Prospect Info: [2024 - 21st] Michael Hage, Chicago Steel (USHL), Committed to U of Michigan

[morhilane]

Said it in the main board thread, but what exactly prompts an invite to Matthew Wood and not Hage if we are bringing NCAA players?

Oh you want someone that is worse despite being in his 3rd NCAA season? A winger over a centre no less. A far worse skater? Okay

It just means Wood has "friends" at the right places.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Ridiculous, but expected.

According to Marco D'Amico, who spoke with Hage, he said he wasn't expecting to be invited and he's at peace with that.

 

[WeThreeKings]

What do you think about the talk that Demidov could be a potential center? I wouldn’t bank on it but with his puck skills and not so small frame after all, it doesn’t seem like a pipe dream.

I don't think it happens, he isn't going to get to play center with Rottenturd, so no major snaps at center and then coming to the NHL next year.

He can play like a center from the wing, no worries there.

 

[26Mats]

Hage not invited to Team Canada's training camp.

Only one player from the NCAA invited: Matthew Wood. Every other invite is from the CHL except for Brad Nadeau, who is in the AHL and will be loaned for the WJC.

As they say, It's mainly a 19 year old's tournament. At forward, only 3 '06 birth year/draft year invited: Catton, Beaudoin, and Luchanko.

Tij Iginla, Beckett Senecke, Zane Parekh, Yakemchuk, and many other '06 birth year draft not invited.

 

[le_sean]

According to Marco D'Amico, who spoke with Hage, he said he wasn't expecting to be invited and he's at peace with that.

Smart by him. He knows Canada typically ignores not only the NCAA, but 18 year olds as well. Still, he’s probably laughing seeing some of the names on that list.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Smart by him. He knows Canada typically ignores not only the NCAA, but 18 year olds as well. Still, he’s probably laughing seeing some of the names on that list.

At least he can avoid the Hockey Canada aspect of it all.

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

As they say, It's mainly a 19 year old's tournament. At forward, only 3 '06 birth year/draft year invited: Catton, Beaudoin, and Luchanko.

Tij Iginla, Beckett Senecke, Zane Parekh, Yakemchuk, and many other '06 birth year draft not invited.

Yakemchuk is an 05 which makes his ommission even more inexplicable.

I look forward to losing 3-2 to the Czechs in the quarter finals again

 

[LaP]

Yakemchuk is an 05 which makes his ommission even more inexplicable.

I look forward to losing 3-2 to the Czechs in the quarter finals again

The invites the last two years have been baffling to say the least ... Misa not invited is complete madness imo is there a reason for that?

 

[montreal]

I didn't really expect an invite but if Hage had 2 more goals, no player in the NCAA would have scored more goals then him while being an 18 year old all season and not on the most stacked team.

 

[Ozmodiar]

4 top 10 picks from 2024 draft, I believe, didn’t make it. Not surprised about Hage.

Looking forward to seeing Catton.

 

[Ozmodiar]

As they say, It's mainly a 19 year old's tournament. At forward, only 3 '06 birth year/draft year invited: Catton, Beaudoin, and Luchanko.

Tij Iginla, Beckett Senecke, Zane Parekh, Yakemchuk, and many other '06 birth year draft not invited.

Owen Beck got the invite as an 18 year old, interestingly enough.

Joined team when Dach was injured.

 

[Habs]

No Hage, Iginla, Sennecke , Misa Team Canada deserves to eat a big fat one. Not a fan of Catton or Heidt so I'm a bit biased .... get some of the younger studs in there

 

[JianYang]

Beliveau said he never saw leg muscles like cournoyers. Another thing about Yvan was that he might be the last player to play with a straight blade. His backanders were deadly. My favourite hab all time.

I think larionov used a straight blade too.

 

[Habs]

I think larionov used a straight blade too.

Isn't crosby using a straight one as well for those nasty backhands?

 

[MD thaivuN]

that forward invite list looks pretty smurf-ish

 

[ChesterNimitz]

As they say, It's mainly a 19 year old's tournament. At forward, only 3 '06 birth year/draft year invited: Catton, Beaudoin, and Luchanko.

Tij Iginla, Beckett Senecke, Zane Parekh, Yakemchuk, and many other '06 birth year draft not invited.

Yet Hage, in the NCAA, routinely plays against 21, 22 and 23 year olds and is excelling.

 

[JianYang]

Isn't crosby using a straight one as well for those nasty backhands?

Not sure but it would not surprise me if his blade is straighter than most because of that backhand.

 

[RabbleMasterBlaster]

What about Mason Marchment? That nasty back hand goal the other night VS Winnipeg was impressive.

 

[HuGort]

Allright, this is my last out of topic post. Every famous line added something new to the hockey landscape. The punch line (Richard, Blake and Lach) added forechecking in an era where everybody was going back when losing the puck.

The Esposito line with Cashman and Hodge played the corners and the slot like never before.

But the dumping of the puck was used as an offensive tool by the line of Gordie Howie, Ted Lindsay and Sid Abel: they would dump the puck, force the defenseman to turn around which was not in the required skills at the time, and race to the corner. When Howe or Lindsay would race you to the corner it was terrifying, especially when there was metal screen instead of tempered glass over the boards.

Then they began dumping for line change because few were able to use it offensively.

You go way back

 

[MoneyManny]

Testosterone levels have been going down for 80k years. It's the process of neotenization and the reason we have the longest period of social learning of any creature on earth. There was an uptick of testosterone in the last 8k to 15k years, since we came out of the disastrous climate change of the Younger Dryas period, but modernization has started quelling that uptick and we're once again further neotenizing.

Hockey is a specialization of things we haven't been doing for long. Skating and handling a hockey stick to control a puck on ice is not natural to us and is very new compared to the attributes needed for other sports (except baseball, maybe). The average player today is faster and handles the puck better. Just need to go watch a game in the 70's and 80's to see the difference.

Elite athletes are usually very good at a lot of different sports, the overlap is huge. Peak athletes today perform better than athletes from 50 years ago because the sports culture changed drastically, not because humans as a race evolved from cavemen to elite ice skaters whithin 2 generations.

The way they nurture children into athletes nowadays makes all the difference. They used to train at the pond in their backyard after dark.

 

[RabbleMasterBlaster]

Fitness is an actual science. Guy Lafleur used to chain smoke behind the bench. Imagine his ilk with today's knowledge conditioning...

 

[Rapala]

Team Canada are just dumb and getting dumber.
There should always be a healthy mix of 18 and 19 year olds unless they absolutely can't do the job.
Continuity is the best recipe for success someone deserves a slap upside the head for some of the omissions.
Another display like last year and we will surely hear some loud braying.