Amateur career As a teenager, Johnson attended
James Madison Memorial High School in Madison, Wisconsin, where he was on the hockey team. He then played for the
University of Wisconsin–Madison ice hockey team for three years under his father, legendary coach
Bob Johnson. In 1977, during his first year at the university, he helped the
Badgers win the
NCAA national championship. He was the first Badger to win the
WCHA Rookie of the year. He went on to become the school's leading goal scorer and second all-time scorer. Johnson was also a two time
All-American. His younger brother,
Peter, also played at the university.
International and professional career Johnson made his international debut with the United States national team as an 18-year-old in 1976, when he played in 11 training games for the 1976 U.S. Olympic ice hockey team coached by his father. He represented the United States in 13 international tournaments (including the 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990
Ice Hockey World Championship tournaments and the
1981,
1984 and
1987 Canada Cup). He was a star player on the "Miracle on Ice"
U.S. Olympic Hockey team at the
1980 Lake Placid winter games. Playing for the United States against the
Soviet Union, Johnson scored two of the four goals in the
Team USA 4–3 victory. His first goal, scored with one second left in the game's first period, led to the Soviet coach taking out his goalie,
Vladislav Tretiak, who was considered the best goalie in the world at the time; years later, when Johnson asked Soviet defenseman
Slava Fetisov, now an NHL teammate, about the decision, he was simply told, "Coach crazy". He also scored in the third period to tie the game at 3–3. The team then
defeated Finland to capture the gold medal, with Johnson assisting on the game-winning goal and scoring the insurance goal with less than four minutes remaining in the game. Johnson was named team MVP. Johnson went on to play professional hockey in the
NHL for the
Pittsburgh Penguins,
Minnesota North Stars,
Hartford Whalers,
St. Louis Blues, and
New Jersey Devils. He played in the 1984
NHL All Star game as the Whalers representative and served as the Whalers' captain in 1983–85. He also played two seasons with
Milan Saima SG in
Italy and a final season in
Austria before retiring in 1992. He briefly came out of retirement to play two games for Team USA in the
1998 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships qualifying tournament at the age of 41, where he helped Team USA retain its position in the World Championships' Pool A. In 2010, thirty years after winning the Olympic gold medal as a player, Johnson coached the
United States women's national ice hockey team, which won a silver medal in the
Vancouver games. On February 9, 2019, the University of Wisconsin retired #10 during a pre-game presentation at the Kohl Center. Johnson was the first Badgers hockey player to have his number retired. ==Personal life==