Hockey has recently seen a surge of what is known as “lacrosse-style” goals in the last few months with Andrei Svechnikov scoring two in this fashion in the NHL — the first two goals to be scored as such in NHL gameplay according to The Hockey News. Others have scored with this move in other leagues before this, but it was historic when Svechnikov accomplished this in October due to it being the first time in NHL history.
Nils Hoglander has also accomplished the feat in the Swedish Hockey League, as well as most recently in the World Junior Championships.
The NHL released a video that has a brief history of lacrosse-style goals for those curious as to how this originated. Mike Legg of Michigan is widely credited with the first-ever goal of its kind scored in regular gameplay back in 1996 during the NCAA hockey tournament against the University of Minnesota. A tweet by the Denver Outlaws of Major League Lacrosse makes a special appearance in the video (it’s the fourth video down on the list).
We’ve included the original sequence from the game at the bottom of this article to reference as well.
Lacrosse has always had a fairly close connection with hockey throughout their histories, and this is just another prime example.
Every sport has an iconic move. Basketball has the dunk, lacrosse has the “Air Gait” and lacrosse-style goals could certainly be considered such for hockey.
Given that hockey has lacrosse-style goals, there’s got to be someone in lacrosse that has scored a “hockey-style” goal as well, right? I’m not familiar with any that have — at least at the professional or collegiate level — but am sure it has probably happened in high school or in the youth leagues. I guess it could be considered a “golf-style” goal as well…
If you have any footage of any lacrosse goals scored like a hockey goal or a golf swing, send them in! We’d love to feature them. Send them to us via email by clicking here. The upcoming season is the perfect time to do it — just make sure that you actually score because if you mess things up for your team we can’t be responsible for the reaction of your coach. And if they ask, we will deny everything.
‘The Michigan Goal’: Lacrosse-Style Hockey Goals
Andre Svechnikov 2019-2020 #1
Andre Svechnikov 2019-2020 #2
Nils Hoglander World Junior Hockey Championships
The History of ‘The Michigan Goal’ via NHL
(See if you can find the tweet by the Denver Outlaws of Major League Lacrosse in the video!)
