Rink Report: UND’s Casey Johnson Looks To Play A Big Role in 2017

Head Coach Brad Berry says Sophomore Casey Johnson is confidently assuming his role

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — UND hockey took home its first victory of the season Saturday, topping Alaska Anchorage 3-2 in overtime.

Head Coach Brad Berry says there were several positive takeaways from Saturday’s win, but the biggest might be how comfortable sophomore Casey Johnson is assuming his role.

“I thought the second half of the year he started to feel — I don’t like to use the word more comfortable — but knowing what we do on a daily basis and feeling confident,” Berry said. “You can kind of see that in his game now moving forward. Some of his reads are aggressive, but there is confidence knowing he can do that.”

Berry also says he’s impressed with how much Johnson has grown offensively.

“I think one of the biggest things is his body composition,” Berry said. “He’s a bigger bodied defenseman. He’s a heavy body and he uses it to his full advantage. He has a good stick, plays a physical game and now he’s starting to make reads and plays that are helping on the offensive side. We always tell our defensemen that you always need to pay attention to details on the defensive side of the game and always get better and always work on that, but always expand your offensive game too when you can and he’s starting to do that.”

Johnson and UND are home this Friday and Saturday against St. Lawrence.