Postgame Quotes: Wisconsin vs. North Dakota
February 11, 2011 | Women's Hockey
Feb. 11, 2011
Post-Game Quotes
Wisconsin vs. North Dakota
Kohl Center - Madison, Wis.
Head Coach Mark Johnson
On the team's effort tonight:
"A couple things that strike me are the commitment to back-check and to take care of the puck in their own zone. That was certainly a confident team that we played against tonight. They are in a very strong position nationally and within the league, and they are playing to go up position-wise. We knew we were going to get a tough opponent tonight, but we were able to play one of our most complete games of the season. At this time of the year, to see the things that we saw tonight is very encouraging."
On the significance of the win against a strong team like North Dakota:
"It is never easy. You have to get a commitment from everybody and, through hard work, do the things that we have talked about all year, like taking care of the puck and managing the game. Tonight we did very well for a long period of time. We played 60 minutes and, for the most part, were good in those areas. If we had hiccups, somebody would recover or a defensive player would make a good defensive play to kill a penalty. At this time of the year, you want things to come together and tonight we had a lot of good things happening out there. But, it is never easy."
On the rhythm Meghan Duggan and Brooke Ammerman seemed to have tonight:
"It is nice to start the game and get a power play and have somebody make a nice play. That always creates energy. For Meghan (Duggan) she has one more game at home in the regular season, so I am sure her family is in town and it becomes an emotional energy-building weekend for her. A lot of our seniors are cherishing every practice, cherishing every game, knowing that eventually it is going to come to an end. If you look at Kelly Nash the last three weekends or Mallory Deluce the last three or four weekends, they are playing very well, embracing that opportunity. They are getting everything they can out of their experience here. It is nice to see Meghan get rewarded, and I thought Brooke (Ammerman) played very strong tonight."
On Alex Rigsby's play in goal:
"Alex made a really nice save on Lamoureux with six or seven minutes to go in the third period, a nice blocker save. Sometimes those games are more challenging than if you get 30, 35, or 40 shots, because you go long stretches without a shot and all of a sudden you might get a small flurry. She was well-supported tonight, there were some minor breakdowns but she responded. It was good."
On Meghan Duggan's success in front of the net:
"I think it is things that you talk about, if you want to score goals, if you want to create scoring opportunities, you have to get a little dirty once in a while. That is going to be in front of the net, and they are always going to have one, two or three people in there. If you are willing to go in there and create a screen or look for rebounds, generally you will get rewarded. She was able to get rewarded in a couple situations, her first goal certainly and her third goal."
On the team's energy level as the season winds down:
"I have seen a lot of good energy since our game against Minnesota here. We came back to practice on Monday after that weekend, and there was a lot of energy. I don't know if it was the experience of playing in front of so many people or getting six points against Minnesota, but things have been really energetic since that point. It will be an emotional game Sunday. It will be interesting."
On Hilary Knight's shot:
"We have been seeing it for almost three full years, and I saw it last year with the Olympic team. They just continue to work hard and continue to do a lot of things that help them create scoring opportunities and come up with some big goals for us. Hopefully that continues as we get into the playoffs and get further into our games."
