'Don't move on, just move forward': How hockey helped Michigan's Michael Hage overcome tragedy

Editor's note: This story, which was originally published March 26 before the start of the NCAA tournament, has been updated.

AS A BLUE-BLOOD college hockey power stacked with high-end talent, Michigan's expectations never waver. It's a program built on nine national championships, where the postseason isn't about participation, but what happens next.

For star sophomore Michael Hage, the fact the path to a national title runs through Las Vegas this year -- the site of the Frozen Four -- includes an element of karmic fate.

It was in Las Vegas where one of the most significant moments of Hage's hockey career occurred. The 19-year-old center doesn't remember everything about his NHL draft night at the Sphere in June 2024: not the exact sequence, not every name called before him.

But he can still describe the unmistakable energy of his friends and family sitting alongside him, a traveling party of nearly 60. He remembers the way his heart sped up when the Montreal Canadiens were on the clock at No. 21. And a moment, right before the pick, when he leaned toward his mom.

"Do you think it's going to be me?" he asked.

"I was hoping," Rania Saba says now.

Then it happened.

"Surreal," she said. "There's no way you could've scripted it any better."

Few things in Hage's life have gone according to script. But there's one throughline in his journey, and it's a mantra from his mother: "Don't move on, just move forward." That was on full display this season, as Hage emerged as one of the top playmakers in the country for the top overall seed in the NCAA tournament.

Michigan will face Denver in a Frozen Four semifinal Thursday night (8:30 ET, ESPN2), and while Hage was limited in the first two games because of a lower-body injury, Michigan coach Brandon Naurato says he is probable to play against the Pioneers.

"Every time the puck is on his stick," Naurato said, "you think there could be some highlight reel coming."

"If you're ever under pressure," teammate Will Horcoff said, "you know he's gonna make a play."

Hage entered the NCAA tournament as Michigan's second-leading scorer -- and tied for third nationally -- with 51 points through 37 games. He is both grounded and ascendant.

"Everyone has their own story," Hage said. "Just trying to be grateful is probably the biggest thing I've learned."

GROWING UP IN Greater Toronto, Michael Hage was a shy kid, the kind who needed his mom to stand beside him on the soccer field.

"I had to hold his hand," Saba said.

Then he stepped on the ice.

"When I put skates on, it was something that I just loved to do," he said. "And didn't need any pushing."

Hockey fandom, on the other hand, was presented without a choice. Hage came home from the hospital in Canadiens gear.

"There was no option," Saba said. "He was born into it."

His dad, Alain, made sure of that. Alain's family emigrated from Egypt to Montreal in the 1960s.

"Hockey wasn't really something that was affordable for him and his family," Michael said. Alain Hage settled on playing high school football.

But hockey remained his passion, especially the Canadiens. He yelled at the TV during games. He celebrated Montreal's 1993 Stanley Cup in the decades that followed.

The other thing Alain loved was Rania. They were introduced through their families when they were 13. She had a crush first. He caught on later.

They went to Concordia University together; she studied accounting, he was in finance.

Saba described her husband: "Driven. Stubborn at times. Competitive. And a good person."

And as he became a father to Michael and his younger brother, Alex, there was nothing Alain dialed into more than his sons' hockey careers.

Michael's breakthrough came when he was 10 at the Brick Invitational Tournament, the biggest youth hockey showcase in North America. Hage was the tournament's leading scorer.

"He kind of set himself away from everyone else," Alex Hage said.

It set the entire family on a path, as Alain knew how to push his sons. As a hockey dad, he was quiet during games, and exacting afterward.

"If I knew I didn't play well, it was a little scary getting back into the car," Alex said. "He'd tell me everything I could've done better. I think that's part of why I'm not set for the bare minimum."

Naurato got to know Alain through the recruiting process. "He was intense, in an awesome way," Naurato said. "Educated hockey guy, big fan of the game, and he wanted to know the information."

That continued at home, during living room tape sessions.

"He'd be pausing the video every two seconds," Alex recalled. "Correcting this, correcting that."

At age 16, Michael moved to the States to further his hockey career as a top prospect, playing for the Chicago Steel of the USHL. Away from home, he constantly thought about the values Alain instilled in him. They were simple, even if the delivery wasn't always easy: Compete, pay attention to details and don't settle.

IT WAS AN ordinary summer night -- that's something Saba still comes back to. The Hages hosted a barbecue at their house in June 2023. Michael's billet (or host) family was visiting from Chicago. Kids ran in and out of the pool. The air was filled with conversation, laughter and music.

"We were having a normal day," Saba said.

At some point between dinner and dessert, Alain dove into the pool. No one noticed anything right away.

Then came a voice from one of the children in the pool, half-joking at first, something like "He's playing dead."

Saba walked closer.

"And when I looked in the pool," she said, "something looked off."

That's when everything changed. Saba started screaming. Michael and one of his friends were nearby, sitting in the hot tub.

"I had to dive in there and grab him," Michael said. "It was a horrible moment. It was one of the hardest things in my life. And it just, like, just didn't feel real honestly. I try not to think about it."

Everything that followed was a blur: calls, CPR, people scrambling to help however they could, sirens approaching. Within an hour, Alain had died.

"Alain had an accident in the backyard in the pool and banged his head, and our life changed," Saba said.

"I just remember having so many questions," Michael said. "Like, why? Why me? Why our family?"

NOTHING FELT THE same for a while. Eventually, Michael Hage knew there was only one place to go: back to the rink. Playing hockey didn't fix anything or make sense of what happened.

"It provided him with stability, routine, his happy place," Saba said. "When he's training, when he's with his hockey friends, when he's on the ice, that's his meditation."

Hage had dealt with adversity before. In his first year with the Chicago Steel, a shoulder injury cost him the entire season.

"It was a long, long time. Three, four months just sitting on my couch doing not much, waiting," he said. "It made me that much more excited. Just being healthy, able to do what I love."

As he returned to Chicago following his father's death -- in a pivotal season to prove his worth to NHL scouts -- he heeded the advice of his mother: "Don't move on, just move forward."

The following fall he made an immediate impact at Michigan, scoring four points in his opening weekend against Minnesota State. He was named the Big Ten Rookie of the Year for the 2024-25 season after finishing second on his team in scoring (34 points in 33 games).

"He reminds me of Mike Modano. Like when Mike skates, that jersey flaps in the back," Naurato said. "But we'll see, he's carving his own path."

At Michigan, Hage developed a brotherhood that became his support system. He and teammates live together in a house, which Horcoff describes as loud, messy and normal. Saba has become a legend to the crew, especially when she visits and helps with cleaning and cooking.

"She's the best," Horcoff said. "She takes care of all of us."

Hage's teammates see the way his family still honors Alain, who shaped so much of Michael's development.

"He doesn't let things define him," said Dakoda Rheume, another one of his best friends at Michigan. "I know every time he has a good game, he pictures his dad up there."

Michael felt Alain's presence the last time he was in Vegas, putting on a Montreal Canadiens sweater bearing his name for the first time.

"I know he was there with me," Michael said. "Just knowing that he was watching over me, it meant everything."

He is back in the same city, but for a different moment. For Hage, he'll never move on from what happened. He'll just continue to move forward.

ESPN's Jon Fish contributed to this report.