Bradly Nadeau played his college hockey in Maine, but he was in a Michigan state of mind over the weekend.
Nadeau is now playing professional hockey in the Carolina Hurricanes system, and the 20-year-old forward pulled off a rare “Michigan” goal on Sunday to give his team a 1-0 lead.
A “Michigan” is a type of goal when a player sweeps the puck up off the ice, wraps it around from the back of the net and shovels it high into the net almost like a lacrosse player. This unique way of scoring gets its name from the legendary NCAA tournament goal notched by Michigan Wolverine Mike Legg in 1996.
You can watch Nadeau’s newest edition of a Michigan goal from Sunday here, courtesy of the NHL’s Instagram account.
Nadeau hammered home the impressive goal while playing for the Chicago Wolves, the Hurricanes AHL affiliate, against the Rockford IceHogs. Chicago went on to win the game 6-5.
In his first and only season at the University of Maine, Nadeau led the team in scoring with 46 points on 19 goals and 27 assists. His brother, Josh Nadeau, still plays for the Black Bears.
Bradly Nadeau has been off to a blistering scoring start to his professional career. In his debut season with the Wolves last year, he became just the sixth AHL player since 1940 to score 30 goals before reaching the age of 20.
He had a strong preseason with the Hurricanes, and there was some speculation that he might make the NHL roster to start the year.
But at least for now, he’s playing with Chicago, and the prolific goal-scorer has picked up right where he left off last season. Nadeau has two goals and two assists through three games so far for the Wolves this campaign.
