Coach Johnson talks about Boston University series
October 26, 2011 | Women's Hockey
Oct. 26, 2011
• Watch Johnson Press Conference 
MADISON, Wis. -- Wisconsin women's hockey head coach Mark Johnson reflected on the Badgers sweep over Minnesota Duluth and looked ahead to this weekend's games against Boston University during the weekly press conference Monday at Camp Randall Stadium.
Archived video of the media session is available through the link above, and a complete transcript of Johnson's remarks can be found below.
JOHNSON: Well, certainly thrilled about the results of this past weekend having played up in Duluth. Being our first road trip of the season, I thought the kids played very well. It certainly was an interesting evening, both Friday and Saturday, from the standpoint that we saw great individual effort on Friday night when the game was tied, we were trying to kill a penalty and maybe get the game to overtime. Hilary Knight makes a big time play and scores a fantastic goal to give us an opportunity to win Friday night's game.
And then Saturday night, Alex Rigsby really held us in there for, actually, most of the game. Certainly, during the early part of it when Duluth game out and really stormed us and had us on our heels. She was able to make some big time saves and really give us an opportunity to get our feet grounded. We ended up scoring a power play goal about midway through the first period to sort of settle us down.
But I saw something that, I think in all my playing days, and, certainly, my coaching days, I haven't seen before. [UMD head coach] Shannon Miller made the comment after Saturday's game that she hadn't seen it in 25 years of her coaching. So we had a unique play that you don't see too often in hockey, where one of our players actually didn't shoot the puck in the net, ended up getting a penalty, and scoring a goal on the same play.
On a delayed penalty that was going to be called against us, Duluth had pulled their goaltender and was trying to, obviously, score a goal. One of their players tried to make a pass to one of the defensemen on their team, ended up missing her and the puck went all the way down into the other end and into their net.
I think the fans that were in the game, certainly, the referees, and I think both coaching staffs were a little stunned at what happened. But Saige went into the penalty box, they announced her penalty first, and then they announced her goal in the next sentence. It was something unique. As I say, I haven't seen it in the coaching ranks, and going back to my playing days, I hadn't seen that happen before. But we found a way to win and certainly got a couple breaks.
QUESTION #1: Coach Bielema was talking about it too that a lot of his players don't know the feeling of a loss. When you guys bounce back in a hostile environment, like in Duluth, what does that tell you about your team?
JOHNSON: Well, I think Mike mentioned with his group some nights you may not be playing well, but if you find a way to win it certainly puts confidence within your players. You can come back to practice on Monday, which we'll do today, and go over some of the things you need to work on. It's a lot easier to do when you win games and bring the group back on Monday then when you have heartbreaking losses.
If you coach long enough, you're going to be on both sides of the equation. When you win games at the end, it's exciting. The fans are excited and, certainly, the players are excited. It builds your confidence. When you're on the other end of the stick, and it's the short end of the stick, there's nothing more difficult to handle. I mean, it's gut wrenching. It's tough.
It affects not only the individual game, but can affect the entire season as far as your objectives and your goals and it's not easy. But in the business, you still have to get up the following day and get yourself ready to go and come to work, as do the players, and prepare for the next practice. It's just a lot easier when you win games.
QUESTION #2: To have Boston University here this weekend, the rematch, I guess, of the national title game, just talk about the excitement and the kind of level of competition you'll also see with them.
JOHNSON: It'll be good for a lot of reasons. One, it's Kid's Day at the Kohl Center. We generally have anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000 people in the building. Usually, when the majority of them are young kids, the energy level is high. There's a lot of noise in the building. So when the players come on the ice for warm-ups, there's a little excitement in the air at the Kohl Center. So that's going to be fun for our players and, certainly, fun for BU to come into this atmosphere.
The second part of it is, having defeated them last year in the championship game in Erie, they're going to be excited to play us again. And so that revenge, or whatever you want to call it, they're going to be coming into the building wanting revenge for what happened last year.
The nice thing about it is we've had three weekends of that. North Dakota was the same way when they came in here and, certainly, Minnesota was. This past weekend up in Duluth, it was no different. As I mentioned to a couple of reporters up there, it's been three weekends of playoff hockey. By doing that and having that competition, it elevates your play right away. It's only October, but we've had six very difficult and very strong games, and we've become better as a team playing each one. We've been fortunate to come out of this stretch right now at 5-1, so we're in very good position.
QUESTION #3: What's been the biggest development in Rigsby's game that's allowed her to have a performance like she did this weekend?
JOHNSON: I think just her experience of what she went through last year. She came into camp a year ago as a freshman coming off surgery over the course of the summer. Conditioning-wise and health-wise, she wasn't 100%. She was able to put herself in a position, probably mid-season last year, to be 100% and to be at full strength. Then what she gained over that last, probably, two months of the season games, you can't duplicate in practice.
You can't have those types of situations where there's pressure on you. If the next goal goes in, your season might be over. A lot of things had happened that last two months of the season. When you go into the summer, you work out and you condition yourself, you come back into camp your sophomore year and you're much healthier. Plus, you've gained that experience. You're going to be a little bit more relaxed.
The reason we won the game Saturday was because of Alex. She played very well and she played very well for three periods and gave us an opportunity at the end of the game to win it. So I think confidence, and, certainly, being a sophomore, and the experience that she's gained a little over a year of being here has helped her settle into her position.
