During the team's recent bye week, Shannon Miller wasn't bashful about letting her Minnesota Duluth women's hockey players know her disappointment over how they had played two weeks ago against St. Cloud State.
"I was on them pretty good," the longtime coach said.
The players received the message loud and clear at practice, Miller says. How that translates on game day remains to be seen.
"I've been trying to teach them the will to win and to have a killer instinct," Miller said. "It doesn't come natural for a lot of them, and that's one of the problems that we're trying to solve."
This weekend's Western Collegiate Hockey Association series at Ohio State could be an indicator of how the rest of the season goes. UMD (4-4-2 overall, 2-4-2 WCHA) is fourth in the conference standings, one point ahead of the fifth-place Buckeyes (3-4-2, 2-4-2). With Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin entrenched at the top of the league, the other teams likely are playing for the one remaining postseason home-ice berth.
ADVERTISEMENT
That was the case last season as well. An injury-riddled Bulldog team earned home ice for the WCHA playoffs, but the Buckeyes waltzed out of Amsoil Arena with a dominating first-round sweep.
Miller hopes a week of preparation will allow the Bulldogs to better handle a more aggressive and physical Ohio State team.
"The things that Ohio State does well, in my opinion, are our weaknesses," she said. "We don't sprint and don't battle hard enough. We're a bit soft, to be honest. I feel going to play them, right now, is what we need because we need to figure out that sprinting, battling and playing in the tough areas of the ice are necessary for us to win.
"We either have to be prepared to engage in that type of battle or disappear and not win. It's one or the other. It's a big weekend for our character to see if we can turn the corner and turn our softness into toughness."
Miller's disappointment stemmed from the team's performance against St. Cloud State. A four-goal second period in the first game helped the Huskies to a 4-1 victory, snapping a 13-game winless streak in the series. Miller lit into the team during an intermission and UMD came out with 31 shots on goal in the final 20 minutes.
"We didn't show up in Friday night's first two periods and I had to unload on them in the locker room between the second and third to get them to play," she said. "St. Cloud basically touched the puck three times in the third period. We had total control when we decided to show up and play. Hopefully, that's a lesson learned."
