Talk to members of the Wisconsin women’s hockey team about the first round of the WCHA playoffs this weekend against Minnesota State, and a similar theme emerges in how they refer to the start of postseason hockey.
This, they say, is the “second season,” a new beginning with a fresh start for every team. No matter how a group did in the regular season—if they were, for instance, conference champions like Wisconsin, or the last-place Mavericks with just three WCHA wins—when they take the ice at the Eagles Nest in Verona Friday night to open a best-of-three series, the slate will be wiped clean.
All that will matter is how they execute in playoff hockey, where even downtrodden teams tighten up and wins have to be earned more than ever.
“Whether you had a great season, mediocre or things didn’t go the way you planned, everybody’s back at the starting gate,” head coach Mark Johnson said.
“Everybody’s competing for a spot in the next round, or they’re competing for their lives,” junior forward Brianna Decker said.
“It’s a completely different season—everybody’s 0-0-0, that’s your record coming into it,” junior defenseman Stefanie McKeough echoed.
It seems the newly minted WCHA regular season champions are not planning to dwell on their success over the past few months. As far as they are concerned, that “second season” is all that matters now.
But the blank slate idea of playoff hockey is an imperfect one, as what happened in the regular season is more than capable of bleeding into the next round.
It is a particularly troubling thought for Wisconsin, who lost at home to Ohio State in the final game of the regular season 4-2 in a game where a bad defensive start doomed the Badgers. There is a risk that loss—just the third of Wisconsin’s season—could take some air out of the team’s sails.
But McKeough saw a silver lining.
“You can look at it both ways,” she said. “I think any time you lose, you’re motivated to win again, and I think that’s one of the positives coming out from that loss.”
Another piece of the regular season that could impact the playoffs is the play and health of goaltender Alex Rigsby.
The sophomore has been reliable beyond her years for the Badgers, posting a 1.42 goals against average and .950 save percentage, enough to earn a nomination for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, which recognizes the most valuable player in college hockey, alongside Decker and senior forward Hilary Knight. But that reliability has come with a price tag as Rigsby has played all but 60 minutes of Wisconsin’s regular season, and will pass 2,000 minutes of ice time early Friday night.
Last season, Rigsby backstopped the Badgers’ national championship run with expert goal tending in the playoffs. This year, the fatigue of a long season is a potential issue on the horizon.
Still, while the past few months will have some impact on Wisconsin’s “second season,” players and coaches know their success so far does not get them too much of a leg up when it comes to winning what Johnson calls “the big trophy.” Instead, they have to hope the habits and work ethic they have been building since September carry them through the tough sledding of playoff hockey.
“What we’ve done in the past can help us in the future,” Johnson said, “but the results from the past won’t.”
