“You still got anything left in the tank?” Granato asked him.

“Power play only,” Johnson quipped.

Every United States men’s Olympic team since 1976, when Bob Johnson took three of his Wisconsin players to Innsbruck, Austria, has featured at least one Badger, a streak that should continue for this cycle. The women’s squad is loaded with Badgers, while the teachings of Sauer, who died in February from pancreatic cancer at age 73, reverberate every time the sled team takes the ice.

Granato played for Sauer, who played for Johnson (at Colorado College), who won three national titles at Wisconsin. Granato considers himself a humble caretaker of the Wisconsin connection with Olympic hockey, displayed on plaques that line the corridor outside the Badgers’ locker room at the Kohl Center.

“Our experiences in life have come because of what USA Hockey has given us,” said Granato, who played with Johannson on the 1988 team in Calgary and was an assistant coach in 2014 in Sochi. “Once you wear the U.S. sweater, any time they want you to do anything, you’d love to be a part of it.”

That charge has fortified a tradition dating back more than four decades. Before USA Hockey had its headquarters on Bob Johnson Drive in Colorado Springs, Bob Johnson’s home was the center of the organization — or at least an important component of it. He ran the 1976 Olympic team out of the garage, which teemed with boxes of sweatsuits and equipment. When Mark was a high school senior, he cut him from the roster at the dinner table one Sunday.