Wisconsin adds U.S. U18 gold medalist Lacey Eden midseason

Former Princeton commit will suit up this weekend for the Badgers

Wisconsin announced a major roster addition on Thursday. Former U.S. Under-18 Team alternate captain Lacey Eden will join the team immediately.

Eden, a freshman forward, will be available to play this weekend. She suited up for Team USA twice at the U18 World Championships, winning silver in 2019 and gold in 2020. She led that gold-medal-winning team in scoring and was also named to the all-tournament team. She’s already seen some time at the senior level, too, attending USA Women’s National Team camp back in the fall.

Eden was originally committed to Princeton and was slated to join the team as an incoming freshman this past fall. Notably, the Ivy League decided to cancel its winter sports season for 2020-21 due to the pandemic, so the Tigers aren’t playing at all this year.

Along with attending USA Hockey camp, Eden also saw action with the PWHPA’s New Hampshire regional hub in a couple of exhibition games in October.

As noted in Wisconsin’s release, current Badger rookies Makenna Webster and Casey O’Brien were Eden’s high school teammates at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, so she’ll be playing with some familiar faces.

Due to a late start to the season and several postponements, Wisconsin has only played six games so far this year. That leaves 10 left on the schedule before playoffs (whatever form those might take place). Eden will see her very first collegiate action against Minnesota this weekend as the top two teams in the country go head to head.