Hockey's lacrosse move is here to stay
23 years after Mike Legg's viral goal, Andrei Svechnikov re-introduced it to the NHL
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It took a quarter century, but the lacrosse move finally made it
You've seen it: the hockey play where someone scoops the puck onto his blade with a flick of the wrists (usually from behind the net) and tucks it into the top corner of the net. Most of us witnessed this for the first time back in 1996, when a University of Michigan player named Mike Legg scored with the so-called "lacrosse move" (or "The Michigan" if you prefer) during the second round of the NCAA men's hockey tournament.
Legg didn't invent the trick. A career minor-leaguer named Bill Armstrong did it several times before him, and Legg credits Armstrong with showing him the move during summer workouts in their mutual hometown of London, Ont. But Armstrong's goals came in games no one really cared about, captured on grainy video (if at all). Legg scored his in one of the most popular hockey tournaments in the world, during a game televised live on ESPN. Michigan went on to win the game en route to capturing the Frozen Four championship with a team that featured 11 future NHLers, including Brendan Morrison and Marty Turco. So you could say Legg introduced the lacrosse move to a mass audience.
Legg's goal went viral — or at least the pre-social-media version of that, appearing on every highlight show and local-news sports segment. If you played hockey at the time, there's a 100 per cent chance you or someone else on your team tried it at your next practice or pickup game. It was named the "outrageous play of the year" at the ESPYs. It seemed like the lacrosse move might become the next big thing in hockey.
Except it didn't. No one scored a lacrosse goal in the NHL until 23 years later, when Carolina's Andrei Svechnikov did it on Oct. 29, 2019. Maybe that'll go down as the move's re-birth date, because Svechnikov scored with it again on Dec. 17 and Nashville's Filip Forsberg one-upped him with an even prettier version a month later. Toronto star Auston Matthews appeared to try (and fail) one too. So, like some other things from the '90s, maybe the lacrosse move is making a comeback.
A couple of theories as to why: today's players, top to bottom, are more skilled with the puck (and devote more time to working on those skills) than ever. And coaches are starting to loosen up and allow more creativity. A lacrosse-move attempt in the '90s might have gotten you benched by a crusty coach. But many of the guys in charge of today's NHL teams were players when Legg scored his goal. They may have fooled around with the move themselves or at least thought it was cool.
Someone else thought it was cool, and it might surprise you. Steve DeBus was the University of Minnesota goalie who allowed Legg's goal. A lot of people might prefer to bury such a moment in their past, but DeBus is an affable guy with a healthy perspective on his moment of infamy. He thinks it's great that young players today are getting creative and trying the move, and he doesn't even mind that it's in his son's new NHL 21 video game.
You can also watch our video on the evolution of the lacrosse move below.
Two reading recommendations for lacrosse-goal aficionados: this 2016 story by Yahoo's Sean Leahy on how Legg and Armstrong developed the move, and this 2020 story by Vicki Hall for CBC Sports on what makes it so hard to pull off and what goalies are doing to stop it.
Quickly...
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Hockey Canada shut down its national junior team selection camp until Dec. 6 after two players tested positive for the coronavirus. The organization said that players, coaches and staff at the camp in Red Deer, Alta., have entered a 14-day quarantine (retroactive to Monday) in accordance with provincial health rules. The purpose of the camp is to prepare and help choose Canada's team for the upcoming world junior championship, which opens Christmas Day in Edmonton. But this shutdown and the rising coronavirus case count in Alberta -- not to mention in Canada and other countries competing in the tournament — raise doubts about whether it can actually be pulled off. Read more about the Canadian team's quarantine here.
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Coming up on CBC Sports
Canadian Premier League Awards: Find out who wins the Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Best Canadian U-21 and Golden Glove (best goalkeeper) prizes for the soccer league's second season. Live Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET here.
Grand Prix of Figure Skating — NHK Trophy: The Japan stop is potentially the last Grand Prix event of the year because the Final (originally set for mid-December in Beijing) was postponed indefinitely. Due to pandemic-related restrictions, all but one of the skaters competing in Osaka are from Japan (and, once again, there are no Canadians). Also, there's no pairs event. Watch the opening programs in the women's, dance and men's competitions live Friday starting at 1:15 a.m. ET here.
World Cup skeleton: This week's events are being held on the same track in Latvia that hosted the season openers last week. Once again, no Canadians are competing. The women's race is Friday at 3 a.m. ET and the men's at 8 a.m. ET. Watch them both live here.
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