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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN HOCKEY MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 17, 2014Mark JohnsonTHE MODERATOR: The women's hockey team will play in the NCAA Frozen Four on Friday at 4:00 p.m. versus No. 1 Minnesota. It's the seventh Frozen Four appearance for UW. Head Coach Mark Johnson is here. We'll have opening comments and then take questions. COACH JOHNSON: I guess the first thing I'd like to express is to all the fans that came out and gave us a soldout crowd Saturday night, it was helpful. It was really helpful, especially in the third period when we needed a boost. We needed a shot in the arm. We needed some energy. Our fans responded. With the basketball tournament going on, I know it was a challenge to get here. Great atmosphere. Very exciting. Prior to the puck being dropped at the start of the game, I just took a minute and sort of glanced around the crowd and said, Wow, this is cool. This is what it's all about. Having that quarterfinal game at home certainly helped us out. Also, as I mentioned after the game, congratulate Alex on her 100th win as a Badger. It will be her last game at home in the LaBahn. I know it was a special night for her, and certainly, I was happy for her and her family for not only all the things she's done on the ice for us, but some of the things that she has had personally to push herself through and ended up with obviously a big smile on her face at the end of the game and an opportunity to practice this week and get another chance to play a game Friday afternoon. So exciting weekend. As I just told Coach, we're practicing again. So that's a good thing. Q. Is it a comfortable feeling, having a goaltender who's been to two other Frozen Fours and won a national title? COACH JOHNSON: I think her experience in these settings is certainly going to be helpful. I think getting the 100th win is helpful. And so there's a lot of things in place to‑‑ you know, as a staff, helps us as we prepare for Friday afternoon's game. So as we all know, the goaltending position in our business, it's certainly a crucial part of it. Certainly, having Alex where she's at right now is going to be helpful. Q. Mark, you haven't beaten Minnesota in a long time. I'm sure you know those numbers. What's the belief factor in your dressing room right now? COACH JOHNSON: I think, especially at this time of season and the meaning of the game, what's happened in the past, you can learn from. You can take away those experiences. You know, 3 of the 4 games we've played this year have been tight, have been close. The only one that really got away from us was the game at the Kohl Center on Fill the Bowl night. But you look at the three previous games, we had opportunities. We had chances. We just have to capitalize. We just have to execute a little bit better over the course of the three periods. If you're able to do that, then you put yourself in a position to win irrelevant to what's happened the past four games this season and last year. Those are just memories and experience that, as a team, you try to put in your back pocket and learn from, no different than Saturday night in the third period with six or eight minutes, we decided we don't want to lose a game and we start to play that way. We ended up winning, obviously, 2‑1, but it's a period in the game where you can take those things and help you Friday afternoon. I think we'll be confident. I know the players will be excited. We get time now to prepare to come out and play our best game of the season, and if you do that for 30 minutes or three periods, then you have a chance to play again on Sunday. Q. Brittany Ammerman gets a lot of attention on offense, but Blayre Turnbull really has made a difference with your team. Can you just talk about some of her contributions and the success she's brought to your team as well? COACH JOHNSON: Great question. She's had a breakout season. She's worked hard. She came in, played her freshman year and put in a lot of time and energy into where she played at Shattuck up to the Division I level. This year she's reaping those benefits of doing it for a number of years. I think, similar to Britt, where Blayre got off to a good start, had some confidence injected into the early part of the season, has played a bigger role than she did last year, and has grabbed that and had a great season. As I mentioned, she's had a breakout season. She's certainly one of our leaders. You saw that Saturday night on a great give‑and‑go by Britt and scored a big‑time goal for us. It's exciting to watch them grow and certainly has been exciting to watch her have a real good junior season. Q. Mark, I somewhat apologize for continuing to focus on a negative topic here. With regard to how you're playing against Minnesota, during the time‑‑ if I could read a stat to you. Minnesota's had goals from 19 players. You've had goals from 7. Is that an accurate reflection of their depth, the difference in depth, or is it just circumstance? COACH JOHNSON: No, it's certainly a reflection of their depth. They have nine forwards that not only skate well, but have a great deal of skill and have the ability to get the puck in the net. It's certainly the last, probably, four to six weeks, their power play is probably at about a 35 percent rate. So if you're looking to try to beat them and upset them, there's certain things that you have to do from a discipline standpoint. You're not going to be able to take a lot of penalties. You get more than two or three or four penalties in the game, you're running the risk of getting scored on. So there's certain things you have to do prior to the game to make sure the players are mentally ready for what's going to come at them. There will be some push on their part. They fore‑check very aggressive. Through that, they create certain opportunities in the offensive zone. Again, we're not far off, and, again, you look at the magnitude of the game, the importance of the game, I'm excited to play. If you say we're going to play them five times this year and you're only going to win one, which game do you want to win? This is the one you want to win. This has got the most important‑‑ not only if you're able to be successful Friday, that gives you a chance to play for a National Championship. So it will be tight. It will be exciting. Similar to what we saw Saturday night, who's going to come out and execute? Who's going to make a play for one team or the other? Is that going to be enough? Q. You've had some pretty interesting vantage points for some extraordinary saves, goals, that type of thing. Where does Alex's save Saturday rank on your list? COACH JOHNSON: Another great question because I've seen, obviously, a number of them. I'm not sure I've seen a better one. Just from the standpoint of being on the bench as a coach, you have certain angles on the ice. We had a front row seat from the young lady that came off the bench for Harvard and was moving down. Nobody happened to see her. When she released the puck, all I could see was the puck going into a 4 by 6 net, nobody in there. All of a sudden, a stick comes out of nowhere. Alex knocked it down and then had the presence to cover it up at the same time to get a whistle. So I think the response from the fans and their standing ovation indicated that was something special and certainly was. Q. You mentioned the previous four meetings are just kind of a memory, and this is the one you want to win. But do you have to do anything special with the players this week in addressing that because, while they are the past, they certainly know what happens in games in the past. Do they clear their mind and mechanism of that and just focus on this one as this is all that matters? COACH JOHNSON: The nice thing is we know their players. We understand their habits. So we're not uncomfortable being on the ice, and it's just a matter of being able to do a lot of those little things in execution for 60 minutes. You can't take a shift off. You can't take an unnecessary penalty. You have to play on your toes, and you have to play to win. If you're able to do that for 60 minutes, you have an opportunity to win the hockey game. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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