Brianna Decker (born May 13, 1991) is an American women's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

player who plays for the Calgary section of the

PWHPA The Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) is a nonprofit 501(c)(6) organization dedicated to advocating for the promotion of professional women's ice hockey. It was founded in May 2019 following the dissolution of the Canadian W ...

and the

United States women's national ice hockey team The United States women's national ice hockey team is controlled by USA Hockey. The U.S. has been one of the most successful women's ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating ...

. She won the 2012

Patty Kazmaier Award The Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award is given to the top female college ice hockey player in the United States. The award is presented during the women's annual ice hockey championship, the Frozen Four. The award was first presented in 1998. The awa ...

while playing for the University of Wisconsin, recognizing the best female ice hockey player in NCAA Division I play. With the Boston Pride, Decker would score the first hat trick in NWHL history on October 25, 2015.

Playing career

NCAA

In her freshman season (2009–10) with the

Wisconsin Badgers women's ice hockey The Wisconsin Badgers women's ice hockey team is the hockey team that represents the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin. History On October 8, 1999, the Bulldogs played the Wisconsin Badgers in the first ever Women's WCHA conference ...

program, Decker scored the Badgers' first goal of the season in a game against North Dakota (October 3). During the season, she accumulated seven multi-point games and four multi-goal games. She was third in team scoring despite missing almost half of the first part of the season. On September 25, 2011, Decker scored her third career hat trick in a 13–0 defeat of the

Lindenwood Lady Lions ice hockey The Lindenwood Lady Lions ice hockey team represents Lindenwood University located in St. Charles, Missouri. The Lady Lions currently participate in the NCAA Division I competition as a member of College Hockey America (CHA). The team played with ...

program. Her 12-game winning goals during the 2010–11 season are a program record. She holds the Badgers longest scoring streak at 32 games (February 11, 2011 to January 6, 2012). During the streak she accumulated 77 points (33 goals, 44 assists). In her junior season, Decker won the 2012

USA Hockey

She won gold at the 2009 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship. On January 28, 2011, it was announced that Decker was named to the preliminary roster for the US Women's National Team. From April 4 to 12, 2011, she was one of 30 players that took part in a selection / training camp and was named to the final roster that participated at the

2011 IIHF Women's World Championship The 2011 IIHF World Women's Championships was held in April 2011 in Zürich and Winterthur, Switzerland, and took place at Hallenstadion and Deutweg rink. Leading goaltenders Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have play ...

. At the

, Brianna Decker was among the tournament's top five scorers. Decker's 11 points (four goals, seven assists) placed her second. In 2017, Decker was a member of the winning US team for the

2017 IIHF Women's World Championship The 2017 IIHF Women's World Championship was an international Ice hockey tournament run by the International Ice Hockey Federation. It was held in Plymouth Township, Michigan, United States from 31 March to 7 April 2017. The USA Hockey Arena serv ...

, receiving two assists in the final against Canada. On January 2, 2022, Decker was named to

Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

's roster to represent the United States at the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...

after having been a top scorer for the team at the two previous Olympic Games and earning a silver (2014) and gold medal (2018). In the opening preliminary round 5-2 victory over

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

on February 3, Decker suffered a knee injury in the middle of the first period, and was ruled out of the Olympics.

Professional

CWHL

Making her debut for the

Boston Blades The Worcester Blades were a professional women's ice hockey team in the Canadian Women's Hockey League, based in Worcester, Massachusetts, and played their home games at the Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center. The team began play in the 2010–11 ...

on January 17, 2015, Decker accumulated seven points (three goals, four assists) in an 11–3 win against the Brampton Thunder. Decker would finish the season leading all American-born players in scoring, while ranking second overall in the scoring race for the Angela James Bowl with 32 points. In addition, she tied with Blades teammate

Tara Watchorn Tara Leigh-Anne Watchorn (born May 30, 1990) is a Canadian women's ice hockey player who has competed for the Canadian national women's ice hockey team. She made her debut for Team Canada in the 2010 Four Nations Cup and played for Canada most ...

as the league leaders in plus/minus rating with a +25. During the

2015 Clarkson Cup The 2015 Clarkson Cup was a women's ice hockey tournament that was contested in Markham, Ontario to determine the champion of the Canadian Women's Hockey League from March 4 to March 7, 2014. The Boston Blades defeated the Montreal Stars by a 3-2 ta ...

playoffs, Decker led all players in scoring, while registering two goals in the championship game, a 3–2 overtime win over the

Montreal Stars Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...

NWHL

Signing as a free agent with the

Boston Pride The Boston Pride are a professional women's ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They are one of the four charter franchises of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), formerly the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL; 2015–2021). The ...

of the

National Women's Hockey League The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), formerly the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), is a women's professional ice hockey league located in the United States and Canada. The league was established in 2015 with four league-owned teams and ha ...

, Decker made league history on October 25, 2015. During a 5–3 road win against the Buffalo Beauts, Decker would score the first hat trick in league history. All three goals were scored against Beauts goaltender Brianne McLaughlin. Decker was awarded Most Valuable Player consecutively by the NWHL for her performance in the 2015–16 season and 2016–17 season.

Return to CWHL

On July 24, 2018, Decker and fellow Team USA gold medalist

Kacey Bellamy Kacey Lee Bellamy (born April 22, 1987) is an American ice hockey defender for the Calgary section of the PWHPA, an Olympic Silver medalist, and seven-time IIHF World Women's Championship winner. She currently plays for the Boston Pride in the ...

signed as free agents with the

Calgary Inferno The Calgary Inferno (previously known as Team Alberta, nickname "Honeybadgers", during the 2011–12 season) was a women's ice hockey team that joined the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) for the 2011–12 season. The team played its home g ...

. Decker would score the game-winning goal versus Les Canadiennes de Montreal in the 2019 Clarkson Cup finals, with Bellamy gaining the assist. Of note, Decker would also be recognized as the MVP of the 2019 Clarkson Cup playoffs.

NHL

On January 25, 2019, Decker participated in the

NHL All-Star Skills Competition The NHL All-Star Game SuperSkills Competition, originally known as the National Hockey League All-Star Skills Competition, is an event on the night preceding the All-Star Game. Started at the 41st National Hockey League All-Star Game in Pittsburg ...

, in which she demonstrated the premier passing drill event. Her demo time of 1:06 was faster than all eight men who competed in the event. The $25,000 prize money went to

Leon Draisaitl Leon Tim Draisaitl (; born 27 October 1995) is a German professional ice hockey centre and alternate captain for the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Draisaitl grew up playing hockey in Germany until he was selected second ove ...

, who finished at 1:09. Ice hockey equipment manufacturer CCM announced that it would pay Decker $25,000 for achieving the fastest time.

PWHPA

Decker participated in the #ForTheGame movement in connection with the PWHPA, beginning May 2019. She played for Team Johnston in PWHPA's Dream Gap exhibition tour. Skating for Team New Hampshire during the 2020–21 PWHPA season, Decker participated in a PWHPA Dream Gap Tour event at New York's

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

on February 28, 2021, the first women's ice hockey event at the venue. Playing for a team sponsored by the Women's Sports Foundation, Decker recorded two goals and two assists in a 4-3 win, earning the First Star of the Game.

Career statistics

NCAA

WCHA

CWHL

NWHL

Awards and honors

NCAA

*Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner (2012) *RBK Hockey/AHCA Division I second-team All-American (2010–11) *All-WCHA First Team (2010–11) *WCHA Final Face-off Most Valuable Player (2010–11) *All-WCHA Rookie Team (2009–10) *three-time WCHA Rookie of the Week (2009–10) *WCHA Preseason Rookie of the Year (2009–10) *Badgers Rookie of the Year (2009–10) * All-WCHA Academic Team (2010–11) *WCHA Rookie of the Week (Week of October 5, 2009) * 2012 Wisconsin Offensive Player of the Year Award

CWHL

*CWHL co-leader, Plus-Minus rating +25 (2014–15) *CWHL Scoring Leader among American-born players (2014–15) *2015 CWHL Rookie of the Year Award Winner * 2019 Clarkson Cup Playoff MVP

IIHF

*Inductee into the 2014 Winter Olympics for the US team

NWHL

*Isobel Cup Playoffs Most Valuable Player Award (2016) *NWHL Most Valuable Player Award (2016)

References

External links

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Brianna Decker
at

USA Hockey USA Hockey is the national ice hockey organization in the United States. It is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee as the Sport governing body, governing body for organized ice ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Decker, Brianna 1991 births Living people American expatriate ice hockey players in Canada American women's ice hockey forwards Boston Blades players Boston Pride players Calgary Inferno players Clarkson Cup champions Ice hockey players from Wisconsin Ice hockey players at the 2014 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2018 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2022 Winter Olympics Isobel Cup champions Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in ice hockey Olympic silver medalists for the United States in ice hockey Patty Kazmaier Award winners People from Waukesha County, Wisconsin Sportspeople from the Milwaukee metropolitan area Wisconsin Badgers women's ice hockey players Professional Women's Hockey Players Association players