I'm All The Way Back In On "The Michigan" Goal After Evgeny Kuznetsov Attempted It In The NHL Last Night
For the last few years, I’ve been very much out on this move. Don’t get me wrong. I think the “Michigan” always takes a huge set of nuts to attempt and it’s always impressive when it’s pulled off to perfection. The only issue is that we just see it too frequently nowadays. I feel like we get it maybe once in the AHL every year, here and there in the KHL, at least 5 or 6 times in junior, a couple of times in high school games, and then we’re always good to see at least 1 or 2 kids pull it off in PeeWees. I think every kid under the age of 10 who has watched Pavel Barber on YouTube before can pull this off.
So yeah. I guess it’s just lost it’s allure for me. Or at least it did until Evgeny Kuznetsove tried to stuff it on Ondrej Pavelec last night in New York. I don’t know this off the top of my head and I’m also too lazy to do the research for it, but I’m almost positive we’ve never seen this move pulled off in the NHL before. Mainly because the competition in the NHL is so ridiculous that guys would never even consider trying to pull this move in an actual game. But since the Rangers are a dumpster fire this year, and since Kuznetsov a Russian which means he has no fear of treating the game like it’s a street hockey game with the boys, it was the perfect storm and we were just a few inches away from witnessing history.
The only issue I have with the move now is that I need people to stop referring to it as a “lacrosse-style” goal. This move needs to be referred to as “The Michigan” and “The Michigan” only. People need to put some goddamn RESPEK on the creator. Even as a lacrosse guy who is always desperate to get the game some attention, I cannot idly sit by here and watch the sport of lacrosse steal the credit and the shine away from Mike Legg for introducing this move to the world.
But yeah. Now the goal is to have The Michigan pulled off in the NHL. I’m going to continue to not really care that much about this move being pulled off in any other league. But I feel like we’re only a couple of seasons away from seeing it in the Show.