When a newborn Michael Hage came home from the hospital in April 2006, he was dressed in a mini Montreal Canadiens outfit courtesy of his father, Alain, a lifelong Habs fan. And when his younger brother, Alexander, was born nearly two years later, it was more of the same.
“I think if I had a little girl, she would have been in a pink Habs outfit,” Michael’s mother, Rania, told The Michigan Daily. “I don’t think our kids were given much of a choice. They’ve always watched hockey with their dad, and it was always the Habs.”
Photo courtesy of Rania Hage.
Eighteen years later, in June 2024, Michael, now a promising young hockey player, learned on the morning of the NHL Entry Draft that the Canadiens had traded up. A few short hours later, he donned the Habs’ red and blue once again, only this time, it was on the stage at the Las Vegas Sphere and his jersey wasn’t just a replica. His beloved Montreal Canadiens made him the 21st overall pick of the draft, fulfilling his lifelong dream.
Almost one year later, on March 25, Michael announced he would return for his sophomore season with the Michigan hockey team. In doing so, he delayed his debut for the team he’d cheered for since he was a baby by at least another year to play with the Wolverines.
“My plan was to come back all along,” Michael told The Daily. “These are the coolest moments of your life. You get to play hockey, and in front of a pretty electric crowd every night with your best friends that you go to school with. You’re with these guys 24/7, so there’s no one I’d rather be able to have another chance to win with than these guys.”
While Michael has multiple reasons for choosing to stay another year, from bettering his overall game to seeking an NCAA Championship, the biggest factor motivating him is the same one that’s been guiding him his entire hockey career — the people he’s doing it with, and the bonds he’s built with them.
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The Hage family home where Michael grew up in Mississauga, Ontario bustled with activity.
Michael’s friends frequently came over, filling the house with laughter and good-natured banter. Though Michael has been described by friends and family as shy and reserved at first, he was already developing a penchant for witty repartee that he’d carry over into his hockey career, dishing out jabs as well as he could take them.
Even something as routine as a summer appointment with a physiotherapist turned into a lively evening. Michael and a few of his young teammates would spend the entire session trying to embarrass each other, sending the house into fits of laughter.
The same playful back-and-forth he shared with his friends characterized his relationship with Alexander, as everything from climbing up the stairs to throwing a ball around turned into competition between the brothers.
And of course, there was hockey. In addition to their minor hockey careers, Michael and Alexander were swept up in their father’s Habs fandom. Whether it was friendly ribbing at school from friends who cheered for the local Toronto Maple Leafs, watching French-language broadcasts of Canadiens games, or getting wrapped up in the Habs’ dramatic run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2021, Alain’s Canadiens became Michael and Alexander’s Canadiens.
Photo courtesy of Rania Hage.
In 2022, Michael took the first step towards someday becoming a Hab, making the jump from minor hockey to junior hockey. His rights were held by the Ontario Hockey League’s Sudbury Wolves, but he opted to forgo the much more popular CHL pipeline and instead sign a deal to play with the United States Hockey League’s Chicago Steel.
But what should’ve been the start of the trail to his dreams quickly turned nightmarish. In Michael’s first ever skate with the Steel, he suffered a devastating blow. While going to push off a player, he popped his shoulder out, tearing his labrum, an aggravation of a prior injury he’d sustained.
Being just 16 years old, away from his tightly-knit circle of friends and family for the first time would’ve been daunting for anyone, especially someone as lively and social as Michael. Adding on the burden of a six-month recovery from injury made the transition all the more demoralizing.
Michael still found a way to make his presence on the team felt, though. After heading home to Mississauga for surgery and rehabilitation, he returned to the Steel after Christmas to be with his teammates and attend meetings, in spite of how much he wanted to be playing hockey instead of watching it. In showing up for his team as a friend when he couldn’t be a player, he demonstrated his commitment to what he really valued in hockey — the people he was playing with, and finding ways to be there for them.
“It was a really challenging situation for these kids whose whole lives are hockey often,” Michael’s coach with the Steel, Mike Garman, told The Daily. “But he made the most of it by just being a great teammate, choosing to be around.”
Though Hage only played 15 games with the Steel that first season, he still made his impact felt.
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The summer before Michael’s second season with the Steel, in 2023, he dealt with an unfathomable tragedy, with the passing of his father in a swimming pool accident. Alain’s love for the Habs was a gift to Michael that would connect them forever. Playing at the Bell Centre was Michael and Alain’s shared dream. Now, in his draft year, he was going to have to fulfill that dream without his father by his side.
Photo courtesy of Rania Hage.
But Michael responded with remarkable resilience in the face of immense adversity, with an individual campaign that cemented his status as a potential first-round pick in his draft year.
“You see what kind of people are when life gets the toughest,” Brandon Coccimiglio, a gym owner and trainer who worked with Michael for four years, told The Daily. “During that time, I’ve never seen so much resilience from just the person and from a family. I think going into that draft year for him, it was more than just a draft. I think he had this new, not goal, I should say, but this new mindset shift of who he was going to become, no matter what, and no matter all the adversity he suffered from.”
In the 2023-24 season with Chicago, Michael recorded 33 goals and 42 assists in 52 regular season games, earning him an All-USHL First Team designation. Michael entered the draft ranked as the 10th-best North American skater prospect in his class.
Even in the face of tragedy, Michael never lost sight of the personal touch that shaped his connection with hockey. He continued to work out at Coccimiglio’s gym with friends and teammates, throwing out his trademark quips when the opportunity arose.
“When there’s a group of guys there together, and he’s comfortable with them, this guy knows how to throw a good chirp at the boys at the right time,” Coccimiglio said. “He’s a funny guy.”
On that night in June of 2024, when Michael’s dream of being a Montreal Canadien came true, he shared it with many of the people who had helped him fulfill it. In addition to his mother and brother, Garman and the Steel’s staff attended, as did Coccimiglio. Thanks to his persistent emphasis on relationship building, he had a community’s worth of people who helped him make the best night of his life a reality, and with whom he could now celebrate his joy.
“I have no words, other than it was a surreal experience,” Rania said. “For him to be drafted by the Habs and to see him in that jersey, that was just … I don’t think any of us even let our minds go there ahead of the draft.”
Before Michael could don the red and blue, however, he still had a chapter in maize and blue left to be written.
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Having committed to play college hockey for the Wolverines earlier in 2024, before the NHL draft, Michael made his first appearance for Michigan in its 2024-25 season opener against Minnesota State. He hit the ground running, tallying seven points in his first five games.
By many measures, Michael’s freshman season was a success. His 34 points in 33 games ranked second on the team, and he was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Yet, there’s the feeling that Michael has unfinished business with the Wolverines.
“He probably wasn’t healthy 90% of the year last year,” Michigan coach Brandon Naurato said Sept. 25. “He’s had a big time summer in the gym … You know what his skill set looks like on the ice. He just added weight, he added strength, he added speed. We’re looking for him to do some really big things. He’s just got to execute now.”
Michael’s struggles with injury and the fact that the Wolverines missed out on the NCAA Tournament are some of his reasons to spend another year at Michigan. To that end, his improved fitness and continued evolution in the locker room as he steps into the role of a leader will be equally important.
The Wolverines are a young team, with 11 of the 26 roster spots belonging to freshmen. Michigan is looking for players to take on stewardship roles, and Michael, due to both his talent and status as a returner, is a prime candidate. Michael just needs to be who he has been his entire life — someone who values connection.
Photo courtesy of Rania Hage.
Michael’s love of wisecracks has carried over into the Wolverines’ locker room — especially now that freshmen forward Malcolm Spence and goaltender Jack Ivankovic now also call him teammates. Both of them are childhood friends of Michael with whom he grew up in Mississauga. Beyond the jokes, he continues to find ways to cultivate bonds with his Michigan teammates, whether it’s by spending the spring golfing, or attending Coldplay and Zach Bryan concerts. Through his talent and ability to forge relationships, he leads by trust and example.
“The biggest thing is just that you try to be remembered as a good person and someone who is just a good teammate,” Michael said. “And that’s what Michigan hockey is.”
Just like he did in Mississauga, in Chicago and on his draft night, Michael has cultivated close friendships and bonds with his fellow Wolverines by being himself. All his life, those bonds have been crucial to helping him overcome heartbreaking injuries and unimaginable loss. Now, they’re his biggest reason to stay at Michigan and continue to develop as a hockey player, as well as help lead this young team back towards the NCAA Tournament.
Someday soon, Michael will finally don the red and blue of his father’s beloved Canadiens at the Bell Centre in Montreal, as his mother, brother and every teammate and coach he’s formed bonds with cheer him on from the stands. But in the meantime, he still has jokes to crack, friendships to cement and games to win at Michigan.
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