GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Simply put, Cam's the man, on UND's campus or across the nation.
UND sophomore goaltender Cam Johnson broke a cherished UND hockey record tonight when he ran his scoreless streak covering five games to 278 minutes, 38 seconds with his 1-0 shutout victory over Alabama Huntsville.
Johnson's fourth consecutive shutout also ties the school mark in a row set by Gerald "Spike'' Schultz, when he blanked a Michigan Tech team that finished 7-17-1 four times in back-to-back weekends.
Schultz had 249 minutes 41 seconds of shutout goaltending in his streak covering four full games and part of a fifth. Johnson's streak includes shutouts of ranked teams (Denver and Minnesota Duluth, twice) and he topped that by handing UAH its first shutout loss of season.
Johnson's is now the second-longest shutout streak in NCAA Division I men's hockey history, topped only by the streak of 375:01 set in 1993-94 by Lake Superior State's Blaine Lacher.
Johnson had to make just 19 saves as UND outshot the Chargers 39-19, but included in that was blocker save on Tyler Poulsen on a penalty shot at 18:32 of the second period.
What does the record mean to Johnson?
"It means a lot,'' he said. "At a school like this, for as long as this program has been around with all historic players who have played here, it's pretty cool that my name will go down in history,'' Johnson said.
Johnson certainly had his string tested by the penalty shot awarded Poulsen, after UND freshman defenseman Hayden Shaw tripped him on a breakaway.
"He came in kind of slow, so I figured he was going to try to make a move or what not,'' Johnson said. "I just tried to stay balanced. I just followed him throughout the whole way and was able to make the save.''
With 11,334 fans on hand -- the first non-sellout of the season -- but an impressive number considering the students are still gone for holiday break, many were aware that Johnson was approaching the record halfway through the second period.
"There was a group of fans behind me that were cheering my name,'' Johnson said. "They were saying things through the glass, congratulating me. So I knew when the record was set.''
"He's been a wall for us down the stretch in the first half,'' UND coach Brad Berry said.
Johnson moved into No. 1 nationally in college hockey among goaltenders with his shutout. He lowered his goals-against average to 1.08 per game and raised his save percentage to .958, both numbers tops in the nation after Friday's games.
The Fighting Hawks needed Johnson's perfect play in goal as they generated just the lone goal in 39 shots, with first-line UND players Nick Schmaltz and Brock Boeser missing while competing for a gold medal for USA in the World Junior Championships in Finland.
Senior left wing Bryn Chyzyk broke a personal streak of nine games without a goal when he rifled in his seventh of the season on a power play at 9:35 of the second period. His goal came the exact second the first half of 5-on-3 UND power play ended, making his goal a 5-on-4 score.
Other than that, UND's offense couldn't finish, thanks in large part to a sterling 38-save performance by UAH goalie Carmine Guerriero.
"I think a lot of our forward group want to show we're not a one line team,'' Chyzyk said. "Obviously they (the line of Schmaltz, Boeser and Drake Caggiula) have carried the bulk of the offense for us so far, but I think there's a lot of guys up front that have a lot of skill and can put the puck in the net. This is the weekend we want to prove it. I don't think we did that tonight. I think we'll definitely want to prove that tomorrow.''
Berry was pleased with the overall play, but noted that rustiness showed, since this was UND's first game since Dec. 12.
"For taking the break that we did,'' Berry said, "I thought we had a little pace in the first half of the game. I thought the effort was there. I thought the guys played hard. We can be a little bit sharper tomorrow, in a few different areas.''
Game notes: UND freshman center Rhett Gardner left the game midway through the second period with a upper body injury, and Berry had no word from the medical staff after Friday's game as to Gardner's availability in the rematch at 7:07 Saturday at REA. "He's a tough western Canadian kid (Moose Jaw, Sask.), we'll see what happens there" ... Defenseman Tucker Poolman led UND in shots on goal with 7, followed by Johnny Simonson with 4. Poolman also blocked a team-leading five shots ... UND was 1-4 on the power play with 9 shots, UAH 0-1 wth 1 shot ... UND put 39 shots on net, and had another 15 shots blocked by UAH ... Each team hit one goal post ... UND improved to 17-2-2 overall and went into the series ranked 2/3 in two national polls ... Unranked UAH is 4-13-2.
Virg Foss covered UND hockey for the Grand Forks Herald for 35 seasons until his retirement. He's now in his 11th season of reporting on UND games exclusively for UNDsports.com.
