SPORTS
Badgers prepare for bout with Gophers
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by Maria Boncyk
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Although they coach completely different sports, Bo Ryan and Mark Johnson have at least one thing in common this week: both coach teams that will face off with opponents ranked No. 1 in the nation. The women’s hockey Badgers will go to Minnesota this weekend for what will likely be their most challenging series of the remainder of the season.
Badger women’s hockey coach Mark Johnson noted the importance of this week for UW athletics, especially the women’s hockey and men’s basketball programs. Johnson remarked that he and Bo Ryan had discussed their similar situations and expressed the excitement his team was feeling.
“These are the games that, as coaches and as players, you look forward to,” Johnson said. “You play the top teams in the country, you play good opponents, you play undefeated opponents, you play Olympic players. Irrelevant of the sport, I think the players get excited as you get into the week of practice and as you get closer to the game. The coaching staff, along with the players, gets fired up to play these types of events.”
Wisconsin is currently third in the WCHA conference standings behind Minnesota and Minnesota-Duluth. Nationally, only Dartmouth outranks Wisconsin outside of the conference. The Badgers have consistently been ranked fourth nationally by both the USA Today and USCHO.com polls since late November.
The topic at hand Monday was the upcoming contest versus Minnesota and the level at which the team aims to play for the remainder of the season. Although Minnesota is ranked No. 1 in the nation, Johnson stressed that the Badgers are capable of playing at a high level and getting the better of intimidating opponents like Minnesota. Minnesota, like Wisconsin, has players in its program with international experience playing on national and Olympic teams. But that doesn’t change Johnson’s expectations for this weekend or for the season. He insisted that the upcoming series is no different from any others the team has played all year. He expects his team to be both mentally and physically prepared for this series as they have for the others.
“Our players understand the challenge, they understand the task and it comes down to continuing with our habits that we’ve been forming over the course of the season and if we’re able to go out and execute,” Johnson said. “The bottom line is if we execute the way we’re capable we have a chance to beat them. That’s the exciting part about it; there are not a lot of teams in the country that can say that.”
Johnson stressed that the most important thing a team needs for success is consistency throughout the season, something he is proud of his squad for having. The Badgers’ record is testament to this. With a home record of 9-2-1 and a road record of 8-3-0, Wisconsin’s record is almost even whether they are playing at home or away — something only the top three teams in the conference can claim.
As for the postseason, which is roughly five weeks away, Johnson stated that the WCHA and NCAA tournaments, while they are important goals during the season, are not an immediate focus yet. The team’s concentration is solely on the series immediately in front of them.
“The big thing I want to keep away from our group is any type of distraction and looking down the road too far because the minute you do that you can hit a bump and stumble real fast and then you may not have time to recover,” Johnson said. “The big thing right now is to stay focused, prepare for one game at a time and do the things that you’ve done since day one.”
After this weekend, the Badgers will host series against Minnesota State and Ohio State, ranked fifth and fourth respectively in the WCHA, before they round off the season with series at Bemidji State and St. Cloud State.
