SMALL PACKAGE, BIG HEART
PREVIEWING SATURDAY'S 'FILL THE BOWL' GAME
Lauren Unser and Brittany Haverstock look ahead to this weekend's series with Bemidji State, in- cluding Saturday's "Fill The Bowl" game, and the team's Twitter campaign to drum up support.
in a game where "the referees are not calling anything.'' It should not be surprising that opponent's have so much respect for her skill and value to the Badgers. "The hard part with her success,'' Johnson said, "is that people are taking notice.'' What might Johnson say to Decker when her frustration appears to be getting the better of her? "He might say something along the lines of not being so hard on myself,'' she said. Easier said than done? Her body language at times, she conceded, can reflect as much. "I show emotion,'' she acknowledged. "At that moment, I react and show my frustration be- cause I'm so competitive. I just need to not get so frustrated with myself and play the next shift.'' Whatever she's doing, it's working. Decker is the leading goal-scorer in women's college hockey and the second-leading scorer
overall with 59 points. In 26 games, she has 27 goals; four more than UW teammate Hilary Knight.
That brings context to the type of season that
Decker is enjoying considering Knight's stature as the school's career scoring leader and one of the elite goal-scorers in the history of the sport. "I have a knack for the net,'' Decker said, ex- plaining, "I would say that I can see openings on the net and where the goalie is standing but I've had a hard time aiming the puck in a certain di- rection. "I still have to work on accuracy and hitting
those spots. Obviously, I've been finding the net pretty well this year. But there's always room for improvement to get the shot you really want to get.''
That has been one of the lessons that Johnson has taught her.
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