Hage Has Great Night On Friday ; But Struggled Saturday

His first goal of the game was the game-tying marker, which started with him showing his hand-eye skills by batting the puck out of the air to keep it in the zone and right to his teammate T.J. Hughes behind the net, who sent it right back to him in front of the net, where Hage made no mistake for his 7th goal of the NCAA season. This was Hage’s first goal in his last 4 games.

As good as Hage has been this season, he has also lacked some consistency in his game at times and can seem invisible for a game or two before he breaks out with another big performance. This is something that he needs to work on before he is ready to be a full-time NHLer. Nonetheless, he has still managed to produce points consistently, but it can often just be a quiet assist. The inconsistency issues that he has dealt with are maybe why he played on the wing rather than his natural centre position throughout the weekend against the Badgers.

The biggest issue with Hage’s game in recent games is that he isn’t controlling the game offensively up the middle like he has been able to do more in the past. This is what likely led to him getting pushed over to the wing in recent games. 

Oddly enough, it seems like games on Saturdays have been his downfall throughout the early NCAA season for the 19-year-old sophomore. Hage has gone three straight Saturday night games without scoring, which includes last night’s 6-1 loss to the Badgers. Not only did Hage have a tough night, but so did everyone else around him. The only Saturday game that he has registered any points was against a weak Mercyhurst Lakers team in the 2nd game of the year, where he put up 2 assists. There may be something that he and the Wolverines’ top players do after their usual Friday victories that hampers their play on Saturdays, as they don’t seem to be the same team as a whole.

As for Hage’s 2nd goal against the Badgers on Friday night, it came from an empty goal that he iced from his own end. It wasn’t as pretty as his first goal, but the Habs prospect will take it for his 2nd of the game.

While Hage’s numbers may have dropped quite a bit from his fantastic start of 9 points in 3 games, he is still putting up good numbers in his sophomore season with 8 goals and 17 points in 12 games. 

On the other side of things, Hage has managed to improve his overall game on the defensive side of the puck, reading the play and being physical in his own zone. This could be part of the reason he may be showing less offence overall in recent games. It’s very possible that his goal is to just round out his game more before turning pro within the next year. Therefore, he should be well on track to get himself ready to play for the Habs within the very near future.

How have you liked Michael Hage’s recent play?