When Charlie Johnson took the ice on a few special nights last year, he carried a certain edge over his opponents. It’s undetectable by tests, but you wouldn’t find it on the list of banned substances anyway. Still, you’d be hard pressed to find another college hockey player with this secret weapon. It’s almost intangible, practically indescribable—and located in the condiment aisle of your local supermarket.

When Charlie Johnson took the ice on those nights where he was an offensive force to be feared, he didn’t find his groove. He brought the jam.

Former Harvard men’s hockey coach Mark Mazzoleni coined the phrase after the Crimson’s 5-3 upset of UMass in December of last year. At the time, the team was hovering around .500 and struggling desperately to live up to preseason expectations. Frustrated and chastised by Mazzoleni, Harvard temporarily broke out of its early-season doldrums with the surprise win.

And at the heart of it was Johnson, who netted two goals in the first two periods to provide the margin of victory.

“You know, Charlie Johnson’s got to play with jam,” Mazzoleni said at the time. “When Charlie Johnson plays with jam, that’s what happens. When he doesn’t play, you don’t even know he’s on the rink. I’m just telling you how it is. It’s the truth. He can be the difference-maker for us, if he plays with jam.”

STICKY SITUATION

In the midst of all the gooey praise, there’s the qualifier: if. Because the truth was last year, nights like the UMass game didn’t happen every week. Those flashes of brilliance have so far been just glimpses of the electricity Johnson could bring to the game on a regular basis.

Until now, that is.

As an experienced junior and a veteran on a squad with a passel of newcomers—including a new coach—Johnson believes this is the year he will fully step into his role as a leader for the offense, as well as the team. This will be the year when he’s that difference-maker—every game, every shot.

“I expect to be counted on as one of the top producers,” Johnson says, “and I expect to be someone who’s productive every time.”

Like many members of last year’s team, Johnson had a patchy season that only kicked into gear during the playoff stretch. On one hand, there were games like the one against UMass. On the other, Johnson failed to score a point until nearly a month later.

Then he separated his shoulder against Yale in early February, causing him to miss five games. Then again, Johnson celebrated his return to play with two goals in a 4-0 victory over Dartmouth in the final weekend of regular-season play.

“Sometimes things just go your way, and sometimes if you score early, you get energy, and you can build from that,” Johnson says. “You get on a roll, and sometimes things are just clicking that night, and you and your linemates are feeling each other out well, and you’ve got your legs.”

So there’s no question that Johnson can be the deciding factor in a close game, as his several breakout games have proven.

This season, however, he knows he has to be able to make that difference on any given night.