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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN HOCKEY MEDIA CONFERENCE

January 11, 2016

Mark Johnson

Madison, Wisconsin

THE MODERATOR: Women's Head Coach, Mark Johnson is here, and we will get opening comments and then take questions.

COACH JOHNSON: Hopefully it won't be 12 below next Sunday! (Chuckles). It was a nice weekend to get back into competition. I thought we had practiced seven or eight days real hard, and it was time to play an opponent. Friday afternoon I thought our start, especially in the first period was very positive. We had talked about it, then we executed it. Both teams got players back for Sunday's games, and we knew it was going to be a little different game.

I thought Ann-RenÃ©e played extremely well. We had some breakdowns within Sunday's game, and she was able to sustain things, make a couple big saves, especially in the second period, when we had a power play and she stopped a break-away, and then shortly after that we capitalized on the power play to go up 2-0 instead of being 1-1, so give her a lot of credit for making some key saves within yesterday's game and look forward to going up in a very competitive atmosphere up in Bemidji this weekend.

Q. Winning 16 in a row at home, that's quite an accomplishment. The factors, just being comfortable there, the fans, just the way you play? What do you think it is?
COACH JOHNSON: It's probably a combination of several things. As time has gone on and our crowds have become consistent, and they have become big and certainly yesterday's crowd helps the players get excited to come on the ice, and the building is full, there is energy. You just feel good about yourself and general you probably play a little bit better. Our two games against Minnesota, the same atmosphere, we had our band here, and it's just a fun atmosphere to play in.

We don't see it a lot, especially on the road, and it's been fun to have it at home. So that's probably the biggest reason we probably had success, just because of our support.

Q. Mark, you guys played really well against Bemidji State earlier this year. What can you take from those games and apply to this week end?
COACH JOHNSON: You look for consistency. Yesterday's game we had some uncharacteristic breakdowns within that game, and for me and the coaching staff it's an opportunity to sit down with the players tomorrow and some film and show 'em some things, and try it on make some corrections for this weekend.

One thing about this past two games, these upcoming two games, and then when we get North Dakota at home, all three teams play similar styles, especially in their defensive zone, so it's an opportunity for us to learn from that past weekend, take it into Friday and Saturday afternoon games up in Bemidji. Their goaltenders played well the last couple of years, they've got a big senior class, they block a lot of shots. It's a challenge to get the puck not only to the goaltender but obviously get it by the goaltender. So we will look at some things, try to make some corrections from yesterday's game and, again, it comes down to coming out and having a strong 8 to 10 minutes Friday afternoon and try to capitalize on some opportunities that you're going to get.

Q. Due to depth issues you had Sam Cogan play in this series opener. Did you see -- I'm curious what your thought process was to put a freshman in there to allow her there. Did you see enough to maybe allow her to do more there, and how did you think she played?
COACH JOHNSON: That was probably our biggest question Saturday when we came in before practice, do we want to keep Sam in there for Sunday's game, or do we want to move her back up into the forward position.

I was more comfortable starting the first game coming out of break with six defensemen, with Melissa being gone and Maddie not being able to play, still, we were trying to find who could play defense, and you sort of go back in history and say, you know, has anybody played defense before and Sam obviously played defense growing up. The nice part about it was we had five or six days to practice her back there to see what she was able to do, and Dan felt comfortable, I felt comfortable, and I thought she played a very strong game Friday afternoon, for the first time playing defense.

Again, our biggest question that we ended up answering when we were back up to four was, you know, she played so well back there did you want to keep her back there, and we just had to wait for Melissa to get back from Germany and see how she felt Saturday, and if she was going to be able to go Sunday, and when she was able to go we decided to make that move. It's something that you have in the back of your pocket that as we go down the home stretch, if something were to happen, I think we all feel comfortable moving her back there again.

Q. Mark, how impressed were you when they pulled their goaltender and facing you with a six-man front? How impressed were you going on to the offense and putting them on their heels there?
COACH JOHNSON: I think anytime you can outnumber a situation, whether it's 4-on-3 or 5-on-4, we will see often throughout the season we will see teams pull their goaltender, we will pull or goaltender, and it's an extended power play, so instead of being 5-on-4, which we naturally see quite a bit, it becomes 6-on-5 and so it's like killing a penalty. The only thing you are not allowed to do -- you can do it, you can ice the puck, but then the whistle is going to blow, and the puck is going to come back in your end for a face-off, and that's one of the mistakes we made yesterday when they first pulled their goalie, and one of the things you tell your players is make sure you get to the red line before you shoot at the empty net, because if you miss, as Annie missed yesterday, now the puck comes back in your end and now they have a chance to win a face-off and set up 6-on-5 and set up a scoring opportunity.

So there are little things that you have to do but your mindset is more like you're killing a penalty. How can I get the puck out of our zone, how can I get the puck to the red line, and if I'm lucky enough how can I shoot the puck into the empty net. Everybody gets excited when there is no goaltender but there are things you have to do to make sure you preserve your lead.

Q. What's the biggest benefit for hosting an outdoor skate like the teams do on Sunday?
COACH JOHNSON: I think anytime our players get a chance to either skate people within our community, tonight at 5:30 we're going to put on Hockey 101. We will have probably 100 young staters on the ice, and our players will get a chance to go on the ice, and I'll get a chance to go on the ice and rub elbows, show different drills, put them through different exercises. We will eat pizza, sign autographs. And it's a building process, and we have been doing it for a number of years and it helps with our support. Fans and the people that come to our games on a regular basis get a chance to go one-on-one, meet our players with their helmets off and actually get to know our players and it's just building a relationship with our fans and building a relationship with our women hockey players within our community here in Madison.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else for Coach? Thanks, Mark.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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