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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN HOCKEY MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 23, 2013Mark JohnsonTHE MODERATOR: The women's hockey team opens practice on Saturday and faces the Japanese Olympic team in an exhibition game tonight at 7:00 p.m. at LaBahn Arena. Carla MacLeod is now an assistant coach on Team Japan. Coach Johnson is with us and will make some opening comments and then take questions. COACH JOHNSON: Hockey season. Everybody's ready for that, right? Some of the things I want to speak briefly on, just highlight our schedule this season. We've got a couple of events that are pretty unique, one being in early November. We've put together a tournament that we'll put on in Vail, Colorado, with Boston University, Northeastern, and St. Cloud, and get an opportunity to play a couple of nonconference games against some very good opponents. At the same time, showcase Division I women's hockey in an area that, I think, will do really well. I know the games will be attended well and certainly bode well for our sport and hopefully try to continue and grow it. Certainly, being an Olympic year, it will make our league that much more competitive. Some of the seniors that graduated from teams last year will be on respected Olympic teams, as we get closer to February. I think the balance of the rest of the league will be pretty tight. It should be a very competitive league. Another highlight, it works out in February. We play Minnesota on that Saturday night that we're going to do Fill the Bowl again. We've done it several times. We did not do it last year. The last couple times we were able to do it, the city has supported us. The fans have come out. We've had a great experience not only for us but certainly for our visiting teams. First for me, I've got a captain that's a goaltender. So I look for Alex not only with her playing experience here at Wisconsin, and certainly some of the things she's done internationally, I think it just bodes well for her to be our captain of our team this year, the one who will be leading us throughout the season as we bring in five new freshmen. We start our first exhibition game tonight against, as Brian mentioned, one of my former players, Carla MacLeod, who's a two‑time gold medal Olympic champion with Team Canada and has been working with the Japanese team for the last almost two years, mentoring, traveling over once a month, spending a week with them. It should be a very competitive game, and I look forward to seeing how our players after two practices do. Q. Mark, from what we could see on the video board on Saturday, the two teams playing tonight seem to be getting along pretty well. It looks like it must be a camaraderie thing as much as an exhibition game tonight? COACH JOHNSON: I give our people over at LaBahn and the Kohl Center a lot of credit. Japan came in on Thursday and have been practicing since then. They've been eating their meals there, obviously skating. We've done a great job hosting. For them, the biggest stadium in Japan seats maybe 40,000 people. For them to walk on the field Saturday is a way to show our hospitality and give them an experience. As you saw, Carla taught them how to make the motion W. So you saw a bunch of them in the end zone with the cute smiles on their faces making the motion W. An experience. I know they're very appreciative of how they've been treated up to this point. They'll leave tomorrow and go up to Minnesota and base themselves out of there as they play St. Cloud, they'll play Minnesota, and they'll also play Duluth. So it's an opportunity for us to do a small token to try to help them out. It's the first time they've qualified and earned the right to play in the Olympics. So the players you'll see tonight at the game, we'll also see in February as we watch the Winter Olympic games in Sochi. Q. What is the expectation in a game like this? What's the competition, the attitude like in a game like this? COACH JOHNSON: They'll be very organized. They'll be very structured. They'll be very competitive. They've been together, obviously, for two or three years. I think their oldest player is 34. The youngest one is 17. So from a competitive standpoint, I'm more concerned about what we do and how we approach it. At the end of the night, we're going to have some good game footage. As I told the team yesterday, as we wrapped up our practice, we start our journey. Any time you get an exhibition game or play games early in the season, it provides an opportunity to teach, to improve, and get better. So it comes at a good time. The one advantage this group has had is that we had the LaBahn Arena all summer. So for the kids that stayed around in summer school, they got a chance to skate all summer. During that eight‑week summer session, they got a chance to work out. So our base right now, as far as a conditioning standpoint, a strength standpoint, we're probably ahead of where we were last year at this time. So I feel comfortable. Now it's just a matter of getting kids up to game speed. Q. You mentioned it being the first time for you having a goaltender who's the captain. How does that kind of unique situation change the dynamic of a leader on the ice during the game and in the locker room with the team? COACH JOHNSON: I think she's earned it. The one thing of being a captain in her situation, everybody respects her. She was part of the World Championship Team with USA last year up in Ottawa. When she speaks, especially for our younger players, they're going to listen. They're going to pay attention. She won't have a C on her jersey. I'm not comfortable with that. I think she may put one on her mask. But between Kelly Jaminski and Madison Packer and Blayre Turbull, they'll be wearing As on their jerseys, so if we have a dispute ‑‑ which I'm sure we won't all season ‑‑ with our referees, they'll be able to talk to them. I'm comfortable with where she's at. I look forward to the challenges, as we will, as a coaching staff, meet with her and the other captains and just help them and guide them through the season. Q. Mark, over the last decade, you've had the Duggans, the Bauers, the Deckers, the Zauggs, the Knights, all of those players who were obvious go‑to players to provide that offense. Who's that this year? Is there a go‑to player on your team offensively? COACH JOHNSON: I'm not sure you could pick one off this group. I think it's going to have to be done by committees. So I think for our juniors and our seniors, the one thing I think we're looking for from a coaching standpoint is for them to get off to a good start. The practices that we have had, it looks encouraging. It looks good. From a confidence standpoint, if they can come out tonight and start the process, then as we get to our league competition in a couple of weeks, you know, score some goals, make some good plays, have some success, that will bode well for our team. The thing that helps us, especially the early part of the season, is our goaltending situation, where we're strong in the net. We've got some good veteran defensemen coming back. Hopefully, from an offensive standpoint, that go‑to person, the Brianna Decker, they've graduated. They've moved on. Hopefully, we'll be able to do things by committee, which actually could turn out to be a very positive situation. Q. Mark, as you walked into practice the other day, what area concerned you the most? Is there a pit in the stomach anywhere or anything that you feel needs to get better in a hurry? COACH JOHNSON: You have this checklist, every coach does, as you start your training camp. In our sport, we don't have much of a training camp. So you start looking at your power plays, penalty kills. We have new kids. So how are you going to start that off? Again, with an exhibition game tonight, you get an opportunity to put people in situations and see how they do. Then you'll have film on that. You'll be able to have teaching points, and you move forward. But you rely on your upper classmen. You rely on the kids that have been here for two or three years. You drop the puck tonight, and ultimately it comes down to what their ability is as far as an execution standpoint. But as far as systems and all the little things, that just takes time to put all those details together. We'll have that the next ten days as we get ready for our home opener against Mankato. Q. Mark, to what degree were you surprised that Anne Pankowski made the Olympic team? COACH JOHNSON: Any time a list is finalized and you have 40‑plus kids in a camp, there's going to be one or two, maybe three selections that stick out either way as kids that made it or kids that didn't make it. The exciting thing about Anne is she's going to get an opportunity to hang around, to work out with, and really see firsthand what these elite athletes, as you mentioned, the Duggans, the Hillary Knights, the Deckers, the kids that put themselves in a position to be not only on national teams, but Olympic teams. She gets to be a part of that. For the next four months, her game will be elevated. So as much as we're disappointed she's not going to be in the lineup tonight and throughout the season, the experience that not only she'll get but I think her family will experience is something that's really priceless. So as she approaches campus next summer and gets ready for our season next fall, we're going to have a very seasoned veteran even though she'll only be a freshman. THE MODERATOR: Anything else for Coach? Thanks, Mark. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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