Michael Hage is an impactful center and one of the best prospects in the Montreal Canadiens organization depending on your definition on how long a player remains a prospect. By every metric, he had a solid freshman season at Michigan but has to deal with the disappointment of not making the Frozen Four tournament. © Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/fec42ba4-80a4-465c-b020-74e9d6575dfd.jpeg] © Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images “I thought it went well. For me individually and as a group. I thought there were some really good moments. I learned a lot about what it takes to win at this level. To have success at this level in general I think I made great relationships and met so many people this year that I will be friends with for the rest of my life. I loved it this year. The result wasn’t what we were looking for and there were some lacking of consistency for us. I thought the year was good. I came in with the mentality that I could make an impact. I feel like I did a pretty solid job of that. Now I have to take steps and keep getting better.” Getting used to NCAA after the USHL is an adjustment. “It comes along in your first five games. You see how much better the goalies are. They are older and stronger,” Hage noted. “The first game was against Minnesota State. There were first game jitters. And you just realize how much older these guys you are playing against. I got adjusted pretty quickly. We had a lot of practice time. You get a feel for it then. I think training camp helped with that.” Hage was 46% on face-offs. That’s a solid number considering it’s against tough competition. “It was difficult. I felt that it was bad at the beginning of the year,” Hage admitted. “Having older guys on the team to help you out and that’s an area I want to continue to get better at. It comes with experience. You have to understand what it feels like. It was a challenge.” Hage had 34 points in 33 games. As a true freshman, that’s a solid season. This summer he will go back home and have some fun with some of his Canadiens future teammates. “A lot of the alumni will come back and skate. When I go back to Burlington, it’s usually me, Owen Power (Chicago Steel alumni along with Hage), the Xehaj brothers, and Kent Johnson was out there a few times.” When I asked if he worried about the physicality of the Xehaj brothers even under those circumstances, his answer was humorous, “Not too much. Granted, we are in the same organization but there’s not too much of that in these summer skates.” According to InStat, he averaged 16:49 in TOI. That’s a big number but he’s ready for more when he returns to Michigan next season. “That’s the goal. I want to be someone who plays in more situations. It takes more merits and more trust from the coaching staff. That starts with me getting stronger and then you get those extra minutes at the end of the game, after icings and face-offs. It just all adds up." An advantage to playing college hockey is the ability to workout and get stronger throughout the season. “You have more time during the week. To work on things. Rather than just playing games all the time. At the same time, puck battles are going to get harder. When you’re going up against older, stronger players. That was the biggest thing for me,” Hage responded. “I felt like I got stronger during the year. We have a great training staff at Michigan.” The Canadiens were in Michigan numerous times and that’s what you want. They’ve been very hands on. Hage will have a banner year next year. I can feel it and then he will probably decide when he wants to turn professional.
