DULUTH, Minn. – Before he could take any questions from the media following tonight's game, sophomore goaltender Cam Johnson took a big ol' swig of Powerade.
He not only needed the refreshments -- he earned them.
Johnson stopped all 40 shots he faced and battled through leg cramping in the third period to carry fourth-ranked North Dakota (15-2-2, 8-1-0 NCHC) to a 3-0 win over Minnesota Duluth, becoming UND's first goalie with back-to-back shutouts since Aaron Dell five years ago.
The Troy, Mich., native was peppered from the drop of the puck to the final buzzer, making double-digit save totals in all three periods as the host Bulldogs outshot the Fighting Hawks 40-22.
Midway through the third period, Johnson's legs began cramping so severely that he had to drop two both knees each time UND cleared the puck of its zone.
“When I sat down there, that's the only time where my legs actually felt good,” said Johnson. “I'd drop in the butterfly and they'd lock back up on me. I was just dropping down and sitting down and relaxing every time the puck was in the other end to help my legs out.”
UMD threw 15 shots on goal in the third period to UND's six, but neither the Bulldogs' offensive flurry nor the cramping could get the best of Johnson.
“I thought Cam Johnson played an outstanding game tonight. He won the game for us,” said UND head coach Brad Berry. “When they were pressing, he made some good saves. He had a lot of action. He played hard throughout the whole game.”
Johnson was in such obvious discomfort during the game's final 10 minutes that Mark Poolman, UND's athletic trainer, twice tried to leave the bench to tend to the goaltender.
But both times, Johnson waved him back to the bench.
“Their plan was to give me a little bit of rest, but at that point I just wanted to get the game over with,” said Johnson. “I figured any more of a delay was something I didn't need. I said, 'I'm just going to battle this out.'”
Once a TV timeout finally came, Johnson headed straight to the bench and downed a water with one hand and an energy drink with the other.
“I was doing everything in my will to get back hydrated,” said Johnson.
It worked.
Johnson's best stop in the third period was a glove save on a Dominic Toninato backhander right on top of the crease midway through the third period. He also stopped Kyle Osterberg with a left pad save on a short-handed breakaway in the second period.
“Unbelievable,” sophomore winger Trevor Olson said of Johnson's performance. “That's what we played against in the USHL. That's what he was. We knew it was going to come (at UND), he just needed to build up that confidence. I think it's here and it's going to stay there. Especially when we aren't sharp, it's nice to have that.”
Indeed, UND survived the first period leading 2-0 despite being outplayed by the Bulldogs. The 'CBS' line of Drake Caggiula, Brock Boeser and Nick Schmaltz collaborated for yet another highlight-reel goal to open the scoring, with Boeser finishing it off for his 12th of the year at 12:53 of the first period.
Four minutes later, Olson, a Duluth native, started a 3-on-2 rush that was finished off by freshman Shane Gersich for his fifth goal of the season and a 2-0 lead.
Another freshman, Joel Janatuinen, provided some insurance midway through the second period, converting a 2-on-1 feed from senior Luke Johnson.
Berry was happy to receive some offensive production from deeper down in the lineup.
“At different times of the game, four lines were contributing,” said Berry. “It's nice to have other guys hit the scoresheet like we did tonight and hopefully that's a sign of good things to come.”
The Gersich and Janatuinen goals provided all of the offense the Fighting Hawks would need, despite a performance the players and coaches clearly were not satisfied with.
“We kind of backed off there in the second and third period,” said Olson. “We shut them down defensively, but we gave them a few chances at the end that we shouldn't have. We've got to get pucks north. We turned back quite a bit and had quite a few turnovers in the neutral zone.”
UND was also forced to kill off five UMD power-plays, making the Fighting Hawks a perfect 15-15 over the last three games.
“That's a pretty good team over there," said Berry of Scott Sandelin's Bulldogs. "We capitalized on some chances when they were a little bit aggressive in our zone. Our guys know we can better in a few different areas. We'll take the three points that we got tonight and we'll dial in for tomorrow. We're a young team and I think we learned tonight.”
Although Johnson insisted he'd be physically ready to go in Saturday's finale to close out the first half, Berry said the staff would evaluate his status over the next several hours.
“We'll address how he is tonight and tomorrow and make a decision accordingly,” said Berry. “The good thing about it is we've got two very good, capable goaltenders right now and we have the luxury of putting either one of them in goal.”
Said Johnson with a smile: “I'll be good tomorrow, I'll just have to drink a little bit more before the game.”
Notes: Johnson, Gersich and Tucker Poolman were named the game's three stars … Junior defenseman Paul LaDue played in his 100th collegiate game … Schmaltz (10 games) and Boeser (9) each extended their career-long point streaks. Caggiula and Poolman each pushed their respective streaks to five games … Boeser's 12 goals are the most by a UND freshman in the first half of the season since Travis Zajac scored 12 prior to the Christmas break in 2004-05 … With a three-point lead atop the NCHC standings heading into Saturday's game, UND assured itself of first place in the conference heading into the Christmas break.
