In a series that could easily be overlooked, but with an abnormal amount of media attention, the Wisconsin women’s hockey team (13-4-3, 9-4-1) travels to St. Cloud State (6-15-1, 3-12-1) knowing that anything short of two wins would be a serious set-back in the team’s bid for a spot in the Frozen Four.
With series’ against tenth-ranked Minnesota State and third-ranked University of Minnesota coming up, the Badgers could easily overlook lowly St. Cloud State. Head coach Mark Johnson has already stressed how important every game is for the Badgers, and doesn’t expect his team to look past this weekend’s games.
“There is no easy game for us,” Johnson said. “If we don’t work hard, and we don’t play with a passion, and we aren’t committed to that game, we’re not going to win. I don’t care who we are playing, we need to play well to win.”
The other distraction that Wisconsin has to deal with this weekend is the media attention directed at Johnson, who will be portrayed in the upcoming movie “Miracle.” The movie which features the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team’s “Miracle on Ice” game in which Johnson scored two goals, will premier Monday, February 2. As one of the main characters from the film, Johnson and the team have had to deal with an unusual amount of media buzz.
Johnson hopes the team is not distracted by the attention, knowing what is at stake.
“Hopefully everything that is going on with me for the next four or five days won’t be a distraction,” he said. “That wouldn’t be fair to them.”
While St. Cloud State has not found themselves on the winning side of many hockey games, it has not been because of the efforts of St. Cloud’s two leading scorers. Junior Carrie Holldorf, who has 10 goals and 13 assists, and senior Roxanne Stang, who has 9 goals and 13 assists, have had to carry the load for the Huskies. Too often though, Holldorf and Stang just do not have enough help.
In goal for SCSU, Ellen Brinkman (3.84 GAA, .880 save percentage) and Lauri St. Jacques (3.58, .887) will most likely split time. The Huskies will need a strong effort out of whoever is in net if they hope to pull off the upset.
Wisconsin is led by senior Meghan Hunter who has eight goals and seven assists for 15 points on the season. Unlike the Huskies though, the Badgers have plenty of help for Hunter as seven other players have 11 points or more on the season. With no one player being asked to carry the load for Wisconsin, it is hard for other teams to game-plan around stopping just one or two of the team’s forward lines.
The Badger defense which has been rock solid all year long will be without its best player and team captain, Carla MacLeod, who will be away training with the Canadian national team. The Badgers have played well in her absence on two previous occasions and hope this weekend will be no different. If all goes according to plan, MacLeod will be back in the line-up for the second game of the series.
As with any strong hockey team, UW’s goalie situation has been fantastic all year long. While sophomore Meghan Horras (1.35, .925) and freshman Christine Dufour (1.67, .907) have split time all year, it is Horras who is playing the best right now, coming off of a weekend in which she stopped 51 Duluth shots to lead Wisconsin to a win and a tie.
The Badgers find themselves in fifth place in the latest pairwise rankings, which attempt to replicate the method the NCAA uses in selecting the Frozen Four teams. On the verge of being the fourth and final team in, the Badgers know that there is little room for error the rest of the season. With Minnesota stumbling in the past two weekends, Wisconsin also has a chance at catching the Gophers for the WCHA championship. To reach either goal, the Badgers will have to win nearly all of their remaining games.
“No other team here has been in this situation” Johnson said. “The reason we are in this situation is because we have earned it, by working hard, being consistent, and we need that same kind of commitment for the next 12 games.”
