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ear the end of Tuesday's practice, Wisconsin women's hockey goalten- der Alex Rigsby stood outside the plexiglass at one end of LaBahn Are- na and tried to visualize what it might feel like – and sound like – when she takes the ice for Friday night's inaugural game. Anticipating the excitement level for the series opener between Bemidji State and the Badgers, the 500th game in the storied program's history, Rigsby said, "It's going to be so loud in here and we're definitely going to have to use the crowd's energy and momentum to our advantage.'' The sell-out crowd will include many former UW skaters that will likely be "blown away'' by
the LaBahn facility. "For the ones who started the program,'' said coach Mark Johnson, "you'd dress in the old wrestling complex in Camp Ran- dall, put your skate guards on and walk over to practice at the Shell.'' In the early days, the rink was surrounded by chicken wire, not plexiglass, Johnson remem- bered. "And that's why it probably affects me more than anybody,'' he said, also recalling the old metal lockers where "we used to hang our towels after practice and hope they'd be dry by the next day.'' Johnson repeatedly used the word "wow'' to punctuate his feelings about his new home. "I have to pinch myself every morning when I
40 » VARSITY OCTOBER 18, 2012
DAVID STLUKA
