Wisconsin's Mark Johnson, Ava McNaughton honored amid final Frozen Four preparations
MINNEAPOLIS – Just as the final practice was about to begin for one of the most important games of her life, Ava McNaughton got a surprise.
The good kind.
On the same day her coach was named coach of the year again, the Wisconsin sophomore was honored as the Hockey Commissioners Association women’s national goalie of the year Thursday, a day before the Badgers are to meet Minnesota in a Frozen Four semifinal.
“One of our staff members just came up and he was like, ‘congratulations,’” McNaughton said after final on-ice preparation for UW’s Frozen Four semifinal Friday night against Minnesota. “I was like, ‘What … what are you talking about?’… Definitely something I never really expected to earn this year, but I'm really honored to have that award.”
McNaughton, who was second-team all-WCHA goaltender of the year behind Minnesota Duluth’s Eve Gascon, won the national award ahead of Gascon and Cornell's Annelies Bergmann.
McNaughton has the best goals-against average in the nation (1.17) and ranks second to Sacred Heart’s Carly Green with a .947 save percentage.
“There’s so much that goes on behind that, and so much talent ahead of me that allows me to play at this level,” McNaughton said. “I’m not always going to have a perfect game, but having such talented people in front of me on the ice allows our team to find success, and my individual success comes along with that.”
McNaughton earned the starting job during the playoffs last season for a team that went on to reach the championship game before being shut out, 1-0, by Ohio State for the title.
Wisconsin’s Mark Johnson is coach of the year
Before the puck drops at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Ridder Arena, Mark Johnson will step behind the bench as a five-time American Hockey Coaches Association Division I women’s coach of the year. The winningest coach in women’s DI history, who has guided the Badgers to seven national championships, was honored for the first time since 2011.
Wisconsin leads the nation in goals, assists, scoring offense, scoring defense and power-play and penalty-killing percentages and is guaranteed at least one more national honor over the weekend.
The Badgers won their 10th WCHA regular season title and 11th league tournament title and have reached the Frozen Four for the 16th time in its 24 seasons.
The 2011 UW championship team set a program record with 37 victories, a mark this team has a chance to eclipse during the Frozen Four.
To earn the chance to play for an eighth national championship Sunday against the Cornell-Ohio State winner, the Badgers (36-1-2) will have to beat the Gophers (29-11-1) for the sixth time this season.
As Johnson often does, he turned to golf for an analogy for the team’s mindset.
“I’ve birdied five holes in a row, and now I get to that sixth hole, right?” Johnson said. “I got that 3 ½-, 4-footer. Now am I thinking about the previous five, or am I thinking about the one that I’m about to approach? And so I don’t need to make six in a row. I need to make one in a row.”
Badgers look to keep Gophers’ Abbey Murphy in check again
Minnesota is led by redshirt senior forward Abbey Murphy, an elite skater and scorer with a reputation for rugged play against Wisconsin. The Badgers, though, have held her to two points on two assists in their five games and Murphy has three penalties.
Asked to describe her in one sentence, UW junior forward Laila Edwards settled on a single word: “intense.”
McNaughton went a little deeper.
“You know how she’s gonna play and what her game plan is, and it works sometimes and sometimes it doesn’t, so being prepared for that is important,” she said.
The Gophers’ Ridder Arena is similar to the Badgers’ LaBahn Arena in Madison in that it’s intimate and always hopping. With a capacity of 3,400, it has about 1,100 more seats, and there’s less space behind each goal.
“Obviously Minnesota gets to play on this rink more than we do, so I guess maybe that’s to their advantage, but it is nice that our rink is pretty similar,” McNaughton said.
Time for a bigger rink for women’s Frozen Four?
Seats for the weekend have been sold out for some time, and there are reports of scalpers asking $400 for a ticket.
With that as a backdrop, Minnesota coach Brad Frost was asked if it’s time to routinely hold the tournament at larger arenas. Next year the tournament is scheduled for Penn State’s Pegula Ice Arena, which holds about 5,700.
“If we’re at places where it’s five, six thousand and there’s only 3,000 in the building, it’s a lot different than having 3,500 people jam packed, hanging from the rafters in a place like Ridder,” Frost said. “I love that we can show off the premier women’s hockey facility in the country, and everybody can see it, and it's going to be a great crowd and a great event.
“If we can start selling out the Penn States and the UNHs, and the Quinnipiacs, Duluth, then I think we can start talking about it”
Another award is coming Saturday for Wisconsin women’s hockey
Regardless what happens on the ice through the weekend, Wisconsin will claim another individual award on Saturday. Edwards, graduate student center Casey O’Brien and junior defender Caroline Harvey are the three finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award presented by USA Hockey to the women’s player of the year.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin's women's hockey's Mark Johnson, Ava McNaughton honored
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