Transcript from Mark Johnson's press conference
November 23, 2010 | Women's Hockey
Nov. 23, 2010
MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin women’s hockey head coach Mark Johnson spoke with the media at Monday's press conference. A transcript can be found below.
Mark Johnson: Our past weekend down at Robert Morris was a really good weekend from the standpoint that we were coming off a bye weekend the previous. Three of our players were in Canada for that eight-day break, playing up in the Four Nations tournament. It was good to get them back, and they practiced a couple days with us prior to going down to Pittsburgh, so it was good to have a non-conference weekend.
Obviously, I was pleased with the effort both nights, and it certainly will help us in our preparations this weekend to play against a really good Duluth team, defending national champions, and you know, some similarities with our group. I brought a couple kids back from the Olympic team. I think they’ve got four or five kids back from different Olympic teams, so it should be a good weekend of hockey on the women’s side.
Usually, when we get together with Duluth, whether we’re playing up at the DECC in Duluth or here in Madison or in semi-finals of a Frozen Four, it’s generally very entertaining.
Question 1: Should we at all be surprised that North Dakota leads the WCHA right now?
Johnson: No. I think, as we’ve seen in the past, it’s no surprise when teams get what we call difference-makers. Obviously, getting the Lamoureux twins into their program makes them an instant threat, and somebody that’s capable of beating anybody as we’ve see already. They’ve beaten BU, they’ve beaten and swept Minnesota. So, it’s no surprise to the coaches, the impact that those two players can not only have in a particular game, but certainly the influence they have on the other team members.
Question 2: Most people know about the rivalry any sport at this school has with Minnesota, but how is it different, how is it similar with Minnesota Duluth? Obviously, they are a program that year in and year out you’re competing with, as you mentioned, for conference titles, and national titles, and those types of things.
Johnson: That makes it a rivalry when you certainly compete against each other four times during the regular season. In the last six or seven years, we’ve met them in our playoffs in a couple different scenarios. We met them in the semi-finals of the Frozen Four. We met them in championship games in the Frozen Four.
That’s what makes the rivalry so special, that we’ve met them in situations where the impact and the outcome of the game is going to put the team that wins that game in a situation, whether it’s a national championship game, a WCHA championship, WCHA playoff championships, the magnitude of each of those games is huge.
It’s sort of gone like tennis, back and forth. They beat us up there in the Frozen Four in their own building. We beat them out in Lake Placid in the championship game. So that makes it special when you have games of that magnitude in the times we’ve played them over the last four or five years.
They generally put together a very strong team. They have an international flavor. We’ve been fortunate the last five or six years to have strong clubs. So usually we play five, six, seven times within a season, and that in itself creates a rivalry.
Question 3: How big of a marker then is it for your team to kind of see where you are at when you go up against a team like Duluth?
Johnson: Well, it will be a great measuring stick for both clubs when the weekend is finished on Sunday afternoon, and you look back at the two games. It’s a great measuring stick, because obviously both teams have high expectations, big-time goals. When you compete against each other, at the end of the weekend, you have a better measuring stick than prior to the weekend.
They’re coming off a really solid victory Saturday night against Ohio State. They have their players back from the Four Nations Cup. We have ours back. We have played a couple games, and now we can really go at it Friday and Sunday afternoons.
Question 4: Mark, since that wild game in Minnesota, your club has only given up two goals in the last three games. Is that a lesson learned for your team up there?
Johnson: Well, I think [it’s tough] when you have young goaltenders. I’ve always said, and I was talking with Tony Granato Friday morning down in Pittsburgh when I was over visiting the new rink, you know, how’s the season going, we’re having goaltending issues. And obviously, with Marc-Andre Fleury down there, he’s got a pretty good goaltender.
It’s a hard position. It’s like a pitcher in baseball, you can go five, six games in a row and your ball’s moving, your curveball’s working, your location is really good. Then all of a sudden, you have a little twink or a couple pitches aren’t where they need to be, and the ball goes out of the stadium. And all of a sudden, the pitcher’s confidence is a little bit shaken.
Goaltending is similar. You can go along and play well, make saves, feel comfortable and feel confident. And all of a sudden, one puck goes in and you might get a little bit shaken.
The nice thing about that Minnesota weekend, and certainly the game Friday was it was a learning opportunity. So, you know what, things didn’t go well here. The 60 minutes of the game we played pretty well. We out shot them 40 something to 20. Unfortunately, they got a few bounces, and you’ve seen enough hockey to know that if the puck’s not bouncing for you on a particular evening, it can be really hard.
But it’s a hard position. I spent some time Saturday morning up in Minneapolis with Alex Rigsby shooting on her and readjusting a couple things and trying to build her confidence up. She reacted as did the team react Saturday evening, and we played very well.
It is a work in progress when you have young goaltenders, you want to work with them, and you want to put them in a situation where their confidence is growing. And unfortunately, like a pitcher, goaltenders have bad days. If you’re going to be a goaltender, you have to anticipate some nights it’s going to be like that. How are you going to respond, how are you going to react, how are you going to come out the next day? Are you going to come with your head down and depressed? Well, then maybe you don’t want to be a goaltender, because it’s not always going to be perfect. You’re not always going to be able to stop the puck.
Question 5: This is a new challenge for you. It’s the first time in five years where maybe you haven’t had that one goaltender named Vetter to be able to like a Mariano Rivera I guess for you back there as a pitcher. Does that make it an exciting challenge or more of a headache that, you know, I have to go through this with young goaltenders?
Johnson: Both. It’s such a vital position in our sport, and probably the last six or eight years, it’s become even more vital. You need good goaltending if you’re going to go deep in the playoffs and win championships. You know, look at any particular NHL game on any given night, and usually the goaltender that plays best, gives their team the best chance to win.
It’s a hard position. If I’m a young goaltender, a freshman, even a sophomore, coming into the league and coming into college hockey, it’s a learning process. It’s the most difficult position to adjust to in regards to coming into a step up as far as leagues are concerned. Kids coming out of high school, kids coming out of prep school, when they come into women’s hockey now, it’s an adjustment, and certainly goaltendering is the most challenging position to adjust to. The next one would be defensemen. It’s sort of a pecking order.
But, as I say, if you’ve never had the equipment on, put the goalie equipment on and go try to play one afternoon, and you can understand how difficult it can be. You have a goaltender coach. You have video. You are working with them. The big thing is to try to get them comfortable and confident. If they’re comfortable and confident, chances are when they get in the game, they are going to be able to use those two things to make them better.
