The University of Wisconsin women’s hockey team captured another WCHA Final Face-off Championship this past weekend after victories against the UMD Bulldogs Saturday and the Minnesota Gophers Sunday. In the process, the Badgers were able to accomplish two of their more important goals.

“I think the most important was that we’re going to be hosting a game here Saturday afternoon,” head coach Mark Johnson said at his Monday press conference. “I think the biggest goal, from a coaching standpoint, was to make sure we came back after this weekend in that position and not let the NCAA dictate something else if you happen to lose that first game.”

“Saturday’s game,” Johnson said, “put us in that position.

As for the second important aspect from this weekend’s games, Johnson didn’t mince words.

“You’re playing for a trophy,” said he added. “Last year we lost in overtime — (we) played well enough to win that game.

“Let’s make sure we get it on the bus and take it back to Madtown.”

One common theme

Not only did they “take it back to Madtown,” but they did so in very impressive fashion.

“Overall for 60 minutes, we played as well as we have all season,” Johnson said.

And that is nothing new for this group of seniors, who have now won three WCHA championships, been to three Frozen Four’s and captured two national championships during their tenure at UW. In what is becoming their customary march deep into postseason play, the Badger coach pointed to the team’s ability to come together at the right time as a key reason to their success.

“If you look at each group that went to the Frozen Four, they started to really come together late in the season,” Johnson said. “They started to play their best hockey the early part of March. When the pressure is on and you need to play your best, I think each of those groups were able to rise to those challenges and overcome the obstacles they needed to win hockey games, and what I saw this weekend was very encouraging.”

One more crack for the seniors

With the team coming together at the right time, the opportunity for another memorable postseason run is there for the taking. However, it will be even more meaningful for the aforementioned seniors.

“I think if I’m Erika Lawler and Alycia Matthews and Jessie Vetter, it’s one more crack at getting an opportunity they’ve had before and been successful,” Johnson said. “They’ve held the national championship trophy a couple times; they experienced the defeat of losing the championship game last year. They’ve been on both sides of that emotion.

“They have experience in these areas,” Johnson continued. “But it’s your ability to go out and … play your best game at that given moment and leave everything on the ice.

“That’s this time of year and what you have to do. When you lose now, it’s over and it’s a hard pill to swallow. They experienced that last year, and I don’t think they want to experience that right now.”

Looking ahead

Recent history suggests next Saturday’s quarterfinal game against Dartmouth could be the Badgers’ toughest one yet.

“It’s great to win the championship,” Johnson said, “but this next hurdle’s the toughest one to get over.”

“I think the quarterfinal game is the most challenging, the most difficult for teams to win.”