MUSKEGON TOWNSHIP - Shutouts have become pretty frequent for Reeths-Puffer senior goalie Gage Hopkins, and sometimes those watching him, game after game, get used to seeing the zeroes on the scoreboard.
They’ve always known Hopkins is hard to score against, so the shutouts are not really stunning news.
But it recently occurred to R-P head coach Kody Harrell to check the record books, because he suspected Hopkins must be somewhere in the neighborhood of the school career shutout record.
“I had a feeling in my gut that he must be getting pretty close!” Harrell said.
The coach was correct.
Hopkins played well in R-P’s huge 4-0 victory over Mona Shores last week, which brought his career shutout total to 21.
R-P senior goalie Gage Hopkins
That leaves him only two shutouts behind the record holders, former Rocket netminders Drew Johnson and Jake Lofgren.
The way Hopkins and the Rockets have been playing lately, that record could fall pretty soon.
Reeths-Puffer, now 6-1 on the season, has shutouts in all six of its victories. The Rockets have not been scored on since their second game of the season, against powerful Forest Hills Northern, on Aug. 18.
Hopkins has five of the Rockets’ six shutouts this season, and his ability to shut teams down comes from three-plus seasons as a varsity starter and the skills and experience he's gained along the way, according to Harrell.
“He’s been there and done that,” the coach said. “He has developed that swagger and positive attitude. He’s not seeing anything that he hasn’t seen before.”
Hopkins is aware that he’s on the brink of breaking the school record and is excited about it – but not as excited as he is about simply winning a lot more games this season.
“Coach told me about it sometime last week,” Hopkins said. “I had no idea. I was completely surprised. I never really thought about it or looked into it. It makes me feel good, but I am definitely more worried about winning than getting personal records.”
Hopkins did admit, however, that it was extra fun to beat archrival Mona Shores, a team the Rockets have struggled with in recent seasons.
“I don’t think, in my whole career, that I had beaten Shores in any sport,” he said. “Especially shutting them out was definitely exciting. That made it 10 times better.”
Hopkins’ hot streak actually dates back to the end of last season when R-P blanked Allendale, Ludington and Spring Lake in three straight tournament games and won a district championship.
Before that, he struggled a bit, giving up a fair number of goals in the middle of the season as the Rockets slumped as a team.
The problem was mostly mental, according to Harrell. Hopkins tended to get down on himself when he gave up a goal, and that affected his play going forward.
“He felt like every goal was a failure,” Harrell said. “He was too hard om himself. But now he’s matured in the sense that he understands that while the overall goal is to stop every shot, realistically we are not expecting him to do that. He finally picked that up in the final third of last season and he’s carried it into this year.”
Hopkins agrees with that assessment.
“That was part of it,” he said. “I also had some personal stuff going on last year. A lot has changed this year. It took time for me to realize it’s not just me, it’s our whole team, especially this year. I am far less worried about giving up one goal. I know our offense will get at least one. We have a lot of people (on offense) stepping up this year.”
In some ways it’s a little surprising that Hopkins has so many shutouts, because he’s definitely not a stay-at-home goalkeeper.
He likes to wander outside of the box and stop opponents’ attacks while they are still developing, instead of waiting at the goal mouth for a shot to arrive.
Of course, that makes Hopkins vulnerable to being caught out of position from time to time, and sometimes he’s given up goals that way.
But overall he’s been highly effective when he wanders out a bit, so the coaches are OK with it.
“We want our players to be comfortable being themselves,” Harrell said. “Sometimes it makes him more comfortable to be out there more involved in the play. The risk-reward is worth it to us. We’ve seen him stop more scoring chances than giving up goals.”
Hopkins said it’s better to limit opponents to long, weak shots than allow them to close in and take high-percentage shots – and that sometimes means going out and stuffing them before they get too close.
“Since I was a little kid I was told to shut down the angles,” he said. “If I time it right I know I can get out there and end it by getting the ball away from them or kicking it out of bounds.
“It definitely has some thrill to it, and it feels like something I have to do.”
Harrell said that Hopkins’ tendency to wander a bit sometimes makes him like an extra defender.
That’s a huge bonus, because the Rockets already have a core of very solid defenders playing in front of Hopkins – starting with senior co-captains JT Fansler and Luke Callender - and working together they manage to keep a lot of opponents frustrated.
Hopkins is a big fan of the Rockets’ defenders and appreciates how they make his job so much easier.
“It’s not just me, it’s our whole back line,” he said. “We’re working really good together this year. Everyone being a senior helps. We all know it’s our last rodeo.”
