Wisconsin Badgers center Casey O'Brien (26) and defender Caroline Harvey (4) celebrate O’Brien’s goal against the Bemidji State Beavers in the first period of a WCHA first-round game Saturday, March 1, 2025, at LaBahn Arena in Madison, Wisconsin. Dave Kallmann / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Wisconsin women's hockey announces captains for 2025-26 season

Originally posted on Wisconsin Badgers on SI
By Kedrick Stumbris | Last updated Sep 13, 2025 8:01 AM ET

As preseason honors continue to pile up, all eyes are on the Wisconsin women's hockey team's efforts to win back-to-back national titles. With the season-opener under two weeks away, the Wisconsin Badgers made a major announcement.

On Friday, Wisconsin revealed its leadership team for the upcoming season. UW named five players to the group, including three players part of last season's captains. The only member of the 2023-24 leadership team no longer in Madison is former Badgers co-captain Casey O'Brien, who exhausted her eligibility last winter.

The skater who captained last year's team to a national title alongside O'Brien, however, is joining just a handful of Wisconsin greats in twice-captaining the Badgers.

Caroline Harvey named Wisconsin women's hockey 2025-26 captain

Caroline Harvey steps into Wisconsin's captaincy solo after serving in the role alongside 2025 Patty Kazmaier Award Winner O'Brien. Harvey, the Preseason WCHA Player of the Year, is one of only five other players in program history to serve as team captain in two or more seasons: Britta Curl (2022-24), Grace Bowlby (2020-22), Carla MacLeod (2003-05), and Sis Paulsen (2000-03).

It is yet another feather in the cap of the highly accomplished New Hampshire native entering her senior year. Harvey has won back-to-back WCHA Defender of the Year Awards, is a two-time first-team All-American, and her 137 career points are the most of any defender in program history.

Re-joining Harvey on the leadership team are Laila Edwards and Lacey Eden. Edwards and Eden return in the same role as last season, serving as alternate captains. Each member of the trio earned All-WCHA honors and finished top-ten nationally in points per game in 2024-25.

Wisconsin Badgers add two new alternate captains

Rounding out the handful of Badgers captains is a pair of new faces alongside the returners to the group. Kelly Gorbatenko and Marianne Picard will both wear an 'A' in Madison for the first time this winter.

Picard is a fifth-year senior from Repentigny, Quebec. She scored a career-high eight goals as a redshirt junior. The 5-foot-6 forward served as captain of her prep school hockey team, Stanstead College, before joining the Badgers.

Kelly Gorbatenko is a natural fit for the leadership group, with her two younger sisters, Rachel and Nicole, joining her in Madison this season. Kelly is coming off a breakout sophomore campaign in which the Barrington, Illinois native more than doubled her scoring production from her rookie year.

With five total players in leadership roles, head coach Mark Johnson has assembled his largest group of captains in four seasons. In 2021-22, Grace Bowlby served as captain alongside five alternates: Nicole LaMantia, Brette Pettet, Maddie Posick, Caitlin Schneider, and Daryl Watts.