Dumais has notched 101 points in just 92 games in her career, tallying 44 goals and 57 assists in her three seasons as a member of the Big Green. She recorded her 100th and 101st point in the first game of this year's playoff series against St. Lawrence University, a game that the Big Green lost, 4-3, in overtime.
"People make a much bigger deal of it than it is," Dumais said. "You don't really think about it like that. I would have rather won that game and not gotten to 100. It's all about the team and what I can do to make it better."
Dumais added that she tends to shy away from the spotlight and prefers to be a playmaker on the ice.
"Sometimes I can put the puck in the net, but I like to control the puck and set it up more," Dumais, who scored 16 goals for the Big Green this season, said.
Co-captain Kelly Foley '12, who also notched her 100th career point this season, agreed with Dumais, adding "she's a natural goal-scorer, but equally as good of a playmaker."
Karlee Odland '15, who played on Dumais' line for the first half of the year, said that Dumais made her job on the ice easy.
"If I was in trouble, Cam was always there to bail me out," Odland said.
Despite her role as one of the team's stars, Dumais remains modest, preferring to give rather than receive praise.
"I have to give the credit to my linemates and the rest of the team," she said. "I wouldn't have gotten my 100th point if it wasn't for the people I played with. I get more excited when other people score than when I do."
Dumais gets very motivated for every game, which is evident every time she steps on the ice.
"The emotion she brings is very positive," Dartmouth coach Mark Hudak said. "She can let her emotions carry her."
Hudak recalled a time this year when the team was playing at Cornell University. Dumais "got really fired up about something," went out, deked through three Big Red defenders and scored. Those emotions carry over into her celebrations. After she scores, Dumais usually channels her excitement into a large, Rafael Nadal-esque fist pump and scream.
"I think I'm a crazy goofball," Dumais said. "I may get overexcited after I score, but who wouldn't be? You should be excited when you score. I'm very passionate, and that's how I spread it throughout the team."
Teammates said that Dumais' passion is contagious.
"She has this passion that you can't help but feel and feed off of," defenseman Lisa Berreman '13 said.
Berreman also noted that Dumais carries her on-ice dedication into the classroom.
"She's very intelligent," Berreman said. "She's definitely one of the smartest girls on the team."
Dumais' teammates attested to her laid-back demeanor and general "goofiness," as Foley put it.
"It's fun to play with Cam because we joke around on the bench and between faceoffs and that just helps keeps the tense situations light," Foley said. "She's in her own world most of the time, and it's just refreshing and fun to be around."
Dumais said that her favorite leisure activities include watching TV with her teammates, playing hours of Mario Kart and just sitting in the Hopkins Center doing nothing.
"She's very spontaneous," Berreman said. "She loves life and likes to make the most of what she has."
Before games, Dumais is known to goof off and dance with her teammates, especially forward Ali Winkel '14, defenseman Moira Scanlon '12 and Foley. Odland and Winkel described a ritual that Winkel and Dumais have before every game. While the team is sitting in the stands, taping their sticks and getting mentally focused, Celine Dion's 1996 hit "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" comes over the PA system in Thompson Arena. Winkel and Dumais stop immediately when they hear the song and begin to slowly progress toward each other from across the rink. The routine crescendos with Winkel jumping into Dumais' arms and the two spinning around.
"Every time it happens, I just stop, stare and laugh," Odland said.
Her teammates say that Dumais has a carpe diem attitude because she has not had an easy path to Hanover. She comes from a tight-knit family of five and has a brother with cerebral palsy. In addition, Dumais entered her freshman year still recovering from a knee injury involving several torn ligaments.
"She's been through a lot in her life, and her ability to put things in perspective and make the best of them is something that is really valuable to her and the team," Berreman said.
Family is a huge driving force behind Dumais' play.
"One of the main reasons I came to Dartmouth is because I wanted to share it with my family," she said. "I'm doing this for them. I'm glad my sister can see what I'm doing and that I can be a role model for her."
In fact, it was her brother who spurred her interest in neuroscience.
"When a lot of people are little, they play school," she said. "My brother and I played doctor I was the doctor and he was the patient, and I'd always make him better."
Dumais views her teammates as a "second family" and plays as much for them as for her biological family.
"I love the team, and I love the sport, so I have fun playing," Dumais added.
This altruism is also evident in Dumais' proposed career path.
"I don't know exactly what I want to do, but I know I'm going to be helping people," she said. "I'm not going to just be sitting at a desk staring at a computer. I need to be interacting with and helping people. I've grown up taking care of my brother and sister."
As she enters her senior year, her teammates and coaches expect Dumais to flourish as the spotlight begins to hone in on her. Although they all maintain that Dumais tends to lead by example more than as a vocal presence in the locker room, she talks when she needs to.
"She doesn't need to talk to influence people," Foley said. "We haven't voted on captains yet, but either way she'll be a leader next year."
No matter what happens this offseason, it's a virtual guarantee that Dumais will continue to be one of the mainstays of the team in her senior season. Both on and off the ice, she'll continue to be a leader by staying true to herself, her team and her family and by lighting up the ice with her skills and energy.
