Women's Hockey January 28, 2017

Postgame Quotes: Wisconsin vs. Minnesota State

Postgame quotes from coaches and players

Women's Hockey January 28, 2017

Postgame Quotes: Wisconsin vs. Minnesota State

Postgame quotes from coaches and players

Wisconsin vs. Minnesota State
January 28, 2017
Madison, Wis. - LaBahn Arena

UW Head Coach Mark Johnson
On the recent play at home:
"We played one game at a time and really, one practice at a time because things happen with the group you're working with and you never know what it's going to look like the next day. You can't get two or three weeks ahead of yourself."

On changing the lines around:
"We will look at what happened today and certainly, putting Sarah up with Clark and Pankowski, Sarah got a goal and Clark got a goal and created some offense. Certainly with Presley's goal and Sydney's goal, we got contributions from different people, get some depth in your scoring, it becomes difficult to defend. We created a bunch of opportunities and capitalized on a couple power plays and overall it was a good effort. Sometimes it's good to mix things up to keep people focused and fresh."

On what McKibbon means to this program:
"A lot. Obviously she's a senior and she's done a great job of leading this team this year. When we started off, one of the big goals is to wear the C in front of your chest and it adds a lot of pressure too, every day and every weekend. But she's done a great job. She had a big goal for us today, it was a chess game early on, we had a couple golden opportunities, shots that we normally get, but we didn't rush it. We're very excited for her, very happy for her."

On Emily Clark reaching 100 points:
"She's been good as soon as she stepped on campus here. There's been a lot of aspirations, a lot of goals that she set for herself. It puts pressure on herself but she continues to get better and better. It's nice to see her get rewarded this afternoon also."

On battling adversity:
"It's been good. We've got some obstacles to get over and they've done very well. We compliment the group; they come to the rink every day, whether it's a practice day or a game day. They're focused, they're well-prepared and today was to go out and enjoy it. It's a game, that's why we call it "hockey games" so you put a smile on your face and try to go out and outwork the other team and create opportunities. We capitalized on a bunch of them in the first period. It was a good start and it was a good weekend. Now they get a chance to rest tomorrow and then we will come back Monday and get ready to go up to Bemidji next weekend."

On the importance of having scoring depth:
"It's good, when you score a goal out there, whether you're one of our key players or you're a role player, you feel good about yourself. I think the more people that get on the score sheet, the more people that contribute goal scoring and it brings confidence between those players. You look at Mauermann today, she didn't get much ice time, but you throw her out on the power play and the next thing you know, the puck is in the back of the net. It makes her feel good and it makes the team feel good. If you have depth and scoring, it's certainly a nice weapon to have."

On the freshman meshing with the rest of the team:
"They don't look like freshman. Those freshman were on campus last June, they've played 20-plus games already, a lot of them are experienced on national teams. They've grown, they understand the league and certainly they seem to be comfortable and most importantly, they've gained confidence over that time period, so that's a good thing to see."

Senior forward Sydney McKibbon
On her 100th career point and what it means to accomplish that over her four years here:
"I think it's a nice achievement to have, but you definitely don't get there without your teammates and without the help of your linemates and other players on the ice, so credit to them, and a credit to Clarky tonight too getting her hundredth point."

On how she has stepped up as a captain this year, especially in regards to motivating the team to really finish plays and score:
"I think we're all trying to drive the net, trying to get pucks on net. Especially when they changed the goalie up tonight we were trying to get pucks towards the net.

"But yeah I think we all have a lot of good leaders here this year, and we are a pretty tight knit group, so even when we're down we are easily motivated to get up."

On how the six-game homestand has helped the team:
"I think we're happy with where we are at, but we can always get better. It's been nice to be at LaBahn for the last three weeks, and it's been nice to have our own home crowd, but we're excited to get up to Bemidji."

On the defense playing without Melissa Channell:
"I think it gives other people the opportunity to step up. Other people are playing, and other people are playing different roles, so it gives other people an opportunity to show what they're made of."

On the power play being over .400 in the month of January:
"I think before, when we weren't getting those goals that we wanted, we were definitely possessing the puck and we were happy with what we were doing, the puck just wasn't going in the net. It was nice to see Mauey (Alexis Mauermann) get a couple of goals on the power play this weekend. I think we are just getting more pucks to the net, and we are possessing the puck a bit more."

On whether changes in her game led to the improvement of the power play:
"No not really. I wouldn't say I'm doing anything differently. Just trying to focus more on possessing the puck, taking that extra second to look and make sure the pass is there and making sure that I'm confident in what I'm doing with it."

Junior forward Emily Clark
On hitting her 100th career point alongside Sydney McKibbon:
"It was pretty cool definitely to share that with her tonight. A huge thanks to my line mates, I think they made a couple extra passes that they definitely could have shot this weekend, but pretty cool feeling, especially to do it at home."

On the team's response to adversity:
"I think that we've definitely grown a lot, especially the last few weeks we've been challenged a lot. I think the big message coach has been send ing to us is just to worry about ourselves and if we do that, we've been successful"

On what the homestand has done to prepare the team for road stints:
"it's definitely been nice to be home and get on a regular routine. But I think it will be fun to get back on the road next weekend, then come back for Duluth."

On the defensive corps:
"They played really solid this weekend, Maddie Rowe definitely stepped up and played a lot of minutes, so I think they'll be just fine."

On what the team did to convert on opportunities:
"I think there was a big focus on just getting everything through to the net. They definitely clog up the middle and I think we were just trying to throw everything we had on the net."

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Players Mentioned

#26 Emily Clark: Forward; 5' 7"; Junior; L

#11 Sydney McKibbon: Forward; 5' 5"; Senior; R

#8 Maddie Rowe: Defense; 5' 11"; Freshman; R

#14 Alexis Mauermann: Forward; 5' 2"; Freshman; L

Players Mentioned

#26 Emily Clark
: 5' 7"; Junior; L
: Forward

#11 Sydney McKibbon
: 5' 5"; Senior; R
: Forward

#8 Maddie Rowe
: 5' 11"; Freshman; R
: Defense

#14 Alexis Mauermann
: 5' 2"; Freshman; L
: Forward

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