Head coach Mark Johnson is more than pleased with the impressive start for the 2010-2011 women’s hockey team.
His team is 4-0 and now ranked No. 1 in the country in the new USCHO.com poll.
“With only four games under our belt, we’re in pretty good shape,” Johnson said.
The women’s hockey team began their season with strong victories in their past four home games, shutting out Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and only allowing one goal to Bemidji State.
In the first period of the season opener Oct. 1, Wisconsin scored an astonishing five goals against RPI, followed by two goals to finish the game with a 7-0 victory. In the second game of the series, the women’s team shut out RPI 6-0.
A week later, Wisconsin’s presence continued as they outscored Bemidji State 9-1, sweeping the series.
But Johnson is still waiting to see how his talented team handles a road environment.
“We’re fortunate within the schedule to play all our games in October at home and our first road game will be up to Minnesota in early November and I think as you get in to November you start to get a feel of who you really are, and what some of the players have in their back pockets,” Johnson said. “Playing at home is one thing, but playing on the road is a different thing.”
Two perfect records to face off
Johnson welcomes the challenges that will come when the Wisconsin hockey team will face the similarly undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes this Friday and Saturday.
“They’ve got a freshman goaltender that seems to, for the first couple weekends, be very strong for them. Like ourselves, when you have some kids that can score some goals, certainly from an offensive standpoint makes things a lot more interesting,” Johnson said.
“They’ve played four games, they’re 4-0. They’ve got four or five kids as I call them ‘difference makers.’ Natalie Spooner is one of them…She’s an elite player and certainly brings in challenges for us. It should be a good weekend,” he added.
The women’s hockey team has been able to prepare for this weekend’s series for two weeks, as their last games against Bemidji State were Oct. 8th and 10th.
That extra week off has given Johnson and his staff valuable time to prepare.
“Having this past weekend off gave us an opportunity this past week to work on some things that in a normal week to prepare for a game you don’t get to do that. It’s been a good week and we look forward to the challenges Friday and Saturday night at the Kohl Center,” Johnson said.
Power play focus
One challenge that the women’s hockey team will have to face is the strong power play of the Buckeyes. Johnson notes that working on their penalty kill will be the emphasis during practice this week.
“Well generally [Ohio State head coach] Jackie [Barto] has a good power play…that brings in a skill set and the ability to get the puck in the net and so we’ll work on the penalty kill quite a bit this week and try to offset some of the things they do offensively,” Johnson said.
The Badgers on the other hand are 2-for-8 on the power play. The Badgers no doubt want to improve those numbers and Johnson knows more attempts will only make his powerplay unit better.
“We’ve played four games. I’m not sure how my power play is yet, we haven’t practiced it in a game setting as much as I would have liked to,” Johnson said. “We’ve only had two a weekend ago against our opponent. And that’s a work in progress and again, the more you play, the better you get to know your team.”
Right where they left off
The return of Hilary Knight and Meghan Duggan, who both missed last season to compete in the 2010 Olympic Games, has brought plenty of experience, energy and skill. Knight has one goal and seven assists so far this season and Duggan has four goals.
Johnson believes that their valuable Olympic experience will strengthen and lead the team.
“These great players that have come back to our league can elevate their teams and make players play maybe a little bit better than they normally would without those individuals,” Johnson said.