Women's Hockey Heads East
October 14, 2003 | Women's Hockey
The Wisconsin women's hockey team, now 2-0-0 and 0-0-0 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, hits the road this weekend for the first road series of the 2003'04 season.
The Badgers travel to Orono, Maine to play the University of Maine, Sunday, Oct. 19, and Monday, Oct. 20. Game times are set for 1 p.m. CST. It will be the first time that these teams have ever played each other and also the Black Bears' first action of the new season.
Please note: This story information is also available in the UW women's hockey release for Oct. 13 available by clicking "news releases and archives" in the right column of this web page.
WISCONSIN SWEEPS VERMONT IN TWO
Wisconsin earned its first Ws of the new season with a two-game non-conference series sweep of Vermont at the Kohl Center this past weekend.
The Badgers defeated the Catamounts 2-0 Friday night and 7-0 Saturday afternoon. UW used all three of their goalies ' Meghan Horras, Jessica Bernal and Christine Dufour ' to earn the back-to-back shutouts.
OFFENSIVE BARRAGE BURIES CATAMOUNTS
Sophomore Nikki Burish (Madison, Wis.) and frosh Meaghan Mikkelson (St. Albert, Alberta) led the Badger scoring attack with two goals a piece against the Catamounts, while Burish (2-1'3) and junior Molly Engstrom (Siren, Wis.) (1-2 '3) both posted three-point performances during the series to lead UW.
MIKKELSON NAMED WCHA ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
The Western Collegiate Hockey Association awarded Mikkelson the league's Rookie of the Week honors. Her two goals against Vermont were career firsts.
WISCONSIN RANKED SIXTH NATIONALLY, THIRD IN WCHA
Wisconsin is ranked sixth nationally in the U.S. College Hockey Online Division I preseason poll (Oct. 13) and third in the WCHA Coaches Preseason Poll (Oct. 2).
THIS WEEK'S SCOUTING REPORT: The University of Maine Black Bears
' Maine finished the 2002'03 season with a 12-15-4 overall record and placed third with a 5-8-2 record in the Hockey East league.
' This weekend's two-game series at Alfond Arena in Orono, Maine will be the first meeting between the Black Bears and the Badgers. The series will also be Maine's first action of the 2003'04 season.
' Maine head coach Rick Filighera is in his seventh season with the Black Bears and has compiled a 74-87-14 record.
HEAD COACH MARK JOHNSON
With just one year under his belt as Wisconsin's head coach, Mark Johnson has created a strong foundation on which the Badgers can continue to build success.
Named the 2003 WCHA Co-Coach of the Year with Minnesota-Duluth's Shannon Miller and also one of eight finalists for the American Hockey Coaches Association Division I Coach of the Year, Johnson guided Wisconsin to a 22-8-5 overall and 14-6-4 WCHA record last season. The Badgers' 22 wins tied the 2001-02 team for most wins in a season and the .700 winning percentage is a UW record.
The third head coach in the program's history, Johnson joined the staff after serving as an assistant coach with the men's program from 1996-2002.
During that time, he helped the team to a WCHA regular-season title during the 1999-2000 season, as well as a WCHA Final Five championship in the 1997-98 campaign.
A former Badger, he helped Wisconsin to the 1977 national championship during his freshman campaign. The first Badger to ever win WCHA Rookie of the Year honors, he went on to become the school's second all-time leading scorer with 256 points on a school-record 125 goals and 131 assists in just three seasons. Johnson would move on to greater success with the 1980 U.S. Olympic "Miracle-On-Ice" Team and a successful 11-year NHL career.
One of Wisconsin's most decorated athletes in any sport, Johnson is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame, the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame and the National W Club Hall of Fame.
Johnson earned his bachelor of science degree in kinesiology from Wisconsin in 1994. He resides in Verona, Wis., with his wife Leslie and his five children: Douglas, Christopher, Patrick, Mikayla and Megan.
