"Goaltenders tend to put
a lot of pressure on themselves wherever they're
playing," Behrend said.
"They always figure the
reason a team loses is because of them, and when
you play well and you win,
you feel good because you
know that you had a big
role in the game.''
he was on the bench. When Coach Sauer
took over, it was kind of the same thing.
He instilled confidence.''
Behrend inspired confidence as the
MVP of the '81 and '83 national championships.
"To me every game was a big game and
I tried to approach each game the same
way,'' said Behrend, who credited Howard with developing that mindset. "I had
known him since I was a little kid and
went to Bob Johnson's hockey schools.
I leaned a lot on him. He basically had me ready ―
whether I wanted to be ready or not.''
Behrend's competition with Kleisinger was also a
driving force in his success.
"We had a great relationship and we were able
to use each other for support,'' Behrend said. "It
wasn't so much a competition as much as it was a
friendship. Whether he was playing or I was playing, we were both there for one another. Whether
it was before the game or in-between periods, we
were talking to each other and lending support.''
It was a characteristic of the Badgers family.
"I still keep in contact with some of the guys,'' said
Behrend, listing Pat Ethier and Todd Lecy among
his closest friends. "Even if you haven't seen the
guys for a long period of time, no matter how many
years it has been, when you do get together, you still
have that bond and friendship. And that's more important than any keepsakes or mementoes.''
Behrend, who recently turned 52, is entering his
25th year as a Madison firefighter.
Coincidentally, one of his role models as a Wisconsin goaltender, Dibble, joined the fire department six years earlier than he did. "I watched him
play a lot of games,'' Behrend said of Dibble, "and
that's why I wore No. 27, because he (Dibble) was
my favorite to watch.''
One goalie fed off the success of another goalie
and raised the bar for the position ― from one generation to the next ― spelling out the legacy of the
masked men at Wisconsin.
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