Narrow Focus: As accolades accumulate, Pankowski eyes big picture
March 02, 2016 | Women's Hockey, Andy Baggot
Patty Kazmaier Award finalist putting herself among elite company at Wisconsin
A look at the big picture clearly reveals the impact Annie Pankowski has had on Wisconsin's chase for a national championship, but the Patty Kazmaier Award finalist isn't likely to give her rapidly-growing list of individual accomplishments much of a glance — she has eyes on leading the Badgers back to the top. |  From Varsity Magazine
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BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
It's an alluring exercise, but Annie Pankowski refuses to assess her growing legacy within the Wisconsin women's hockey program.
She's crafting a resume that looks a lot like her acclaimed predecessors, but the sophomore right winger has more important things to do than stop and plot her location, regardless of how scenic it may be.
Pankowski is in line to lead the Badgers in scoring her first two seasons. The last to do that was center Sara Bauer, who was the school's first Patty Kazmaier Award winner in 2006.
Pankowski was the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Rookie of the Year in 2014-15. The last UW product to do that was right winger Meghan Duggan, who took home the Kazmaier Award in 2011.
Pankowski needs two points for 100 in her career. The last sophomore to do that for the Badgers was center Brianna Decker, who was the team's last Patty Kazmaier recipient in 2012.
But Pankowski, from Laguna Hills, California, said now is not the time to measure one's legacy.
"I take it as a narrow focus, like a game at a time," she said.
So, not even a cursory glance at the all-time list? Pankowski has 42 goals and 56 assists in 75 games. That's more goals at this juncture than Bauer, who had 34 on the way to being the No. 4 scorer in UW history. That's more assists at this point than Duggan, who had 49 and wound up with 130, the second-highest total in program history.
"It's easy to get caught up in those numbers and, like, get complacent," Pankowski said. "It works better for me if I don't pay attention to that kind of stuff and keep moving forward."
Is that a lesson Pankowski learned somewhere along the way? Her path has taken her from youth hockey in Southern California to the prestigious North American Hockey Academy in Stowe, Vermont, to UW and its four-time national champions.
"It just hasn't been that important to me," she said.
Pankowski said being one of 10 finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award is a "pretty cool" honor — record-setting junior goaltender and teammate Ann-Renee Desbiens is on the list as well — but not a focus.
"It wasn't necessarily something I thought was going to happen," Pankowski said.
What is important to Pankowski is how this season has evolved and how it will finish.
"It's easy to get caught up in those numbers," Pankowski said. "It works better for me if I don't pay attention to that kind of stuff and keep moving forward."
The third-ranked Badgers (32-3-1 overall) won their fifth WCHA regular-season crown and are shooting for their sixth league playoff championship. They will face Minnesota Duluth (15-20-1) on Saturday at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis for the right to play either Minnesota (31-3-1) or North Dakota (18-11-5) in the title game on Sunday.
The winner of the WCHA playoff championship will get an automatic berth in the eight-team NCAA tournament that begins March 11. UW is gearing up to host one of four national quarterfinals March 12 at LaBahn Arena with an eye toward raising a fifth championship banner to its rafters.
Asked to describe the best thing that's happened to her this season, Pankowski offered the program's first WCHA regular-season crown since 2012.
"That was a big deal for our whole team," she said. "That small victory, I really look at all the hard work we put in this summer."
Asked if there was a more personal memory, Pankowski went back to that weekend in early December when the Badgers swept a WCHA series vs. defending national champion Minnesota at LaBahn Arena.
Not only did the 3-2 (overtime) and 3-1 decisions end an 18-game winless streak against the Gophers going back to 2012, it featured a pair of game-winning goals by Pankowski.
"That was my best two games I've put together," she said.
Not just this season, she said. Her entire UW career.
Second-ranked Minnesota returned the favor in the regular-season series finale on Feb. 19 and 20 and it's reasonable to assume that at least one postseason meeting between the mega-rivals is in the offing.
The Badgers feature the top-rated defense and penalty-killing unit in the nation — they set a host of standards with 20 shutouts, including an NCAA-record 18 by Desbiens — as well as a diverse offense.
The attack is driven by a line that includes Pankowski, sophomore center Emily Clark (22-19-41) and freshman left winger Sam Cogan (9-15-24).
"We're very different players, but I think we complement each other very well," Clark said.
How so?
"Annie's super creative and, obviously, if she has the puck on her stick anywhere she can get it to the net and it has a chance of going in," Clark said. "She also can battle and play at a fast pace. Between me using my speed to get the puck to the outside and getting to her in the middle, she does the rest from there."
As for Cogan, Clark said her headiness stands out.
"She's a really smart player and has a lot of poise," Clark said.
The Clark line has 11 game-winning goals, including a team-best seven by Clark, which ranks as the second-most in the nation.
Speaking of impact, the Badgers are 16-1 when Pankowski scores a goal and are 30-1 when she has a point this season.
Cogan, from Ottawa, Ontario, and Clark, from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, have found on-ice symmetry with Pankowski, a prime candidate for the U.S. Olympic team in 2018. They could be high-profile international rivals in a few years, but now they have a collective agenda that's geared toward winning the school's first NCAA title since 2011.
"It just works," Cogan said of the threesome. "I can't really explain why it works. I just think we know where each other are on the ice."
One of the inherent strengths of the UW program is its chemistry on and off the ice. Clark said Pankowski is a key figure in that equation.
"She's very caring," Clark said. "She's always conscious of everyone else's needs and if everyone's good. Almost motherly, I'd say.
"I think that's why our team dynamic is so good this year. Everyone is pretty caring of each other. It's pretty cliché to say your team is like your family, but when you treat each other like that — you love and care for each other — it makes for a special bond."
Clark related a moment last month when her aging scooter wouldn't start and Pankowski helped her push it from the Kohl Center parking area to her apartment a few blocks away.
"The team has a tradition of it," Clark said of the care factor, "but it comes from the leaders on the team. All of us are away from our families. Everyone knows what it's like to get a little homesick. We are each other's best friends and family. That makes a huge difference."
Pankowski, a zoology major, was asked what trait she values most in a teammate.
"Someone who strives to be better each practice, each game," she said.
How does that relate to her line mates?
"It's pretty cliché to say your team is like your family, but when you treat each other like that — you love and care for each other — it makes for a special bond."
"I think Clarkie has a lot of it and I think Sam is starting to figure out that it's really important to both of us to have that kind of drive," Pankowski said. "It's something she's starting to catch on to."
Cogan acknowledged that reality.
"She motivates me really well," she said of Pankowski. "And she's focused. That's what makes her a great teammate."
UW coach Mark Johnson expects his best players to up their game in the postseason. To wit, Pankowski shows 4-5-9 and is plus-10 in eight career outings.
"Your good players, you know, the real good ones, tend to get more excited in the playoffs than maybe some of your other players, and then they have the ability to go out and execute and elevate their play," he said.
Pankowski spoke two days before the Patty Kazmaier list was whittled to three.
What if she's on it?
"Great," she said simply.
And if not?
"You always want you name to be up there, but I don't think it would be very devastating for me," Pankowski said.
"It's easy to get caught up in that whole 'I could be the best player' and that kind of mentality, and that really isn't all that important to me."
Winning is.
