Johnson’s stellar return lifts Fighting Hawks

By Neal Nachman
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: November 27, 2015

“Cam Johnson, welcome back.”

Those were the words of North Dakota coach Brad Berry as he addressed his team in the locker room following tonight’s 3-1 non-conference win at Michigan State.

Those four words elicited a round of applause from Johnson’s teammates, as Drake Caggiula stood to present the sophomore netminder with the team’s “hard hat” award.

Johnson, making his first start in more than a month, stopped 24 of 25 Michigan State shots in front of about 20 friends and family at Munn Ice Arena. The Troy, Mich., native hadn’t started a game since suffering a lower-body injury on Oct. 16 at Bemidji State.

“It was nice. I had a lot of family at the game, so it was good for them to see me get back in there and get a win,” said Johnson, who saw his first post-injury action last Saturday in St. Cloud in relief of Matt Hrynkiw. “I felt good. It was good to get my legs back under me there, just to get back into the rhythm and see some shots.”

Johnson appeared confidently locked in from the drop of the puck, holding the Spartans off the board until midway through the second period. By that time, the fifth-ranked Fighting Hawks had already built a 3-0 lead.

“I thought he was great,” said Berry, whose team in proved to 11-2-2 on the season. “Any time you come back and you haven’t played for a while, number one, it’s tough. Number two, coming back to your home state, I thought he was composed and he did a great job in goal tonight.”

Even on the lone Spartans goal — a 2-on-1 wrister in close by Joe Cox – Johnson got a good piece of the puck before it landed behind him and barely trickled over the line.

“It just found a hole there. One of those unlucky shots, but I try not to dwell on it and just worry about making the next save,” said Johnson.

And make the next save he did, collecting 17 of his 24 saves over the final two periods.

“I thought he was great. He was great all game, made some big saves and was steady,” said Drake Caggiula, who scored his team-leading eighth and ninth goals of the season. “I don’t know if it was playing at home, but he looked calm, cool and collected.”

Both of Caggiula’s goals came off of MSU turnovers. On the first, midway through the first period with UND already leading 1-0, Nick Schmaltz collected the puck high in the offensive zone and spotted Caggiula to his left. The Whitby, Ontario native worked his way down low and beat Jake Hildebrand five-hole to put UND up 2-0.

Schmaltz pounced on another turnover in the opening minute of the second period, again just inside the MSU blue line, and brilliantly worked a 2-on-2 passing play with Caggiula. Caggiula slid a cross-ice feed to Schmaltz, who looked shot long enough for Hildebrand to commit, then returned the pass back across the goalmouth for Caggiula’s easy tap in.

Cox’s goal 10 minutes later gave the Spartans life down 3-1, but UND locked it down in the third period and held Michigan State to just five shots on goal.

“It was a good 60 minute effort,” said Berry. “Third period, that’s the way we want to play the game. Second period, we had a couple of turnovers and they got back into the game. All in all, the guys played hard and it was a tough road win.”

Tucker Poolman opend the scoring just 95 seconds into the game, beating Hildebrand five-hole with a point blast for his first goal of the season. From there, UND’s high-flying ‘CBS’ line took over. Caggiula, Schmaltz and linemate Brock Boeser (1 assist) tallied another five points tonight, giving that trio 27 points over their last five games.

“That’s what our job is. That’s what our team leans on us for, to provide that offensive spark,” said Caggiula, now six points from 100 for his career. “Guys are getting familiar with their lines and chemistry is starting to build on other lines. You could see that today, there was a lot of offensive chances from other lines.”

Johnson said his view of UND’s top line is an entertaining one.

“They’re unbelievable. They’ve got a good a thing going. They’ve been our top unit all year,” said Johnson. “They all work hard and they have a good click there, so they’re doing well for us.”

Johnson, for his part, said finally getting back into game action was rewarding after a trying six weeks.

“Getting my mental aspect back into it (was key). Getting into the grind of playing and getting ready and just having confidence out there,” Johnson said.

Now 6-1-2 in non-conference play this season, North Dakota looks for the series sweep on Sunday. Berry said having to travel over the Thanksgiving holiday has not affected the focus of his young squad.

“It’s something different, we’re usually off or at home. I thought it was pretty special yesterday (at dinner), (captain) Gage Ausmus stood up and said a couple of words and he did a really good job on that. We have a close group here.”

The puck drops at 3:05 p.m. Eastern on Sunday.

Notes: UND outshot the Spartans 30-25 and killed all three Michigan State power play chances (2 shots) … Schmaltz extended his point streak to a career-long six games, while Boeser extended his streak to a career-best five games … Caggiula led all players with seven shots on goal … Michigan State blocked 26 shots compared to 21 by UND. MSU defenseman Travis Walsh led all players with nine … The Spartans held a 37-29 edge on faceoffs. Sophomore Johnny Simonson went 10-6 to lead the Fighting Hawks … Caggiula, Schmaltz and Cox were named the game’s three stars.