Here’s the thing about the women’s hockey matchup between top-ranked Wisconsin and WCHA cellar team St. Cloud State this weekend: It is not going to be close.
Teams do not like making predictions, and in theory you can never be sure how a game on Friday will turn out when you write the article on Monday.
But come on, in one corner sits St. Cloud State, with eight WCHA losses and a 1-11-2 overall record, stuck squarely at the bottom of the conference, just like it was last season.
In the other corner sits Wisconsin: Defending national champion, No. 1 nationally, owner of a 13-1-0 record and a team that outscored Huskies 41-5 in the teams’ six meetings last season.
That disparity will not be enough to guarantee wins Friday and Sunday, at least not in theory, and Badger head coach Mark Johnson knows it.
Just last week, his team traveled to Troy, N.Y., to take on unheralded Rensselaer and escaped their series opener with a 4-3 win. So, true to form for any coach, Johnson said Monday he is not taking any opponent—even one like St. Cloud—lightly.
“As we found out Friday, just because you wear the Wisconsin jersey and you go out on the ice, that doesn’t mean you’re going to win,” Johnson said. “You have to compete, you have to play hard, you have to do the little things that give you the best opportunity to be successful in that particular game.
“And if you don’t do that, anything can happen.”
Johnson said the close call Friday is the kind of experience Wisconsin can learn from.
“Friday’s game was a bit more challenging than a lot of people anticipated, but I think through those type of situations and certainly those type of games you grow strength,” he said. “Our players learn and understand a little more as far as what our coaches are trying to preach.”
With the team returning to the Kohl Center for the first time since the end of October, and the last time until late January, the weekend represents a rare chance to play on home ice at this point in the season.
Still, Johnson said his main concern is with his team, not its opponent or setting.
“I’m not really concerned where we play [or] who we play,” he said, “I think from a coaching standpoint you look for that consistency from game one to game 34. Are you getting better? Are players getting better? As a whole, is your team getting better?”
That consistency—the question of improvement from game to game—will be the biggest thing to watch this weekend. Because when it comes to the games Friday and Sunday, it isn’t going to be close.
