When watching your typical hockey game, it’s not uncommon to see a few words and maybe even a couple of shoves exchanged after the whistle. Get lucky, and maybe you might see a fight between a couple of players who have become just plain sick of each other.
Indeed the game seems to have its own set of unwritten rules when it comes to the art of trash talk, as players walk a fine line each game between getting in their opponent’s head and going too far and earning a trip to the penalty box.
The Wisconsin women’s hockey team (6-6-2 WCHA, 10-6-2 overall) walks this proverbial line every weekend. Being one of the top programs in collegiate hockey, the Badgers are a prime target for opponents who would love nothing more than to knock UW off its perch week-in and week-out.
Even with this target on its back, Wisconsin remains as cool as the other side of the pillow, following the lead of its head coach Mark Johnson. The 10th-year coach frowns on his players “chirping,” a term usually used to describe little verbal nudges meant to get under the skin of opponents.
“When you see someone get frustrated on the ice you try to control and contain it, and encourage them to stay away from it,” Johnson said. “Usually when they try to take you off your game you aren’t doing something that you’re normally doing and you hurt the team because of it.”
“We’re not a big team that runs our mouth or anything, we know coach isn’t a big fan of that,” senior forward Brianna Decker added. “We just try to stick to ourselves and go beat them on the ice.”
Despite having a young roster, with only one senior ranking in the top five on the team in points, the Badgers have been remarkable in being able to keep their composure. Wisconsin ranks seventh in the WCHA in penalty minutes at only 9.7 per game, with only Bemidji State spending less time in the box.
Still, however, the Badgers’ youth has shown at times this season. In a chippier-than-normal game against Ohio State Nov. 16, a contest the Badgers won 4-2, the two teams combined for 18 penalties that resulted from multiple scrums.
“A lot of the times it’s little stuff after the whistle, and stuff that kind of unnecessary that builds it,” junior goaltender Alex Rigsby said. “Obviously [that] weekend got heated, but if you look at the game the next day it was much calmer.”
Being a player without professional experience, it can be difficult for a collegian to stay composed. As rivalries between certain players, teams and even fans build throughout the course of a career, the need for mental toughness becomes more pressing. Staying away from mental games and focusing on the game at hand becomes a true skill.
“When you play for a while, you get a type of hate for teams,” freshman defenseman Courtney Burke said. “You look at a player like Decker, who has been here for four years, there are some people who she can’t stand playing against.”
“I’ve seen it on many different levels, usually it happens the most when you get two teams that are rivals,” Johnson added. “You’re going to get a bunch of stuff going on because emotions and the stakes are high, but the bottom line is, you still need to perform when the puck is dropped.”
Perhaps no rivalry has carried more importance in women’s hockey over the last decade than the Badgers’ series with Minnesota. Over the last nine seasons, the two schools have combined to win seven of the sport’s national championships. When the two teams get together on the ice, nothing is off limits.
“We all know each other throughout the league, so they know what to say to us,” Decker said. “We know each other’s business and social life, which is how chirps happen.”
“It’s a fun rivalry, every game we get amped to play them,” Rigsby added. “It’s a good, solid competition and I’m looking forward to playing them in a couple weeks.”
Regardless of what type of shenanigans ensue when the Badgers and Gophers meet, Badger fans can be sure that it will not be their coach that starts it.
“I never got involved in it [during my playing days],” Johnson said. “I was never big enough or physical enough to do that.”
