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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN HOCKEY MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 17, 2015Mark JohnsonTHE MODERATOR: Women's Hockey head Coach Mark Johnson is here, and we will have an opening statement and then take questions. COACH JOHNSON: Thanks, Brian. I want to compliment our fans for coming out Saturday afternoon and supporting our game. I saw Coach Alvarez last night, and I mentioned the rink has been open probably two plus years and the atmosphere Saturday afternoon was as good as it gets. Both teams had bands and a lot of energy and certainly helped us play a real good game. I want to thank the fans for coming out and supporting it and energizing our team and now get an opportunity to play in another Frozen Four, so looking forward to the challenge Friday afternoon up in Minneapolis. Q. Mark, what did you learn in the four games that you played in Minnesota this season that may help you this time around? COACH JOHNSON: Well, two of the last three have gone into overtime. You take things away. You can show film.  We certainly are playing at a different level right now than we played‑‑ we played 'em right after Christmas is the last time we've seen them, so they haven't seen us and we haven't seen them for over two months now. I like the way we have played the last three weekends. We got ourselves into playoff situations. The last three opponents we have played have been elimination‑type games tore them so as a beat St. Cloud, their season is over, North Dakota, beat them, their season is over. Then the following day we played Bemidji in the championship game, and their season is over, so those games are challenging, similar to the game we saw with BU, the winning team gets to move on and the losing team their season ends. You get tested in those situations, so I think what has happened in the last three weeks ends has helped us prepare for the challenge we're going to have Friday afternoon. Q. What are your feelings on this rivalry against Minnesota? I was looking back and at the same time last year you were preparing for the Frozen Four against Minnesota. The rivalry is pretty intense. Can you describe it? COACH JOHNSON: It's healthy. I mean, they've got quality kids, they've got some world class athletes. We have had that in the past. The end results, whether they're winning or we're winning, it's great for women's hockey. Whether we're playing up there or playing here in Madison, in a Frozen Four setting, in a playoff game, it's great hockey. Some people have never seen a women's game before, and they get a chance to watch us play. It's fun to watch, it's fun to be part of. Obviously the magnitude of Friday's games makes it more enjoyable, whether you're a player, whether you're a coach or whether you're a fan, because everything is on the line. The losing team Friday afternoon, their season is over, the other team gets to move on to a championship game. We were in it a year ago, came up short. Had a chance to win that game and we didn't get it done. So my seniors and the other kids that were part of that game last year, hopefully that gives them a little bit of edge to push us forward and give us enough of an extra push in Friday's game to win it. That's what we're trying to do is continue to what we have done in the last three weekends. The team is in a good spot, our energy level is high and there is going to be excitement as we start the game. Q. What makes Hannah Brandt special? She did a little bit of damage against you guys in your most recent series. How do you plan on trying to contain her? COACH JOHNSON: It's similar to what we went through with BU. The Poulin gal is as good as any player in the world. Her resume is there. She is a household name in Canada. She has two gold medals, comes up big in big games and we were able to shut her down Saturday afternoon. That was part of the reason we won the hockey game. The same thing. Our players are familiar with Hannah. The one thing that separates her from a lot of kids is hockey sense, understanding what's going on within the game, what's going on with the puck. She is able to read situations. It's like a good quarterback in football. That ability under pressure, stressful situations, she reads and then she is very competitive. You throw those two things together and that's why she is up for the Patty Kazmaier again because of her body of work over the course of the season. Q. Coach, what is the biggest difference with your team from the last time you played Minnesota in January? COACH JOHNSON: Well, I think one of the games up there, Maddie Rolfes didn't play so we're healthier than we were. But, again, the experiences that you go through the second half of the season, you go through the early part of the playoffs, you get yourself into a quarter final game, and if you're successful in all those areas, you know, you're playing at a higher level, you're playing for more things at stake, and certainly we're a much better team than we were coming off Christmas break. As I said earlier, I like the way we have played and the energy and the way we have met our challenges and the team is in a good spot; it's just a matter of getting to Friday at 5:05 and drop the puck to play. Q. Mark, the cold, hard reality of a 17‑game winless streak against Minnesota, is that a burden or an incentive, and to what degree is each category? COACH JOHNSON: It's probably both depending on how you look at it. That's what history tells us. The numbers are what they are, but that's not going to be the end of all as far as our preparation. You learn from the past, you learn from history and the big thing is you try to change it. Our opportunity is Friday afternoon to change what's happened over the last couple of years. We're not the only team they've beaten quite a bit. One year they went undefeated and won the NCAA Championship. It's an opportunity to look at the puzzle, figure out what has happened over the course of this year and try to re‑do that puzzle. So it becomes perfectly clear Friday at 7:00 that we figured it out. Q. Given what happened in the third period last week, any concern that Brittany was going to lose some humanitarian points, and did it flash through your head that you might not have her for this week? COACH JOHNSON: No. I mean, it was confirmed as I looked at the stat sheet at the end of the game. When it goes down as a game misconduct, that's what it becomes. If it becomes a disqualification penalty then you've got series problems. The thing about hockey is when another player is coming at you, your natural human reaction is to put your hands up and that's what Britt did. She put her hands up to protect herself because she thought she was going to get hit. It just so happened that her stick and arms came up at the same time and hit the player right under the chin, so it's head contact, it's a five‑minute major, and it's a game misconduct. You just have to deal with it, but I wasn't concerned once I saw the final stat sheet. Q. Mark, Annie Pankowski is a freshman, and you haven't had a freshman lead your team in scoring in an awful long time. She doesn't seem to play like a freshman. COACH JOHNSON: I thought Saturday one of the things you start to look at is how your young players are going to handle the environment. You look at your freshman and Annie was probably our best forward in Saturday's game. She had energy, scoring the goal the first three minutes of the game helped from a confidence standpoint, but she could have had two, three, maybe four more goals in that game. So credit to her for preparing herself and coming out with that energy and playing like a veteran. I thought Baylee played like a veteran, I thought Emily Clark played like a veteran. Our young players in that atmosphere, sometimes you get concerned that they're going to get so excited that they don't play well but all of our young players did a great job. Q. With the history and the outside connotations that this rivalry carries, how hard is it to get your players to keep emotions off the ice? COACH JOHNSON: Saturday's game was a learning opportunity, because the excitement in the locker room as they were going out to start the game was at a high level. After you take your first shifts, sometimes you get exhausted because you've worked yourself up, and, characteristic, our building was warm. We had over 2,000 fans, the weather outside was warm and so the building became warm. Our players at different times in the game, especially early on, were a little bit tired. So, again, as a coach, as a teacher it's a learning opportunity to teach your players the understanding of you want to get excited, you want to be ready to go, but at the same time you have to control your emotions. I think having had the success Saturday, learning how you prepared yourself for that game, I think we'll do a good job as we prepare for Friday's game. Q. Your seniors probably are pretty psyched for this game on Friday. What kind of an impact have they had on this program? COACH JOHNSON: Well, it was exciting watch 'em win the playoff championship up in Grand Forks and the smiles that they had on their face as they left the rink that night. It was special for them. They worked hard for four years, and they got a chance to hoist a trophy. Obviously Britt, being a fifth year redshirt was part of a National Championship team, and so you look at them collectively as a group, I think our captain, Blayre, is a great example, followed by Karley, two kids that came in as freshmen, and all they have done‑‑ and I just heard Bo talk about kids that practice hard every day, and that's the expectation. That's what they did. They became good hockey players, good women college hockey players by working hard every day. This year they're reaping the benefits. They're our leaders and captains. We're happy. We're going to miss them as they finish their careers this weekend, but they have set the bar high as some of our previous seniors have and certainly they're role models to our younger players. What the expectations are, what it's like to be a Badger Women's Hockey Player and what you need to do on a daily basis to be successful. Q. Do they have unfinished business competitive edge considering how your season ended last year? COACH JOHNSON: Those are learning opportunities. It's tough to lose your last game and your season to end. The goal is to win your last game. So as we left the tournament last year, you plant that in the back of your mind and you get yourself ready for summer to work on conditioning and strength and prepare yourself. It's been a long journey from getting on the plane last year and coming home, having been defeated, to getting another opportunity. A lot of hard work has gone into it. We started in early September, we're at March, playing in the last weekend and I'm excited for the group. To me the table is set now it's an opportunity to go out Friday and win a hockey game and get a chance to play another one. Q. Coach, how do you think the freshman line has improved throughout the season? COACH JOHNSON: I think each one of 'em has done a real good job. I think with a lot of freshmen you're going to have peaks and valleys over the course of their first year. If you look at the kids we brought in, each started off pretty well and then they had lulls and I think the last month, the last three weekends we put 'em back together. They understand, they've been around the block once, they've been in all the other buildings, they've been under pressure situations, they've had good games, games where they have struggled, they have been moved around on different line combinations, and I think they've absorbed it pretty well and the last couple of weekends as we put 'em back together they have been a very good line, and I think they will have a chance to play a strong game Friday. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Mark. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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