INSIDE WOMEN'S HOCKEY
BY ROSS LA DUE
@BadgerWHockey
SCHEDULE (23-9-2, 17-9-2-2)
Last Week
March 1 St. Cloud State
March 2 St. Cloud State
W, 5-0
W, 4-1
This Week
Friday
vs North Dakota
4 p.m.
Saturday WCHA Final Face-Off7 p.m.
Next Three
March 15 NCAA Quarterfinals
March 22 NCAA Frozen Four
March 24 NCAA Frozen Four
Decker deservedly a
Patty Kaz top-10 finalist
Senior forward among nation's best – again
A
t Monday's weekly press
conference, UW head
coach Mark Johnson commented that he believed Brianna Decker's unique situation this season makes her
one of the best candidates
for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award.
"You take some of the
other kids that might be up
60 » VARSITY
MAR CH 7, 2013
for the Patty Kazmaier and
put them in the situation
that Brianna's in, and I'm
not sure they would have attained (what she has)."
Johnson's statement was
phrased in the context of
how much pressure teams
have been able to put on
Decker this season, compared to years past.
TBA
TBA
TBA
If you only compare point totals
among the eight forwards up for the
Patty Kaz, Decker's numbers don't
exactly jump off the page, but her
performance needs to be phrased in
the correct context.
Last year, teams were not able to
single out Decker like they have this
year, but she has still put up 29 goals
and been the catalyst for the Badgers'
offense all season.
It's easy to look good when you
have two or three other Patty Kazmaier-quality skaters playing with
you, and Decker would be the first
to admit that she wouldn't have won
last year's award if it weren't for the
teammates she had supporting her.
Minnesota has the best supporting class this year, and that shows
with four Gophers being named top10 finalists. The Lamouruex twins at
North Dakota always play extremely
well together, too. And the competition seen in the WCHA by far exceeds that of any other conference in
the nation. With all that in mind, it's
easy to wonder how the other seven
forwards would have done in Decker's position.
