Wisconsin hockey: Daryl Watts is going to score on you

Daryl Watts is the best player in women’s college hockey. She is also uncomfortable in talking about how she is the best player in women’s college hockey. When she and I spoke on the phone this week she was quick to credit her coaches and teammates when I asked about her on the ice success.

“Passing to Sophie [Shirley] or Abby [Roque] so they can put the puck in the net,” was one of her favorite thing to do on the ice after all.

When I asked her about the Toronto Maple Leafs, her hometown team, however, she became much more animated. I could tell, even through the phone, that she was pumped about the Leafs playing so well this year.

“I hope they bring it back this year,” Watt said when asked about Toronto’s, and Canada’s, Stanley Cup drought.

I wanted to find out what made Daryl Watts a special player, despite her Maple Leafs delusions of grandeur, and she told me what her absolute favorite thing to do on the ice is: “My favorite thing to do is score goals.”

Watts is a fucking killer and you won’t even know it until the puck is in the net.

Daryl Watts has played in 22 games this season for the Badgers and has scored 20 goals and added 31 assists (32 assists if you go by the USCHO.com stats) which is good for 2.32 points per game. You might be thinking that’s pretty good, but Watts scored 2.6 points per game during her freshman year at Boston College when she won the Patty Kazmaier Award as the best player in the country.

She was the first underclassman to ever win the award.

Photo by Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Watts was garnering personal accolades at BC but she wasn’t scratching her biggest itch: winning a national title.

“My big goal is to win a national title. Coming [to Madison] would help me reach my dream of competing for a national championship,” Watts said when asked about her goals.

It was probably easy for her to notice that the Wisconsin Badgers won the national title last year and she recognized that a change needed to be made. When Watts decided to transfer, she chose Wisconsin for myriad reasons, not the least of which was the fan support.

“In terms of hockey, BC is a great program, Wisconsin is a great program too but the biggest difference would be the atmosphere around Wisconsin Badgers hockey. This is the best place for women’s college hockey. This is evident in the fans and the sellouts. There is just a huge fan club for our team.”

With the Badgers sitting as the No. 1 team in the country with a record of 20-1-1 (the only blemishes on their record being against arch-rival No. 2 Minnesota) Watts knows that there is a target on her back.

“Wearing a Wisconsin jersey, everyone is gunning for you and gives you their best. Every game we have to be at our best and compete just as hard against whoever we are playing. We don’t think too much about being No. 1, we just take it game by game.”

Before our interview, I asked the B5Q staff if they had any questions they wanted to ask Watts. Bob wanted to know where she kept her Patty Kazmaier trophy, which is a good question! I asked her and she took about 30 seconds to think about it before saying “In my dad’s office, but not 100% sure.”

Daryl Watts is a fucking killer and she isn’t even sure where her trophy for being a fucking killer is. You love to see it.