Wisconsin women's hockey faces Badgers alum-led Long Island team in NCAA tournament
MADISON – In 20 seasons as the women’s hockey coach at Wisconsin, Mark Johnson has coached more than 200 players.
Thursday he'll be at odds with one of them.
The Badgers will face Long Island University in a NCAA tournament regional semifinal at 5 p.m. Thursday (ESPN+) at Class of 1965 Arena on the Colgate University campus in Hamilton, New York. The matchup will give Johnson a chance to get a close look at the work of one of his former players.
LIU coach Kelly Nash played for the Badgers from 2007-11 and was part of national championship teams in 2009 and 2011. Longtime followers of the program might remember her winning goal in a comeback win over against Minnesota from three goals down in the WCHA championship game her senior season.
Now she'll try to spoiler to a Badgers squad chasing its 14th Frozen Four appearance.
“She was a good player for us. … Now it’s nice that she is giving back to the game,” Johnson said.
Before arriving at Long Island, Nash spent six years as an assistant at Vermont and Princeton and one season with the Metropolitan Riveters of the Premier Hockey Federation, formerly the National Women’s Hockey League.
In her first season at Long Island she has led the team to a 20-13-3 record, a school record for wins, and the regular season and tournament titles of the New England Women’s Hockey Alliance. This is the first year the conference's tournament champion received an automatic NCAA berth.
“It’s the first time they’ve competed in the NCAA tournament at the Division I level so they’re going to be excited,” Johnson said. “Obviously, they won their tournament. They’re going to come in confident.”
Of course, so will Wisconsin.
The Badgers (25-10-2) are on the opposite end of the experience spectrum. Their 10-year streak of NCAA appearances is the nation’s longest. The majority of the roster has NCAA tournament experience. Thirteen players were on the team two years ago when UW won the national title.
More recently, five of the Badgers' last seven games came against either Ohio State, the tournament’s No. 1 seed, or Minnesota, which is seeded third. Counting shootout wins, Wisconsin went 3-2 in those games.
“I think with experience comes confidence,” senior captain Britta Curl said. “We know not to take anyone lightly. We know that each game is important as the next and actually you don’t get a next game if you don’t show up.”
A victory puts UW in the regional final against No. 3 seed Colgate at 2 p.m. Saturday. The winner moves on to the Frozen Four, which will be held in Duluth, Minnesota, this year.
“You have to respect anybody at this point of the season and go out and do what you’re capable of doing, so the focus becomes on what we’re going to be able to do," Johnson said.
“We need to play the way we’ve played the last month and we need to create our opportunities and try to capitalize on them early on the game. If you do that, you can possibly end up winning the game.”
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin women's hockey faces Long Island in NCAA tournament
