Sports: Women's Hockey

Ready for redemption

This past March the UW women’s hockey team was aiming for its third straight NCAA championship, a feat that would have solidified them as one of the greatest programs in recent memory.

In their quest to defend their back-to-back titles, however, the Badgers ran into the Bulldogs of Minnesota-Duluth, who topped Wisconsin 4-0 in the title game. It was just UW’s ninth loss of the season, and only the second time all year they failed to score a goal.

It would be understandable if that bitter memory still resonated in the minds of the Badgers as they prepare for the 2008-09 season. But as head coach Mark Johnson admitted, the championship loss is a thing of the past.

“To be honest, I don’t think I’ve hear anybody mention it,” Johnson said. “It’s a new year. We start off fresh with a whole new group of players that have to work together to try to get themselves back into position to what this team did last year.”

Johnson’s team seems to have erased most of that game from their memories as well — whether selectively or not.

“When I think about it, it was one of those games where I don’t really remember much about it,” senior forward Erika Lawler said. “There wasn’t much flow. They kind of got an awkward goal to start off the game, set us back on our heels a little bit. … It was just a very weird championship game.”

For senior goaltender Jessie Vetter, the way the season ended has added fuel to what has proven to be a heated rivalry.

“You definitely think of it from time to time, maybe circle when we play Duluth again,” Vetter said. “We’ll have another chance at them in the conference. They’re just a good team to play.”

Wisconsin won’t face Minnesota-Duluth until late October. Instead, the Badgers have their sights set on their first opponent of the new season — Quinnipiac, who comes to the Kohl Center this Friday and Saturday night.

UW last faced the Bobcats in the opening series of the 2006-07 season, when they pulled off victories of 3-0 and 5-1 for the weekend sweep.

“They’re just a scrappy team,” Vetter said of Quinnipiac. “They’re not going to give us anything, so we’re going to have to work hard to earn a victory this weekend.”

Vetter and co. have just a week of official practice to prepare for their first series. The practices couldn’t have come soon enough, though, as the Badgers have been anxious to hit the ice again.

“We’ve been practicing for a while, whether it be captain’s practices or last week we had the unofficial bag-skating practice where we just skate and skate,” Lawler said. “The energy’s there, and we’re all working really hard for the common goal. I think it’ll all fit together pretty well this weekend.”

“Practice gets a little boring when you don’t have games, so it’s going to be very exciting to have games this weekend,” Vetter added.

When they hit the ice Friday night, the Badgers will be carrying the tag of the No. 2 team in the country, according to the USA Today preseason rankings. Sitting behind the team that beat it in the championship — Duluth — Wisconsin starts the season right where it left off in the polls last season.

But like many coaches, Johnson doesn’t pay attention to the numbers.

“What usually happens is the team that won it — unless they lose everybody on their team — they’re going to be No. 1 because they’re the champions. Obviously, we were second,” Johnson said. “You look at what Minnesota had on their roster; you look at some of the other teams in our league where they’re continually getting better. But that’s healthy for our sport. Anybody can beat any team on a given time. That bodes well for our coaches, our players and our league as a whole. That’s the direction we’re going right now.”

The Badgers will add four freshmen to their roster from last year’s second-place team — defenseman Brittany Haverstock, forwards Brooke Ammerman and Carolyne Prévost, and goaltender Nikki Kaasa. With seven sophomores returning from last season, UW’s lineup will be young.

That’s where seniors Vetter and Lawler step in.

“I just do my best to make them feel comfortable. I think a lot of the seniors and upperclassmen on the team do the same thing,” Lawler said. “I think the best thing you can do is make them feel comfortable off the ice and then it’ll carry on to the ice and everything will hopefully come together.”

With three of the four having experience in international play, Vetter doesn’t expect them to run into many issues adapting to the style of play in the WCHA.

“They’ve been playing hockey their entire life and it’s no different now,” Vetter said. “You’re just playing at a little higher level and playing against really good competition, so just have fun.”

One of the things the Badgers — along with the rest of the teams in the WCHA — will be doing during the conference schedule to add a bit of excitement to games will be a shootout to break ties. If the two teams are unable to break a stalemate after a five-minute overtime period, they’ll each select three players to take part in a shootout.

The team that loses will come away with one point, while the winner earns two — something that could be beneficial in the final standings.

“It just gives us a chance to get an extra point, and it gives the fans something to cheer about,” Vetter said. “Coach actually asked me when we were in camp together if I want to do shootouts this year. I was like, ‘You know, I think it would be fun.’”

“Some of the coaches were like, ‘No, we could lose and they take away the point,’” Lawler said. “But I think what you need to focus on is that you can also win and then get that extra point. I think that our chances of winning in shootouts are awesome. I’d rather go for the win than settle for a tie.”

Johnson knows ties aren’t ideal either, both from the team’s and fan’s perspective.

“There’s going to be a winner and a loser when you leave the building. I think that bodes well for what we want to do here,” Johnson said. “We’re in the entertainment business, and we have fans that are paying money to come and watch us play. We certainly want to entertain them.”