Hard work pays off for Rampage’s Champine T


By Ryan Boldrey


he son of a professional figure skater and a hockey player, Colin Champine began skat-


ing on rinks in the Detroit area when he was just 2 years old. At age 3, he played his first hockey game and, by


the time he was 5, found his way between the pipes. A goaltender on the Colorado Rampage’s 18U


AAA team this season, the 19-year-old, who moved to Colorado at age 11 with his mother, has worked his way up the ranks and, most recently, helped backstop his squad to this year’s state title - his fourth (he also won at the 14U AA, 16 AA and 18 AA levels). “He’s one of those kids who’s just quietly gone


about his business,” said Rampage coach Andrew Sherman. “He kind of had to battle through some of the younger, lower-level age groups to prove him- self. Because he’s small (5-foot-9, 154 pounds), some people didn’t really believe in him, but he always believed in himself.” Sherman was actually part of the Rampage


program a couple of years ago when Champine, a Parker resident, tried out for the Monument club but was cut at the start of the year.


After some reconsideration


and with a hole that needed plugging, Champine was asked midseason to join the Rampage for the stretch run. But the eventual 2011 Douglas County High School graduate, then playing for Arapahoe, said no, not wanting to leave his team- mates in the lurch. “We were having a good sea-


son, and we didn’t really have another good goalie,” Champ- ine said. “I’d made a commit- ment to my teammates and I didn’t want to break that.” For a lot of young players,


Champine hopes his


success and work ethic will translate into an opportunity to continue playing the game he loves for a long time. In order to make it in the junior and college ranks, though, he knows he can’t just rely on his skill set, hard work or athleticism. “It’s all about confidence


a decision like that can carry with it a great deal of risk, potentially setting them back as they try to move forward with their careers. But in Champine’s case, it worked in his favor.


He might be small in stature, but Rampage goalten- der Colin Champine played a huge role in his 18U AAA team’s success this season. Photo/YSPN.com


and you need to keep push- ing,” he said. “You have to listen to your coaches; they know what’s best for you. It’s a process; it’s hard, it’s long and it’s tiring, but it’s what you’ve got to do.”


Sherman knows it won’t get any easier for


Instead of dismissing the aggressive young goalie, Sherman was impressed with the character and lev- el of commitment he displayed and was even more eager to get him on his squad the following year. “It showed a lot about him,” said Sherman.


Champine, either, but he also believes whomever takes a chance on him is going to be happy they did. “Nothing is going to change for him,” Sherman said. “No one is going to give him that first chance because he’s small. He’s just going to have to keep working and he’s going to impress somebody somewhere.” b


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