University of Massachusets Athletics
Mike Johnson Earns Hockey East Weekly Honor
November 26, 2001 | Hockey
Nov. 26, 2001
AMHERST, Mass. - Senior Mike Johnson (Excelsior, Minn.) was named the Hockey East Defensive Player of Week it was announced today by the league office.
Johnson led the Minutemen to two non-conference victories this week with two straight shutouts. The senior goaltender blanked Vermont for his fourth career shutout with 26 saves on Nov. 20, at the Springfield Civic Center. He then followed it up with a 29-save shutout against Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H., on Nov. 24.
Johnson now has five career shutouts which ties him with former teammate Markus Helanen for the UMass school record. Through 12 games, Johnson has a 5-4-0 record while posting a 2.18 goals against average and a .912 save percentage. His back-to-back shutouts against Vermont and Dartmouth mark the first time UMass has recorded shutouts in back-to-back games since doing it on Jan. 17 and Jan. 20, 1931.
Johnson is the second Minuteman to earn Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week honors this season. Junior defenseman Samuli Jalkanen (Helsinki, Finland) earned the honor in late October.
Massachusetts is currently 6-6-0 overall and 2-3-0 in Hockey East. The Minutemen return to action on Friday, Nov. 30, with a 7:00 p.m. Hockey East league game against Maine at the William D. Mullins Center. They then travel to defending national champion Boston College on Saturday night for a 7:00 p.m. game. The Minutemen enter the weekend riding a two-game win streak.
