. "It's pretty special getting those from them because I wouldn't be here without a lot of those people."
The weariness Kunin felt Friday was made easier by a souvenir he picked up before he left Canada.
"It definitely makes it better carrying a gold medal around with you," he said.
