Just under 11 minutes remained in the third period of Saturday’s women’s hockey game between Brown and eighth-ranked Quinnipiac when Bears freshman forward Margot Norehad made a move destined to break the Internet.
Her line was on the back end of a stingy forecheck against a Bobcats defense that couldn’t break through center ice, and an interception led to some creative movement between blueliners Miranda Calderone and Cameron Sikich. They switched ice to move from right to left, to which Norehad found a seam as the puck left Sikich’s stick.
The duo connected in stride, and as the Bears started a line change, Norehad remembered a conversation with head coach Mel Ruzzi in the days leading up to the weekend. They’d spoken specifically about attempting a “Michigan,” and when the Quinnipiac back line failed to chase her behind goalie Logan Angers, she saw the opening she needed to lift the puck on her backhand while skating at top speed.
Pretty sure this is what everyone wants to see 🤯@ESPNAssignDesk #EverTrue pic.twitter.com/kQg9hisBkI
— Brown Women's Hockey (@BrownU_WHockey) January 27, 2024
She cradled the puck into the top corner and instantly transformed a 1-1 hockey game between two ECAC opponents into a headline-stealing, spotlight-grabbing performance that took the top spot away from everyone. A weekend that led off with heightened anticipation over rivalry matchups throughout men’s college hockey found itself ushered off center stage by Sunday morning, and in the days since her goal broke a stalemate en route to a 4-1 victory, the Chicago-born freshman crashed the boys’ club of highlight-reel goals normally reserved for NHL superstars and international champions.
“Honestly, it was just a surreal moment,” said Norehad of her goal. “All of my teammates were so happy because it was a 1-1 that we’d flipped around, and we just knew that we had to win it from there and not let Quinnipiac score again. But there was also a piece where this is such a great group of girls that’s really supportive of everything, and with an unbelievable coaching staff that pushes us, I couldn’t have tried it without them supporting my back.”
“The Michigan” refers to a top shelf goal scored by Michigan forward Mike Legg during the Wolverines’ 1996 NCAA tournament matchup against Minnesota. Standing behind the Gopher net, he scooped the puck onto his forehand tape and tucked it inside the top corner for a lacrosse-style goal that helped move the team into the Frozen Four. Michigan subsequently won the national championship by defeating Colorado College in Cincinnati with the byproduct coming after the difference-maker goal for the then-CCHA champion’s win over its WCHA rivals.
It never really left hockey’s subconscious, but the advent of the Internet allowed Legg’s goal to gain more notoriety – and more creativity. As it became more well-known in the aftermath of Carolina Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov’s two Michigans in one season, Anaheim Ducks forward Trevor Zegras pushed it through a glass ceiling by scoring a lacrosse-style goal against the Montreal Canadiens before attempting a lacrosse assist against the Buffalo Sabres.
As more players found more ways to incorporate and practice stickwork, social media helped push it to a readily-reachable audience and a number of players who believed in their own ability to attempt the unique shot. In women’s hockey, the first known example of a Michigan at an elite level occurred last year when 14-year-old Slovakian skater Nela Lopusanova lifted a puck past Sweden goalie Felicia Frank in the first period of last year’s IIHF World Women’s U-18 Championship quarterfinal round matchup.
“I know she’d been thinking about it because we joked about it,” Ruzzi explained. “The night before, I sent her an Instagram highlight from a Sacred Heart player, and her mom actually texted me and said that her grandfather had been begging for her to try it. So I think it was something that popped into her head in that moment, but I think the most courageous part is that it wasn’t in a game where we were winning by five or losing by five. It was a big moment, and we had just scored where her line had actually scored the goal two shifts before that. It had been that kind of back-and-forth grind, and it took some courage to say that she was willing to make it happen in a 1-1 game.”
The goal springboarded Brown to a three-point performance by beating the No. 8 team in the nation and eventually won the weekend after the Bears’ come-from-behind, 1-1 tie against Princeton on Friday. They pulled within six points of the Tigers after a 1-1 tie against Yale on Saturday and simultaneously added space to a five-point cushion over Union in the race for home ice.
The Michigan was simultaneously Norehad’s seventh goal of the season and moved her into a tie for second on the team with sophomore India McDadi. Both sit five goals behind sophomore Jade Iginla – the daughter of Hockey Hall of Fame member Jarome Iginla – and each are members of a 10-point scoring club led by players in either their first or second year.
“This team in particular, we always have each other’s backs,” Norehad emphasized. “We’re always cheering each other on and always want to be successful. I had a few talks with Coach Mel about trying the Michigan game, and she said that if I had the chance, she wanted me to try it and not be afraid to try new things. To me, that’s just what a great coach says because there are other coaches who wouldn’t want me to try something and wouldn’t want me to make a mistake. But that’s how you learn, and I just think it’s really great that the coaches give us the opportunity to try new things and help us reach new levels of growth.”
“We talk about swagger,” Ruzzi added. “And you can’t have swagger without confidence. You can’t have confidence if you’re not prepared. I think this team’s at a place where it can have some swagger because they don’t just work hard. They get it right. This past weekend, they played with swagger and an edge against Princeton and that helped them pull some things off. We’re not 100 percent there yet, but we’re developing [the confidence] for the entire group. That’s the most exciting part because making that extra play, even with our seniors and juniors, they’re kids who work incredibly hard and can make plays.
“That’s the fun part of hockey.”
After her viral goal against No. 8 Quinnipiac that was named @sportscenter top play, get to know first-year Margot Norehad‼️
Margot speaks about the goal, being a student-athlete at Brown, and her skills beyond the ice. And yes, that is her playing the violin at the end 🐻🏒🎻… pic.twitter.com/572x7hRUoF
— Brown Athletics (@BrownU_Bears) January 29, 2024
That courage and confidence is a core tenet of Ruzzi’s philosophy as the young and emerging Brown team continues its growth, and it’s an indication of the growing depth and talent within a women’s game now exploding with overall talent.
The equality is still at a premium opposite training facilities and an overall investment in the game, but as National Girls and Women in Sports Day crests on next week’s calendar, young women everywhere are growing up in a world where women’s hockey is a popular piece of the winter sports landscape. The emergence of the Professional Women’s Hockey League and the overall availability of watching Olympic-level hockey is increasingly part of their experience as hockey players which both Ruzzi and Norehad are quick to point out on their own.
“These kids are doing things where they’re opening their hips and making sauce passes,” Ruzzi said. “The sky’s the limit. There are so many great, great young talents coming into the game at a national level. If you went to any women’s team in ECAC, you’ll see women pulling things off and tinkering and doing some really cool things, and that talent is growing all the time. The PWHL helps a lot with being seen on the national stage and with a fabulous broadcast, but you can watch women’s games all day, every day. For young players, being able to watch women play, it’s kind of a cliche, but if you can see it, you can be it.
“I can’t tell you how many families come to our games and then have parents say that their kid wants to play hockey. They want to be like Jade. They want to be like India. They want to be like Margot, and it’s just going to get better and better.”
“My freshman year of high school, I switched teams to the Chicago Mission after originally playing at the Double-A Northshore Warhawks,” Norehad added. “I tried out and played there for Courtney O’Connell and Erin Rourke, and ever since I was in middle school, I wanted to go to the ECAC and play for an Ivy League school. I was really fortunate that Coach Mel picked up and gave me a chance.
“The women’s game is growing every single day. There are so many mentors and athletes that are like Hilary Knight and Kendall Coyne, and they’re pushing to make girls’ hockey and women’s hockey more noticeable. What they’re doing with the PWHL is an enormous step towards building a future for young girls. I think it’s great, and it’s just a great feeling that we’re getting recognition that we feel like we should be getting.”
