Johnson addresses the media
November 24, 2008 | Women's Hockey
Wisconsin head women's hockey coach, Mark Johnson, sat down with the media at the weekly press conference Monday to review the team's trip to Fort Myers, Fla. and the success of his team so far this season.
Johnson also touched on Jessie Vetter's NCAA record breaking career shutout tally, Erika Lawler's leadership and Meghan Duggan's positive attitude.
Read below for a complete transcript and click mid=2769"> --> here to watch the archived video.
OPENING STATEMENT: Well, the weather was a lot nicer down there than it is here, but, no, it was a very successful road trip in a lot of different ways. Obviously, winning both games against New Hampshire is exciting. It was certainly a good match-up for us. They've got a very good team, and we were able to play Friday night and scores some goals, and sort of put them on their heels right away in the second period.
But Saturday's game was sort of like a chess game. But we were able to sustain what we needed to do, and the nice thing about the trip is we got up Sunday morning. We went back to the rink, and we put on a clinic for their youth program, and we had over 30 girls on the ice Sunday afternoon, and we ran them through about an hour and 15-minute practice. And kids had traveled in from different areas around the state of Florida, and I think one of the ladies had said that's the most female hockey players they've had on the ice at one time.
And just to see the excitement, the smiles, the sweat on these young ladies, and hopefully they will now have dreams of maybe playing for either UNH or Wisconsin, or somewhere along the lines in Division I women's hockey. But Joe Sanders, who's a father of our player, he runs the rink down there, and he was probably the most excited guy in the state of Florida this weekend.
QUESTION #1: Coach, what did you say to Jessie after she picked up her 31st shutout '
JOHNSON: Well, to be honest with you, and I wasn't really aware of it, I heard it on the radio actually. But you know, you look at Jessie, what she's done here. I think the biggest storyline with her is that she redshirted her first year, and in our business, that's real difficult to do, obviously, with our scholarships and the numbers that you carry. But we were able to talk that out that first year, and the end result is, you know, four years later you're seeing, you know, an athlete that is certainly mature, has played at a very high level, has played at the international level, has a few gold medals in her back pocket, and she's reaping some of those benefits, I think, of some of those early decisions that she had to make as a young athlete.
QUESTION #2: When did you realize that you had a special athlete in the goalie' To be able to do that on a consistent level of, you know, 31 shutouts since the beginning of
her career at Wisconsin, she did in the Frozen Four as well. When did you realize that she was just a special athlete'
JOHNSON: I think one of the frustrating things on her part, because after that redshirt year we started that following season, and the first day at training camp she went to the hospital and got tested for mono and was out for 10 weeks. Very frustrated.
But I think we started to see some signs, obviously, her first full season with the eligibility to play her sophomore year academic-wise, the second half of it, as we started to get her into the mix, as we started to go down the homestretch and get involved in pressure-packed games. And if you go out to the Cap Ice Center when we played Mercyhurst, and she ended up winning the game in a couple overtimes, and then what we saw up in Minneapolis during the Frozen Four, you knew you had something special, and just a matter of her committing herself to take it to the next level, and she certainly has that within her to do it.
QUESTION #3: After playing three of the most difficult teams in your schedule over the course of a month, is it really important to emphasize not having any sort of letdown as, you know, finals begin coming closer, and do you face teams of a little lesser caliber '
JOHNSON: Well, the one thing about our league, and if you looked at the scoreboard yesterday, you saw North Dakota and Minnesota Duluth beat them 4-0. There are no givens. There's no lay-ups right now within our league. And so as we approach it as a coaching staff, and I think the mentality of our players is very similar, is that no matter what we did Saturday or last Friday, that's not going to help us beat Mankato on Friday afternoon.
We need to take care of business, and that will start this afternoon within practice, and get ourselves ready. And if we're going to be successful Friday afternoon, we're going to have to do the same things we've done over the course of the season up to this point, and that's we're going to have to compete hard, we're going to have to play yard, we've going to have to have everybody on board. And if you do that, you give yourself the best chance to win.
QUESTION #4: Mark, you've seen Meghan Duggan in a variety of settings, internationally, here, in championship games, all those types of things. What makes her tick'
JOHNSON: I think she just has a real zest of life. I mean, if you watch her, you know, conduct herself. As we're traveling yesterday on our way back to Madison, she just seems to always be smiling. She always seems to be upbeat. She's got some energy, and she just enjoys what she's doing, and certainly enjoys being here Madison and being part of our program, and certainly has the opportunity to do some other things on the international level here in the next couple of years. And so I think she's just enjoying what's going on at this particular junction within her life.
QUESTION #5: Speaking of the international level, you're named a finalist for the women's coaching job for the Olympic team. Can you just sort of talk about what that means to you'
JOHNSON: Doesn't mean much right now, unless I get picked. Other than the fact that, you know, we'll know that probably the latter part of January, early February.
QUESTION #5: Can you tell us a little bit about the four girls that you just signed, I believe earlier this week'
JOHNSON: Well, we're real excited about, I think, each one of them. Obviously, we're going to lose some key people off this year's team, and we have an opportunity to bring in another Wisconsin kid that actually has played now in the Four Nations this past November as a 12th grader. And so she's going to be part of my group that I take over to Germany here in the early part of January for the under 18 world championships.
And you know, we're real excited about each one of them. I don't need to comment on each one of them. I think I made a comment within our statement last week, but they're all good players. They're all going to be able to step right in and make a contribution. I think if you look at them on the academic side, they're all good students. So we're real excited to have each one of them be part of our program.
QUESTION #7: Mark, you're about halfway through your regular season. Are there any traits of your team that have stood out to you that maybe compare to previous seasons, or that you've just, you know, taken on this year and taking on a new direction'
JOHNSON: Well, I think after our first game down in Florida, you know, when talking with the UNH staff, you know, they were very impressed with the depth of our forwards, and I think probably right now, as I look back over the last, you know, month and a half or two months, you know, we're pretty deep in those areas. And so teams will have, you know, difficult times matching up with, you know, our depth there. And so the scoring coming from different people on given nights, you know, really makes you difficult to defend against.
But, you know, Brooke Ammerman didn't play in our game Saturday afternoon. She was injured in Friday's game and so, you know, that gives an opportunity for someone to step up. And you know, that's probably the biggest surprise I've seen so far in the first two months.
QUESTION #8: With Erika Lawler being your captain coach, just talk about kind of how she's doing as taking on that role and leading the team in that captain's role.
JOHNSON: Well, I think, you know, since she stepped on campus her freshman year, and I think I've probably made that comment several times, when you watch us play, she's going to be the first person that's going to stick out, just because she's very competitive. She may not be big in stature, but, you know, she's got a gigantic heart. And where the puck is, she's going after it.
And so you may be a little bit concerned when you throw captain's C's or that C on someone's jersey, but, you know, her examples of the way she plays, not only within practice, but she comes and plays hard every night in the games, and I think she's been a great leader up to this point, and she certainly gets support from our other captains.
QUESTION #9: Since it doesn't mean much now, what would it mean to you to be named the head coach'
JOHNSON: If, that's a big word. It's only got two letters, but I don't need to really comment just because of the fact that it's just an if. And if it becomes a reality, you know, then we can talk about it.
