Sports

Wisconsin confused by NCAA playoff bracket

Despite suffering a heartbreaking loss to Minnesota-Duluth in the WCHA Final Face-Off Sunday, the No. 5 Wisconsin women’s hockey team is headed to the NCAA tournament to make a run at a third-straight national championship.

However, Wisconsin was thrown a curve ball when the selection committee released the eight-team bracket Sunday that has the Badgers traveling to Minnesota to take on the Gophers in the NCAA quarterfinal.

“We’re very surprised that we are playing Minnesota,” UW head coach Mark Johnson said at his Monday press conference. “We looked at maybe two of our matchups, depending on what we did this (past) weekend. Minnesota was not in any of the pictures, to be honest with you. So coming home on the bus when all of a sudden we heard Minnesota, I think we were all a little bit surprised, like ‘OK, how did that happen?’”

Wisconsin has some right to be upset by this year’s bracket, as the Badgers and Gophers both finished the year with 27 wins. Wisconsin also went 3-1-1 against Minnesota this year, including a win in the semifinals of the WCHA Final Face-Off last weekend. But Johnson figures his team isn’t the only one confused by this year’s bracket.

“You look at last year’s (bracket) compared to this year’s, and it is a totally different, completely different setup,” Johnson said. “It’s nice if somebody comes out and says ‘Here’s what we did. Here’s why we did it, and this is the direction we wanted to go.’ People are a little bit confused, and if you’re on certain teams right now, you’re probably very, very frustrated.”

Johnson also said it seems like the selection committee considered travel expenses as part of its selection since the pairings limit the travel. Beside Wisconsin traveling to Minnesota, Dartmouth will play at Harvard, Mercyhurst will play at Minnesota-Duluth and St. Lawrence will play at New Hampshire.

“It looks like financial criteria was used step No. 1 if you look at the way the brackets are set up,” Johnson said. “It’s totally the opposite. It’s 180 from where we were last year.”

Despite being frustrated with the selection committee, Johnson is confident his team will not be distracted this weekend and is excited to be a part of the NCAA tournament again.

“There’s only eight teams now,” Johnson said. “You’re one win away from the Frozen Four and an opportunity to take a run at the championship again. It’s an exciting time of year. I think with the players, they get excited this time of year. Practices are sharp. They’re crisp.

“There’s energy that I think might not be there in December and January. This is what they work for. This is the opportunity that will be presented to them, and hopefully Saturday we come out and play our A-game.”

And while his team is still confused as to how and why it is playing Minnesota, Johnson said his team is looking forward to playing their border rivals again.

“We don’t have to travel very far. It’s an opponent we know very well,” Johnson said about playing Minnesota. “We’ve played them three times in the last three or four weeks here, so we’re excited. The team’s excited. It’s a fresh start.”

 

Zaugg new scoring leader

Senior alternate captain Jinelle Zaugg almost single-handily willed her team to a third-straight conference tournament title with her performance over the weekend. And while Wisconsin fell just short, Zaugg become UW’s all-time scoring leader.

Coming into the postseason, Zaugg needed to score twice to tie Meghan Hunter with 84 career goals. Against rival Minnesota in the semifinals, the 6-foot-1 forward tied the record with a pair of goals.

“I’m excited for Jinelle,” Johnson said. “She stepped up and played really well and scored some timely goals against Minnesota.”

In the championship match against the Bulldogs, Zaugg led the Badgers back from an early 3-0 deficit to help force overtime by scoring two more goals to set the record. Despite becoming Wisconsin’s all-time scoring leader, Zaugg was upset that she missed an opportunity to win the game in overtime, according to Johnson.

“[Sunday] if you asked [Zaugg] a question, she’d probably be bitter about the opportunity she missed in overtime,” Johnson said. “The young lady from Duluth slid across as the puck was going in the empty net, and she was able to deflect it with her body. [Zaugg] played very well [Sunday] scoring two nice goals and had an opportunity in overtime to win it.”

Her four-goal performance earned Zaugg a spot on the WCHA Final Face-Off all-tournament team. Now, as UW prepares to enter the NCAA tournament, Johnson is looking to the senior to continue to lead the charge.

“Hopefully, [Zaugg] will continue that this weekend,” Johnson said.