BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — It's a unique ritual that comes to life before every Wisconsin women's hockey practice.
Senior winger Mikayla Johnson will be taking a warmup lap around the rink, typically in the company of a teammate or two, when her father will appear on the scene.
On cue, Mikayla's sidekicks will knowingly, respectfully peel off and Mark Johnson will ease up alongside his daughter, matching her easy stride.
The two will devote the next couple minutes to catching up on the events of the day, idly passing a puck back and forth, circumnavigating the ice sheet in their own little world.
"You know that that's their time together, so you pull away," senior defenseman Jenny Ryan explained.
"It's definitely interesting," senior winger Sarah Nurse observed of her friend's father-daughter rite. "We'll just be having a casual conversation — we come from class, so we haven't seen each other all day and we're just kind of talking — and you make a turn and see him coming over and it's like, 'All right, time to go.'"
Those moments represent Mikayla's favorite memory of the last five years, a time spent playing 116 career games for the Badgers while learning how to strike the oft-times difficult balance between daughter and player.
"It's funny," she said. "I'll be with Sarah or (junior center) Emily (Clark) or someone skating around and they can see him coming for me and they just part."
School is a common topic between Mark and his oldest daughter. So are family updates featuring the antics of Mikayla's nephew, Nash, as well as Mikayla's four siblings.
The talks typically last a couple minutes before a whistle is blown and practice begins.
"I'm definitely going to miss that," Mikayla said.
The last bits of sand are pouring through the hour glass.
Mikayla and five fellow seniors — Nurse, Ryan, defenseman Mellissa Channell, goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens and center and captain Sydney McKibbon — will be honored Sunday as part of a Western Collegiate Hockey Association series with second-ranked Minnesota-Duluth at LaBahn Arena.
The top-ranked Badgers (26-2-1 overall, 21-2-1 in the WCHA) have won 12 straight and go into the series with a shot at clinching the WCHA regular-season title before their regular-season-ending series at Minnesota Feb. 18 and 19.
This will be Mark Johnson's 20th senior day as a coach at Wisconsin — six as a men's assistant and 14 overseeing the women's program — but his first involving one of his children.
His son, Patrick, played for the UW men's team from 2007 to '11, but Mark and his wife Leslie were loving bystanders.
"It will be an emotional Sunday because it's the end," Mark Johnson said. "It happens quick. All of a sudden it's upon you."
It's hard to know how Mikayla's father will react when she's introduced to another sellout crowd as part of a pre-game ceremony, but one thing is certain.
He will be intensely proud.
After all, the two shared similar journeys and carried similar familial burdens.
Both suited up for UW teams coached by their famous fathers. Both heard unflattering things from fans. Both had to grow up in a local fish bowl and figure out how to adapt.
"You don't have an idea till you're in those shoes," Mark said.
Mark played for his iconic dad Bob from 1976 to '79 and had to endure critics who implied favoritism. Mark quieted many of them by scoring 125 goals in 125 career games for UW.
"You hear things," Mark noted. "Players are talking and fans are talking. I just got to a point where, 'He's pretty good at what he does. I've got to trust him.'"
Mikayla redshirted her first season with the Badgers and spent the next four coming to grips with the fact that her on-ice role was limited. There were games when she was a healthy scratch. There were times when she dressed, but got little or no ice time.
"Some people say things they shouldn't," Mikayla said, recalling times when she didn't play and sat in the stands with friends. "That's been a hard part for me, having to embrace my role and trying to be as positive as I can be about it."
Mark Johnson said his daughter had a more difficult go than he did when he played for his dad.
"She probably had it the toughest just because of the way her path was designed," he said.
That came to the forefront roughly a month ago. Johnson noticed his daughter was on edge about something, so he waited until after practice and pulled her aside.
"Like any day in life, some are harder than others," Mikayla recalled. "I think he kind of noticed it was one of those bad days for me.
"I might have heard something. Someone might have said something to me. Sometimes it just hits you harder than other times."
For the better part of 20 minutes, father and daughter stood alone in an empty rink and talked.
"I told her how proud I am of her and how important she was to me irrelevant to whether I was playing her or not," Mark said.
"He complimented me on the role I play, the things I do well," Mikayla said. "That he's proud to have me as a daughter on the team."
Mikayla remembers crying.
"It was a cool moment, not only as a player for him, but as a daughter," she said.
The Johnsons shared a hug before leaving the ice.
"It was good from the standpoint that she knew where I was coming from with regards to our relationship as a coach, a father and a daughter," Mark said.
How did the father/daughter/coach/player dynamic evolve?
"Coming in freshman year, I think she thought it was awkward," Nurse said of Mikayla. "As she's grown through this process, it's nice to see them interact.
"I couldn't imagine being in her shoes. I don't think I'd want to be, but I think she's really enjoyed it and I think he has, too, as the years have gone by.
"I think they've handled it so well. It definitely was hard those times she wasn't in the lineup — on both sides — but I think as we've gone through the years she has accepted her role and really thrived in it."
Mikayla said playing for her father has changed them both for the better.
"I think we both appreciate each other more," she said. "Each year has been different. You learn something new each year.
"It's hard for him, too. He's in a position where he has to be a coach first and that's something I definitely learned over five years here."
Mikayla recalled a moment from her sophomore season when her father got annoyed with her at a practice.
"I just made a terrible play on this 3-on-2," she said. "He skates up to me and he goes, 'Was that a good pass?' Nope. "He said, 'Was that a good play?' Nope. "He said, 'Change it.'
"I said, 'OK, I'm going to change it next time.'"
Asked for his favorite Mikayla moment during her career, Mark said there were many. He mentioned her first goal — during a 5-1 non-conference win over Lindenwood in October of 2013 — but focused on her character.
"Just the way she's conducted herself," he said. "As a coach you like to see that with all your players, but as a parent it especially touches home.
"Her teammates respect her, they look up to her, they ask her for advice. To me those are great qualities to have."
Ryan said Mikayla earned her respect before Ryan ever skated a shift for the Badgers.
"I remember even on my official (visit) that she was one of the friendliest people that I met on the team in general," Ryan said.
"Then I came in and watched how hard she worked on the ice and how respectful she was to all her teammates. That was a cue to me that she was somebody I wanted to be around and be friends with and someone who was going to be a great teammate for the future."
Nurse said Mikayla did something recently that sent a powerful, if subtle, message about her priorities.
During an 8-2 romp over Minnesota on Dec. 4, Nurse said her friend passed up late-game ice time so that some of the younger forwards could get some experience.
"She wants to play," Nurse said of Mikayla. "She absolutely loves playing and wants to be in that game, but sometimes it's like, 'Let the (younger players) go and let them have their chance.'"
Nurse said Mikayla, who has nine goals and 16 points in her career, is respected in all corners of the dressing room.
"You talk to anybody on our team and she's probably the best teammate we have," Nurse said. "She's always willing to listen. She always has the biggest smiling face.
"She wants the best for everybody. She's really willing to put others in front of herself."
This is the same Mikayla who accompanied her father on road trips when she was a grade-schooler. She loved the action, loved the Zambonis, loved being a stick girl on the bench and loved her time alone with dad.
"I blink and I'm here," she said.
