WOMEN'S HOCKEY H
ilary Knight learned something the last time she was in Duluth. "It doesn't feel good to lose,'' said the senior captain of the Wisconsin women's hockey team.
You could tell the memory was still painful; the memory of the UW's 3-1 loss to Minnesota Duluth in the WCHA Final Face-Off. "We didn't play with urgency,'' Knight said.
The Bulldogs did. "They were fighting for their (NCAA playoff) lives,'' pointed out Bri- anna Decker. "They were in kind of a different position than we were.'' Different how? "Their season was definitely on the line, and we had a little bit of a cush-
ion,'' she said. "We took too much advantage of that cushion; that's why we lost.'' None of it was acceptable. "We had plenty of opportunities to score goals,'' Knight said. "But at the end of the day we didn't get the job done and we went home.'' Home is where the Badgers regrouped, and knocked off Mercyhurst in the NCAA quar- terfinals last Saturday; a victory that has sent them back to Duluth and the Frozen Four.
In Friday's first semifinal, No. 1 seeded Wis- consin will take on No. 4 seeded Boston College. No. 2 Minnesota and No. 3 Cornell will play in the nightcap at Amsoil Arena. Knight discounted the possibility of any lin- gering bad vibes in the rink from that March 2 loss to Duluth. "If anything it will motivate peo- ple (to return),'' she suggested. Because the surroundings are so familiar,
there may be an advantage. "Just from playing at Duluth,'' Knight said, "we know the hotel, the food and what to expect.'' They know the rink, too. "It's very small, and things happen real quick,'' Decker said. That magnifies the importance of dictating the tempo, and playing with urgency. "You have to be ready to go — that's what ur- gency means to me,'' said Decker, a Patty Ka- zmaier Memorial Award finalist and the leading goal-scorer (37) in the nation. "You have to play to win and not be afraid to lose.''
38 » VARSITY MARCH 15, 2012
