Randy Bump 🇺🇸

Cole Caufield’s dad? He’s the ultimate hockey dad: “We grew up in Wisconsin, and if you don’t know much about American hockey, then you probably think, ‘OK, so that’s like Minnesota and Michigan, right? Powerhouse.’ But in terms of hockey culture, at least at that time, if you were a Wisconsin kid, everybody kind of looked at you like, ‘Ehhh. I dunno.’ The competition just wasn’t the same. If you wanted to make a name for yourself, you had to go to play in tournaments in Chicago or Minnesota or Detroit. So that’s what we did. We drove. Or I should say, that’s what my parents did. I didn’t do jack s***! Hahahah. They did all the work. I sat in the back and watched movies and tried to hold my pee like a hero. As I got older — around 12 or 13 — I got a chance to go play for Team Illinois. Without blinking an eye, my dad was like, ‘Let’s do it.’ An easy weekend was a 4-hour drive. But sometimes we’d have games in Detroit, and it was 8 hours each way. We’d hit the road after school on Thursday and be gone til Sunday. My mom was a third grade teacher, so she couldn’t leave her class. It would just be me and my dad, and my dad…. Well, he’s a wildman. He coached and ran our local rink. Kind of like the ultimate Hockey Dad. I could talk for hours about him, but this is him in one image….. You know those old-school hand gripper things that are supposed to make your forearms huge? He had one from like 1982. He would be cruising down the highway gripping the wheel with one hand and crushing sets with the gripper in the other hand. Maniac. And the funniest part was that he loved listening to 80s on 8 on Sirius. So he’s blasting Phil Collins with the windows rolled down, just crushing sets with the gripper. Then he’d hand it over to me. ‘Your turn.’ ‘Come on, guy. I’m 12.’ (He flips into coach mode.) ‘Shooting is all about the forearms. That’s what people don’t understand....’ ‘Dad, I can’t feel my thumbs.’ (Ultimate coach mode) ‘Alright, go ahead and take it easy. But there’s another kid out there somewhere working twice as hard as you.’ ‘There’s a kid out there with … two grippers?’ (This whole conversation takes place while ‘I Can Feel It Coming In the Air Tonight’ is blasting). Brutal. But hey, I guess it worked. I was an undersized kid, so we were always looking for any kind of edge. My dad had this saying, and it still sticks with me now…. He said, ‘Once you’re satisfied, it’s time to quit.’ He never made me do anything, but he was always there on Thursday afternoon, behind the wheel, just ready to roll. It’s crazy to me that he never complained about having to drive 60 hours a month so I could have a chance to play against better competition. If it wasn’t for my dad, I never would have made it to the NHL. At my size, coming from a football town in Wisconsin, there’s no way. To be honest, the NHL wasn’t really even my dream at first. It didn’t seem realistic. My dream was to get a free college education and play for the Badgers.” playerstribu.ne/Caufield @colecaufield | @CanadiensMTL