"That was a great game," Lillie recalled of the night her team lost to Wisconsin in overtime in the national semifinals. "There was a girl named Sarah (Kolarik), and I remember getting to the bench and she said, 'Go, Lillie!' And I didn't say anything back to her because I was mad, and then I tried to fight back. "And I knew everybody was like, 'Oh, she's going to start crying.' But I never cried. My whole life I never let a boy see me cry." So there was no crying. Just fighting back. Naturally, the other Lillie looked up to the other one. "I think Lillian probably had more confidence in me than I had in myself," said DeWitt, who graduated in 1990 and was later inducted into the school's hall of fame. "When I got to college, I think I still had that attitude. Just be a man. That's all I wanted to be. I didn't want to play with dolls, dolls' hair and all that stuff." There was always a doll on a string, at least one, but not only was DeWitt not a boy, neither was she girly. And therein was the confusion that caused Lillie to write the postscript. It was nothing personal to her, her mother wrote. Or nothing about Lillie. It was simply that Lillie had inherited the same kind of male traits as her grandfather who never cried, the same kind of guy whom the "other" Lillie DeWitt used to say she wanted to marry. The other Lillie's dad just couldn't talk about those things. Never would. Lillie's mother could. Maybe that's why she wrote it. "I'm sure there was some pressure for her, and I know there was for me," Lillie DeWitt said. "I don't know how to describe it, but I think I felt bad about it sometimes. At that point in my life I wasn't ready. I don't want to say I'm ready now, but I can imagine it. It makes me laugh because I know where I'm from. But I think a lot of people don't want to say where they come from because it makes them uncomfortable. "Maybe now because of Facebook, because of Twitter and stuff, I can be more comfortable. But now everybody knows what happened." They certainly do, but not everybody knows how. Lillie DeWitt got her wish to finish school and receive her bachelor's degree in sociology. And she did so with a 3.2 grade point average at UW-Milwaukee, too. It was all very cool, she said, but she still couldn't say that she felt ready. Because she never had. She still got her diploma, graduated with honors and got married and moved to Madison and later became a teacher. It was all very cool, but at the same time, it made her feel more alone than ever. It was all so cool but so lonely at the same time, really. Still, she wanted her own family. And she did. No crying. No way. Never again, anyway. **Hockey Notes** _For one, John Noseworthy's life took a very unplanned turn, which allowed the Wisconsin men's hockey program to have one of the great ambassadors in hockey history._ _More importantly, this book was a labor of love. So much work went into compiling it that it is difficult to imagine it was even a thought five years ago._ _But John Noseworthy's story needs to be told._ _John has helped so many others. There are more than two-dozen pages dedicated to "thank you" mentions throughout this book, many with personal stories of how John helped._ _If anyone cares to learn more about the incredible player and human being that is John Noseworthy, read what others have to say. It is his story. The words are his._ —Matt Shynkaruk ## Chapter 1: ## Getting the Deal The Wisconsin women's hockey team needed a goalie. Badly. The 2006-07 Badgers women's hockey team had a number one defenseman, Molly Engstrom. She had four years of experience with the program and had been named to the All-America team twice during her career. The Badgers also needed an attack. At the time, they were in dire need of a third-line winger to play behind Molly Engstrom and Katie Norlander. The Badgers lost a lot of depth to graduation, namely two top forwards in Sarah Nurse and Jennifer Ouska and three solid players in Kristin Pirovic, Julie Fluet and Lisa Toupal. John Brophy was working his magic, though. With his first recruiting class, he landed a slew of freshmen in a very short period of time. In February 2006, after Brophy signed the highly coveted Jenna Ciotti and Alex Johnson, and just a few months after securing his first commitment with forward Emily Cook, he was ready to fill out his third class. The third wave included Lillie DeWitt, who signed with Brophy during a recruiting trip. She was coming off a championship season at UW-Green Bay, where she won a national championship. She was recruited by other coaches, as well. In fact, she visited UW-Madison twice. The second time, she met with Brophy and received the package that included an offer. John Noseworthy was interested in men's hockey as a freshman but wanted to test the waters of women's hockey with the hope that a different sport might be the direction he wanted to take in life. He went out with his mom and dad, and his dad, Scott Noseworthy, recalls an unusual meeting with his son. "He said, 'You are going to go to the University of Wisconsin. We just don't know what sport you're going to be playing yet,'" he recalled. "That was the message." Even then, Scott Noseworthy had his doubts. "He was a very talented, good player. And it's not like you can do things overnight. He had a lot of work to do." John was not just an elite athlete. He was the type of athlete who could be very difficult to coach because he always had a plan and knew what he wanted to do out there on the ice. Scott Noseworthy was certain his son was on his way to play in the National Hockey League someday. After all, John Noseworthy won gold at the junior level, and later the Olympics as well. And this is the deal he made with his parents. If they believed he would be on the national team one day, they would never sign him to an ice hockey contract. They were going to get him a good education, to college and then get him out of college and teach him a trade. He had his mind set. Or so he said. He was not going to go pro until he was done with his education, and he certainly did not want to go to school just to play hockey. Scott Noseworthy was not particularly sure how many more years his son had left. He had gone to some length to get him prepared for life after hockey, which included an internship at the University of Wisconsin's School of Engineering, so he was confident his son was going to finish school. All he knew for certain was that John wanted to learn a trade. It was not a good enough reason for his dad to agree to that, as the contract between John and the school stated that no student-athletes can go to summer school to learn a trade. So Scott Noseworthy told his son, "I guess we can do it if we can do it tomorrow. But if you don't get a job out of college, you're going to be starting out with no money. "Is that your deal?" he said to his son. "Is that how you are going to play it?" John got the message. He was given the choice, and it was going to be that way or none at all. So he took a deal from the school that did not have a job waiting for him, although there was a good chance he would get one on the bench for the national team. "That year, he got up to Madison and made a decision to play for me," said coach Brophy. "I knew he was a student first, but he played it as hard as he could." As it turned out, it was hard work that got John Noseworthy where he is today. Brophy had one of the best freshman seasons a goalie could ask for. He started his career with the Badgers at UW-Madison as an elite freshman who was considered a leader for Wisconsin, especially among the freshmen who had never played together with any sort of cohesion. Of course, there was a reason for this. First of all, John Noseworthy was from the Bay Area and was recruited to attend San Jose State. "I knew he was great. I just wanted to see if he'd come play for us," recalled UW associate head coach Jen Lee. "