"Obviously, it's a team game but there's a lot of pressure on the goalies,'' Rumpel conceded. "You have to
come up big for your team to give them a chance to
win every game. It's an exciting time."
Rumpel's resiliency was first put to the test during the team's ugly start. "Losing games is never fun
and it was a bit of a struggle,'' he said. "As the season as progressed, I've gotten more confident.''
This is the time of the year when a team's momentum is built from the crease out.
"Obviously, it's a team game but there's a lot of
pressure on the goalies,'' Rumpel conceded. "You
have to come up big for your team to give them a
chance to win every game. It's an exciting time.
"I feel good. I feel confident in my body and my
abilities right now. It's a long season and it's coming
down to this last month. This is an easy time to get
up emotionally for practices and games.''
Goaltenders have forever been labeled as quirky.
Rumpel politely began to reject that time-honored
generalization when he paused and confessed, "Actually, I'm a little weird.''
On game days, he tends to stick with a routine as
far as "eating the same things and putting on my
equipment the same way. Nothing to major. I like to
keep the mood light in the room'' he said.
During the week, Rumpel said, "I like to go home
and relax and not think about school or hockey. I
might throw on a movie or go bowling with friends.''
A personal finance major, he does not take school
lightly. "It's tough balancing school and hockey and
knowing what you want to do after you graduate,''
he said. "But it's a process.''
So are the playoffs, and Rumpel couldn't be happier that the Badgers are still relevant.
"This is kind of our redemption,'' he said of this
weekend's Final Five. "I'm unbelievably excited. I
don't know if we have to prove anything. But it
would be nice to show the country what we're made
of here.''
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