ANDY BAGGOT Insider

BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider

MADISON, Wis. — Meghan Duggan had just turned 18 when one of the first big crossroads moments of her life came to be.

She was one of the top women's hockey prospects in the country and all the premier college programs in NCAA Division I were in dogged pursuit. That includes defending two-time national champion Minnesota and three — Boston College, Boston University and Harvard — located within a 30-minute drive from her home in Danvers, Massachusetts.

Against this backdrop, Duggan flew from Boston to Madison, accompanied by her parents, Bob and Mary, to check out Wisconsin. This was late September in 2005. The Duggans had no idea that they were about to enjoy an unusual experience that would change their lives forever.

As part of the 48-hour visit, the Duggans joined UW coach Mark Johnson and an entourage that included his wife Leslie, their two young daughters Mikayla and Megan, members of his staff and Erika Lawler, a sophomore winger for the Badgers who attended the same prep school as Duggan, for a 40-minute car ride to nearby Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin. In short order, the group arrived at the Wollersheim Winery and Distillery for an afternoon of grape stomping.

Everyone took part in the harvest ritual of rolling up your pant legs, climbing barefoot inside wooden vats and treading on the grapes so as to get them to release their juices and begin fermentation.

"We had a blast," Duggan said.

Johnson got stung by a bee while high stepping through some juicy reds, but that didn't diminish an experience that was the brainchild of his then-assistant coach Tracey (Cornell) DeKeyser.

"One of the best recruiting visits I've ever been on," he chuckled.

No one in the Johnson group imbibed, but the moment served to put everyone involved in a state of mellow contentment and to relieve any pressure that Duggan, an elite-level winger who had told Johnson that her No. 1 hockey objective was to play for her country in the Winter Olympics, might have been feeling.

"The whole weekend was about relationship-building and getting to know each another, which became, obviously, an important part of my career," Duggan said.

"Everyone could just lay down their guard and be real," Johnson said. "I think (Meghan) got a feel for Leslie and myself and what we were about and took that leap of faith. She trusted our group and our coaching staff to accomplish her vision."

Duggan decided to attend UW and proceeded to have one of the most prolific careers of any student-athlete in school history. From 2006 to '11, she skated in four NCAA championship games, winning three; was a first-team All-American and recipient of the Patty Kazmaier Award as the best women's player in the country as a senior; and left Madison as the No. 1 scorer in program history.

Duggan wound up playing for the U.S. National Team in eight World Championships, winning seven gold medals. She also appeared in three Olympics, earning silver medals in 2010 and '14 before claiming a gold medal in 2018. Newly married with an infant son named George and another child on the way, she retired last October at the age of 33 and was hired earlier this month as the Manager of Player Development for the New Jersey Devils of the NHL.

That's the resume that made Duggan part of the latest class of inductees to the UW Athletic Hall of Fame. Its origins go back to that relaxing, fun-filled afternoon in small-town Wisconsin.

"It was definitely like foreshadowing to how awesome my experience was going to be at UW," Duggan said. "Now that I look back on it, it was really just like a special introduction to Madison and UW."

Duggan did more than just play for the Badgers and her country. She was the revered captain of the club that won the NCAA title in 2011 and also wore the "C" for the U.S. in the 2014 and '18 Olympics. She didn't serve in the role as leader. She lived it 24-7-365.

"Meghan separated herself from a lot of people that I consider good leaders just by her ability to elevate people around her and showcase not only outstanding work habits and passion for the game, but making kids around her better," Johnson said.

"It's a slippery slope holding people accountable so that everyone stays on the same page and everybody's going in the same direction. That can be challenging. She was as good as I've seen in those areas: making people around her better and that unique ability to hold people accountable in a real positive way."

Anyone privy to Duggan's efforts as UW captain in 2011 will tell you she was special. She had taken a year off to skate with Team USA in advance of her Olympic debut in 2010. She returned, along with Johnson, who coached the Americans, and junior winger Hilary Knight, to a club that struggled on and off the ice on the way to an 18-15-3 overall record.

The 2010-11 roster was young, but gifted. Two of the centerpieces were freshman goaltender Alex (Rigsby) Cavallini and sophomore center Brianna Decker.

"She was always so welcoming and so caring," Cavallini said of Duggan. "I'll never forget how she carried herself from Day One, making sure us freshmen were included and were made to feel important.

"She was the person you looked up to and aspired to be someday. She was a great player, a great leader and a great friend."

Cavallini went on to win 100 career games for the Badgers and was a member of the American squad that knocked off reigning gold medalist Canada in a shoot out to secure the Olympic title in 2018. So was Decker.

"I heard nothing but great things about her, that she was a tremendous leader," Decker said of Duggan entering their only UW season together.

Decker and Duggan were lethal line mates in 2010-11, combining for 73 goals and 167 points. That collaboration grew into a strong friendship that resulted in Decker serving as part of Duggan's wedding party when Duggan married Gillian Apps.

Decker described something called "Master D's Clinic" where she would stay after practice and work with Duggan on different aspects of the game.

"Those tasks weren't always easy," Decker said. "They took me out of my comfort zone."

But they helped Decker become the Patty Kazmaier winner in 2012 and one of the best players in the world. Some of the sessions dealt with leadership. Decker said Duggan encouraged her to envision herself as a go-to resource for teammates.

"You look at how she carries herself, how she walks into a room and how she walks into a building," Decker said. "She's humble, yet confident. Her mindset is that it's all about the team."

Duggan's presence, credibility and reputation were front and center in 2017 when members of the U.S. National Team threatened to boycott the World Championships over player compensation. She was heavily involved in negotiations with USA Hockey and served as a spokesperson for the talks leading up to the agreement on a new four-year deal. She then made good on her plan to bring home the Olympic gold medal.

How Duggan handled that moment impressed Cammi Granato, who captained Team USA to the Olympic gold medal in 1998 and had a similarly high PR role 20 years prior to Duggan. Granato was the first American woman to be inducted in the International Hockey Hall of Fame. Her brother, Tony, is the UW men's coach and a 2000 inductee in the school's athletic hall of fame.

Cammi Granato said her first conversation with Duggan came on the phone in the midst of the threatened boycott. Granato found it enlightening.

"Just the way she handled herself as a leader and how outspoken she was," she said of Duggan. "Just the strength of her leadership. I knew her team was in good hands with her as a captain. She's impressive and I could tell that in our first conversation. I could tell that with the way she spoke up and put her neck on the line.

"When it's you leading the charge — your name's on everything — there's a lot to that and she just did an amazing job. The way she used her voice. She was reasonable. She was calm. Just so much to be impressed about. I have so much respect for her as a person."

Granato later met Duggan face-to-face during a symposium in Portland, Oregon, and the two have cultivated a mentor-understudy relationship. That's likely to grow given their current pioneering roles in the NHL. Granato, who is married to former NHL standout Ray Ferraro, is a scout for the expansion franchise in Seattle and Duggan has begun her management duties with the Devils.

Granato said she knew Duggan would have opportunities to work in the male-dominated NHL.

"I'm thrilled for her," Granato said. "I know she's going to be great."

Duggan consulted with both Granato and Johnson about the job before committing to it. Johnson wrote a letter of recommendation for her. He said if an NHL team was looking into her background "she'd be an awesome choice."