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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN HOCKEY MEDIA CONFERENCE

March 7, 2016

Mark Johnson

Madison, Wisconsin

THE MODERATOR: Women's Head Hockey Coach, Mark Johnson is here. We'll have opening comments and then take questions.

COACH JOHNSON: Thanks, Brian. Fun bus ride home last night. As I mentioned, couple of comments after the game yesterday at the press conference, I was very impressed with the way our team battled the entire 60 minutes. You knew it was going to be a tight, hard-fought battle, and at times when Minnesota gets up to speed and gets going as well as they're able to play, you can bend a little bit, but you ask your players to do some of the little things that are necessary if you're going to be successful, whether it's winning a face-off in a certain situation, blocking shots, do get things necessary to get yourself to the finish line.

I credit our players. They had to dig down deep and they were able to do that. The satisfaction from that is as the game ends you watch the joy and the smiles and the celebration afterwards and I think for the coaching staff, that's a unique and a real special moment.

Q. You guys are used to seeing Mercyhurst in the postseason does that help knowing the type of hockey they play?
COACH JOHNSON: Obviously know the coaching staff and their style, things like that, so they've been able to get over the hurdle, and as I said in the past, this game is probably the toughest to win. You're pretty close to the Frozen Four but yet it's a big step that you have to take, and they've been in that situation before where they've traveled to Cornell, they've traveled BU, they've been on the road and been able to win a game. It will be entertaining, they will play hard, they will try to play fast, and it will be a competitive atmosphere.

Q. Sydney McKibbon has had a pretty good season and certainly a stretch run down the stretch that's been productive for you. Nice to see?
COACH JOHNSON: Very nice to see. We had multiple conversations in January and even early February where she was a little bit frustrated because her goal production wasn't where she felt it might be, and she had been playing well, for whatever reason the puck wasn't going in. She was getting chances, but as kids that like to score goals, if you're not getting them, you get frustrated.

But the last three or four weekends, she's played well, and she got rewarded now for her efforts, and certainly one of her biggest goals was yesterday afternoon.

Q. Mark, when you look at the 18 fields of this National Tournament, is there a more battle-tested team than yours?
COACH JOHNSON: I mean, I think if you look at the strength of schedules and some of the games that we have had to play lately, Minnesota might have a case, too, but the nice thing about the teams that are able to come out of our league and move on to the Final Eight, it's great preparation.

So yesterday's game was great preparation, even the two games we talked about a couple weeks ago that we lost up in Minnesota was great preparation as we got ready for the playoffs.

If you can maintain that level of play, that will bode well for Minnesota and their game and should help us as we get prepared for Saturday.

Q. Can you quantify home ice advantage at this point in the season? Clearly it is a big deal, but what degree is it a help to your team?
COACH JOHNSON: It's probably just the sense of comfortable, and they're in their routine, and they go about their business, and it's not awkward. So I think what we've been able to establish at home over the last -- especially the second semester, where we've had big crowds, if not sell-outs, a lot of teams aren't used to that atmosphere, and our players certainly seem to be comfortable in that setting, and you throw the band in there and the pressure of some of the games that we've had to play and how they responded, those are the little things that you hope making a difference as we prepare for the game and play the game Saturday.

Q. Anything you need to shore up specifically on or do you like the way your team is playing right now?
COACH JOHNSON: I thought yesterday was a little bit of a classic, when you have two good teams competing for a trophy. We came out in the first period and played extremely well, and I'm not sure when they got their first shot, it was 8, 9, 10 minutes into the period, and we had a good jump and then they responded and came at us the second period.

I liked the way we played. I liked the energy level. It seemed like the players were relaxed, and I think in those settings that's good for you. They seemed to be comfortable, and as I told them before the game yesterday, it's a good day to be a hockey player. They work hard five or six months, training in the summer, and then they get an opportunity to play it a championship game for a trophy in the atmosphere we played in yesterday, and to me that's fun. Let's go have fun!

Q. Coach, you played a lot of teams that you've been very familiar with over the past couple of months. Now you're taking on Mercyhurst team, 2012 is the last meeting. How is the preparation for this week? How does this week change preparationwise?
COACH JOHNSON: It's balancing what we need to do as a team and manage in the next three or four practices and make sure that, you know, when they drop the puck Saturday that we're ready to go. The second part is just collecting enough data to give your team information about certain things that will help them be successful, so you balance those things out, and as coaches we probably look at a bunch of film, and the balancing is how much you feed and how much you give to your players, and we'll do that as the week progresses.

Again, it comes down to the ability to execute in this environment and us going out and playing up to our capabilities.

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

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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