Wisconsin women’s hockey: Boston University’s Jesse Compher transfers to UW

On Tuesday evening, the Wisconsin women’s hockey team announced that US Olympian Jesse Compher will be using her COVID year and joining the team for the 2022-2023 season. Compher is transferring from Boston University, where she was a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award in 2019.

Compher had a decorated career in Boston before coming to UW (this may sound familiar to Wisconsin hockey fans as Daryl Watts followed an extremely similar path) and also represented her country in the 2022 Olympics, earning a silver medal while scoring four points (three goals, one assist) for Team USA.

The Northbrook, Ill. native has represented the United States for years, posting three points at the 2021 IIHF Women’s World Championship. She also played for Team USA at the 2019 IIHF Women’s World Championship, helping the U.S. win gold, and at the 2016 and 2017 IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Championship, leading the U.S. to a gold medal in 2016.

“I’m excited to get on campus with all my new teammates and join a winning culture while also having the chance to pursue my master’s degree,” Compher told UWBadgers.com.

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Prior to her collegiate career, Compher skated with the Chicago Mission where she played with future UW teammate Nicole LaMantia, helping the Mission win silver at the 2017 national championship. She also was a five-time Illinois state hockey champion.

Compher started her BU career as a freshman during the 2017-18 season and scored 26 points (nine goals, 17 assists) in 37 games. It would be the only season in her career where she averaged under one point per game. Her breakout sophomore campaign saw her tally 17 goals (five power play, three shorthanded, three game winners) and dish out 44 assists while being named a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, a second team All-American and a unanimous Hockey East First Team All-Star.

While her junior and senior seasons weren’t as prolific as her sophomore one, she still averaged 1.12 and 1.22 points per game in those two seasons respectively. She was picked as a Hockey East Second Team All-Star in both seasons as well.

For her career at BU, Compher scored 46 goals and dished out 81 assists in 109 games played (127 total points/1.17 points per game). 15 of those goals were on the power play while she also scored seven while down a skater, proving that she rarely came off the ice regardless of the situation.

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The 5-foot-8 forward should slot right into the center position, where the Badgers lose Brette Pettet and Delaney Drake off of last year’s team, on one of Wisconsin’s top lines. As a senior, she won 61.2% of her faceoffs and she played center for the Olympic team in Beijing when Brianna Decker broke her leg in their first game and was out for the rest of the tournament.

Fun family/hockey fact about Compher: her brother, J.T., played hockey at Michigan and now plays for the Colorado Avalanche where he has 134 points in 331 career games with the Avs.