March 6, 2012
Farmington Hills, Mich. – Notre Dame junior goaltender Mike Johnson (Verona, Wis.) is one of 11 CCHA hockey players to be named their team’s 2011-12 Scholar Athlete of the Year. From this group of players, the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) will name its 2012 Scholar-Athlete of the Year on Thursday, March 15 at the 2012 CCHA Awards, presented by RBC Financial Group at the Fox Theatre in Detroit, Mich.
Joining Johnson on the list of nominees is:
Name Class Position Team MajorAdam Henderson Jr. Forward Alaska Business AdministrationCam Wojtala So. Forward Bowling Green BiologyChad Billins Sr. Defense Ferris State MarketingKyle Pobur Sr. Forward/Def. Lake Superior MarketingAlden Hirschfeld Sr. Forward Miami Management & OrganizationsJeff Rohrkemper Jr. Forward Michigan HistoryBrock Shelgren Sr. Defense Michigan State FinanceJared Coreau So. Goaltender No. Michigan AccountingMike Johnson Jr. Goaltender Notre Dame Sociology/Computer Apps.Sean Duddy Sr. Defenseman Ohio State FinanceChase Balisy So. Forward Western Michigan Business
A two-time monogram winner for the Irish, Johnson has been one of Notre Dame’s regular goaltenders since his freshman season. In the classroom, he has a 3.578 grade-point average with majors in Sociology and Computer Applications.
On the ice, Johnson has played in 26 games this season, making 23 starts. He has played 1,381:33 minutes and is 9-10-3 on the year with a 2.69 goals-against average and a .883 save percentage. Earlier this season, he had a career-best 10-game unbeaten streak (7-0-3) from Oct. 14 to Nov. 25.
For his career, Johnson has appeared in 91 games, making 82 starts to rank 10th all-time in that category. He owns a career mark of 39-33-12 for a .536 winning percentage and is seventh all-time in wins (39). His 2.63 goals-against average and is the third best in the program’s history and his .901 save percentage is fourth best overall. He owns two career shutouts. As a sophomore in 2010-11, Johnson was 20-10-4 overall and became the sixth goaltender in Notre Dame history to win 20 games in a season. He was named the most valuable player of the NCAA Northeast Regional after stopping 69-of-73 shots in wins over Merrimack (4-3) and New Hampshire (2-1) to advance to the NCAA Frozen Four.
The faculty representative at each school, in consultation with the head coach, selected the institution’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Each school’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year serves as the school’s nominee for CCHA Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Notre Dame has had two CCHA Scholar-Athlete’s of the Year with Jordan Pearce `09 winning the honor in 2009 and Cory McLean `05, the 2005 winner.
Nominees must have a cumulative GPA of 3.25 through the fall term of the selection year to receive the school’s Scholar-Athlete award. The CCHA award will be selected by the 11 faculty representatives, voting based on a system awarding five points for a first-place vote, three points for a second-place vote and one point for a third-place vote.