Johnson's time at Alaska-Fairbanks hugely beneficial

One practice. Maybe 70 minutes in duration. A full eight years, a half-dozen NHL stops and 114 big-league starts later.
Chad Johnson delivered so much goodness during that winter of 2008-09, 190 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle.
He glowed, he shimmered, more brightly than the iconic Northern Lights tourists flocked to gaze at overhead.
An Original Six-stingy 1.66 GAA. An equally eye-catching .940 save percentage.
And what, then, has stuck with him, has served him so well from that season which the foundation for a pro path that has led him here, to his hometown?
One poor practice.

"To see a person perform at that level for an entire season was … amazing," coach Dallas Ferguson is reminiscing from Mankato, MN, readying his University of Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks for a weekend win-bill against the Mavericks.
"Just amazing.
"You have guys who go through unbelievable spurts, then you can't find them for a while.
"With Chad that year, it was game-in and game-out excellence."
"And when we talked at the end of the season, you know what he told me his goal had been from the start? To not have a bad day of practice.
"Nothing about wins or stats or personal accomplishments.
"About being good in practice. Every single day.
"And I can guarantee you if you ask him, he'll tell you he had one bad day.
"One.
"Doesn't seem like much, I know, but all these years later I'm sure he remembers that one bad day like the back of his hand."
In fact, he does.
"It was, like, a Tuesday,'' recalls Johnson, with a soft grunt of long-standing self-recrimination, following the Calgary Flames' morning skate Friday at the Scotiabank Saddledome. "I don't remember the exact details of why, if I'd had a late night or whatever, but I was … lousy.
"No excuses. You're a student athlete there and your responsibility is to be good. There are times you have good practices, okay practices.
"But that day …
"That one practice still sticks with me. I use it even today. It's like a bad game for a team. Sometimes you need a spanking. So you wake up with that, 'I don't like that feeling. I never want to go through that again,' feeling.
"My success is tied to practice. To being dialled in. To being in a groove. I wasn't that day. And I haven't forgotten."
That lights-out campaign marked Johnson's fourth and final NCAA Division 1 season at the 4,900-seat Carlson Center. It also Ferguson's first at the helm of a program he'd assisted for years.
The Nanook would finish with a middling 16-17-6 record overall and 13-10-5-3 within the CCHA Conference. But the experience has not faded with the passage of time.
"That year,'' says Johnson, "was so much fun. We weren't the best team but we rallied around one another. We averaged 1.5 goals for a game, or something like that.
"But knew it was going to be that kind of year for us. We all felt together, a part of something. There's nothing better.
"We knew we weren't a Michigan or a Michigan State. We knew had to use all five guys.
"But we beat those teams.
"And a lot of that had to do with Dallas, the mindset of being in the moment and just taking care of what you can take care of.
"He made such an impression on me. I think it was his demeanour more than anything. He came in every day, whether we'd won a big game or lost a big game, with the same attitude.
"Wanting to improve. Wanting the best for everybody. Our team the year was about everybody. Everybody's valuable to the team, out the city, to the school.
"That's Dallas.
"Just a real good family guy from Wainwright.
"One of those people who influence you along the way.
"I can't say enough about him."
The feeling is entirely mutual.
"With Chad,'' says Ferguson, "it's never been about the numbers or the recognition. It's always been about maximizing his abilities to help the team.
"And it's not insincere. It's not something he says just because it sounds good or because that's what's expected of him.
"He says it because he means it; because he believes it."
Finally, after years of searching, Chad Johnson seems to have arrived at the destination he has sought for long.
But it's one thing to be the Toast of the Town. Quite another to the the Toast of Your Town.
Which is what Johnson finds himself today after a month of superlative play that has netted three shutouts.
"It's great to see,'' says his old mentor, "but I'm sure that it hasn't - won't - change Chad at all. He understands what's important. He's told me he's really enjoying himself, being in Calgary, close to family and friends.
"I always listen to his messaging when he does interviews with you guys and the approach is always the same. That's where you begin to understand his focus.
"I've really appreciated watching him as a professional. You listen to him speak and it always circles back to the good of the team."
The goalie from Calgary who's overcome Vegas-casino odds to at last find home right here at home, and the NCAA coach hailing from Wainwright, AB have formed an indelible bond.
They still keep in touch.
In fact, Dallas Ferguson was in town a couple of weeks ago, he took in a couple of Flames practices (both the usual solid, dialled-in Chad Johnson practices).
The two men talked over old times.
"I remember going into that season we're talking about, my first as a head coach,'' Ferguson recalls. "We'd lost several players. Guys signed early. Guys were leaving the program.
"So it was not, I think I'm safe in saying, a great time to be taking over.
"But the one thing I felt great about was how good a person and how good a player Chad was. I remember telling him that summer, 'Look, we've got two freshman goalies coming in and you're going to be our starter. So start preparing.'
"Well, he prepared all right. We had unprecedented success that season, both for our team and Chad for himself."
Eight years have passed but that experience is not forgotten. It served as the foundation for a goaltending career.
And ever since then, since 2009, Chad Johnson has been a reference point in the message Dallas Ferguson delivers to those who wear the uniform of Alaska-Fairbanks.
"Still, to this day,'' admits Ferguson, "I use him as an example to our players, and specifically to our goalies.
"I talk to them about that year. About Chad. About what it takes to excel. About focus and preparation and what's possible if you put your mind to it.
"There was just something about him. You could just … tell."