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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN HOCKEY MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 28, 2015

Mark Johnson

Madison, Wisconsin

THE MODERATOR: Head Coach Mark Johnson has joined us and we will have comments and then take questions.

COACH JOHNSON: Thanks, Brian. Certainly excited to be in front of you, means we've started hockey season. Weather may not dictate it since it's nice outside, but we have been practicing for 8 or 10 days and certainly as a coaching staff excited about the way the players came back in to start school, and certainly the short time we've had them on the ice indicates to us that they spent the summer working out, conditioning, and are in a good place right now, so the fun part is to get ourselves organized, game week, get an opportunity to not only show case women's hockey in an area that has quite a bit of history of hockey but not women's college hockey, and at the same time try to create Badger fans in a different part of the world.

So it's a great opportunity to play against Providence Friday night, and then we will go back Saturday afternoon. Generally when we have done these type of events in the past, they're well attended so we should have a nice crowd there, get great exposure for both programs and certainly women's hockey. Then we will turn around Sunday morning and instead of flying home right away we will take our players, put their jerseys on and put a youth clinic on for the girls not only in the San Jose area but certainly in the state of California, give the players a chance to show some of the tips that got them to be a Division I player to these young kids, and hopefully it inspires them to continue with their careers and maybe one day get the opportunity to play college hockey.

So it's a win-win situation, and we're fortunate that our athletic department supports these type of venues. In the past we have done these on several occasions and exposed those to women's hockey to an area that may have youth hockey but they don't have collegiate hockey, so I think our players are excited not only to play the first couple games of the season but get a chance to do it in a special area.

Q. How many tickets does Annie Pankowski need then, the California native?
COACH JOHNSON: I would say she will take a few, being from the state of California, growing up in a program of girls hockey and playing at a high level, and for her getting a chance to play last spring in the World Championships for Team USA, a lot of young players look up to her, and I'm sure she is going to need a few. Molly Doner grew up very close to where we're going to be playing, so it's almost like a homecoming for her, and certainly the connection that started this was one of our former men's players, Rod Romanchuk, who I had a chance to play with a couple years in Madison, his daughter will be a senior at Providence and is one of their assistant captains.

So a few years ago we planted a seed, and now it's coming to fruition, and it's going to be a fun weekend not only for, I know, Molly and certainly for Annie, but with Rod's daughter being a senior, growing up in that area playing hockey in that area, it's going to be fun for her to come back and experience that for her senior year.

Q. You have some minutes on the ice to fill. Have you seen in the first week or so of practice people who look like they have stepped up into those roles?
COACH JOHNSON: The early indication as I mentioned earlier is the kids -- and we have everybody except one of our incoming freshman able to spend the summer here, and it showcases it. They took that seriously, put themselves in a position to start the season in a good place, and as you mentioned we're going to have to have kids step up. We have our three returning goaltenders, so we're in good shape back there, we have most of our blue line defensemen coming back, we will incorporate one freshman there, Mikaela Gardner, but up front who is going to get the puck in the net and who is going to score? We have a bunch of seniors that graduated, and they put the puck in quite a bit for us the last four years, so we will have some kids step up.

The early indication is, yeah, there's a few kids right now that are looking good. We're just playing against ourselves right now.

Q. You lost quite a few pieces last year, how about the leadership group that you have this year?
COACH JOHNSON: I think we're excited about it. You always look over the course of the late spring and early summer who are going to be your leaders and I think with naming Courtney as our captain, her being a senior, I saw her this morning and trying to figure out how she became a senior so quickly, time goes by so fast. She had a short stint with the national team, spent the summer upgrading her conditioning and it shows right now, so to put the "C" on her I think as a coaching staff we're real excited, being a senior, having watched some of the other former captains that she has played for and under, I think she has learned a lot, and I think she will do a great job.

So we're excited about the leadership. The one thing I keep hearing from our players is the chemistry is good. The players seem to get along, they like being around each other, the one thing if you watch us practice, we practice hard, and those are all good signs especially early in the season that this group has a chance if they continue doing those things to put themselves in an opportunity at the end of the season to try to do something special.

Q. Where are the hot beds of women's hockey? Is California just scratching the surface?
COACH JOHNSON: I think if you look at the males and females that have come out of there in the last ten years, it's had pockets and growth and it's produced a bunch of real good players. So to answer your question, there isn't one specific spot but I think there are areas where kids are coming out of that you might not think have a lot of hockey, but Southern California is an area that over the last eight or ten years has produced a number of players that either played here at Wisconsin or other Division I schools, and that's not only on the female side but on the men's side.

There are going to be pockets that just by numbers have a lot more players, so they're going to produce a lot of kids, and whether it's the state of Minnesota or the Providence of Ontario, a lot of kids are playing. The neat thing is you are seeing exposure from our better, elite players, one being Hilary Knight has sort of become the spokesperson for women's hockey, and getting a chance to not only do some endorsements for some different companies but getting a chance to participate in an NHL training camp and really get the word out about women's hockey, and some of the things she has been able to do not only in her career at Wisconsin but certainly at the highest level with the Olympics and the National Team.

So with word of mouth and exposure from these elite players, whether it's Meghan Duggan, Brianna Decker, Jessie Vetter who has done some things with some different companies locally, that all helps. If you've got a young daughter and all of the sudden she sees an ad with Hilary Knight on it, or is at a clinic that Hilary Knight is putting on free of charge, that might spark your interest, go see mom and dad and say "Hey, I want to try hockey" so there are different pockets that are growing, and the one fun thing about being on the women's side is our numbers continue to grow, so as we get more exposed to players and the opportunities they are taking advantage of, we're going to see more kids get involved.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else for Coach? Thanks, Mark.

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