Self-made
man
BUTLER TWP – Logan Rothbauer caught a break with the weather during his
freshman year.
It was cold, snowy and miserable. Perfect for business.
Every day for two to three months, Rothbauer, a senior goaltender
for the Butler hockey team, spent his time shoveling and snow blowing his
neighbors driveways.
All of his money went into buying goalie equipment. By the time
he had enough money, Rothbauer had developed plenty of self-confidence and
rekindled his passion for hockey.
“I shoveled too many to count. I can’t remember (how much the
equipment was),” Rothbauer said. “It wasn’t cheap. I take pride in the fact I
earned it all myself and paid for it by myself.”
Following a two-year hiatus from hockey, Logan’s dad, Joe,
suggested he work to pay for the equipment. Logan had spent the previous two
years playing basketball after becoming disinterested in hockey in middle
school.
When Logan told his father he wanted to be a goaltender, he was
challenged to work for it. When Logan was younger, he had tried playing forward
and defense.
“With him wanting to start back into goaltending, I wanted to see
if he was serious,” Rothbauer’s father said. “If he was truly serious, he would
work for it. He went out and bought his first set of equipment, it wasn’t the
nicest equipment, but it was still a significant financial commitment. He did
the work, but it was my idea.”
Logan Rothbauer’s work ethic has translated between the pipes.
After some growing pains, he’s blossomed into a goalie that has the Golden
Tornado off to a 6-5 start and is among the league leaders in several
statistical categories.
Through Tuesday night, Rothbauer is third in Class AAA in
total saves (284) and second in wins (six). Also, Rothbauer has raised his save
percentage from .880 to .888 and lowered his goals against average from 5.03 to
3.34 over the past three seasons.
“I think some of it goes back to some of the work he does in the
offseason,” Butler coach Mike Guentner said. “He works with private goalie
instructors. I know what to expect. He’s solid fundamentally and always makes
the first save and as long as we can keep the shots to the outside, he’s going
to keep the puck out of the net.
Getting Rothbauer to improve, Guentner said, was all about
developing new challenges.
For his sophomore year, Rothbauer was supposed to focus on
eliminating the five-hole, between his legs, and six-hole, which is under the
armpits. Junior year, the challenge was eliminating top-shelf goals.
“Every year, we’ve fixed a problem and moved onto the next
challenge,” Guenter said. “Now, the challenge is eliminating rebounds.”
Improving hand-eye coordination normally starts in the hallway
outside the locker room before games. Using two racquetballs Guentner gave him,
Rothbauer runs through a series of exercises to prepare. First, he takes one
ball and tosses it from his left hand to right. Then he switches from right to
left and eventually works to throwing both balls off the wall at varying
degrees to get practice.
“It was weird at first,” Rothbauer said. “Practice makes perfect.
… It helps me get my gloves and blocker in order.”
Practicing has been the focal point for Rothbauer since he
returned his freshman season. During the summer, he practices three days a week
with Frank Gribbin at the Shane Clifford Goalie School in Pittsburgh.
“Over the summer, I’m on the ice constantly,” Rothbauer said. “I
take every chance I can to get on the ice for as long as I can. With anything,
I think any part of your game can be improved no matter how good you’ve gotten
at something.”
Forced to work for his own equipment helped Rothbauer earn some
self-confidence. It also helped him rekindle his passion.
“He’s definitely committed. He didn’t really show a lot of
interest in basketball, either,” Rothbauer’s father said. “Once he got into the
net, you could tell that’s what he wanted to do.”