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Abdelkader talks NCAA game-winning goal, college hockey experience in Players’ Tribune article

MiHockey Staff
Photo by Andrew Knapik/MiHockey
Photo by Andrew Knapik/MiHockey

 

By @MichaelCaples –

“The puck is in the net?!

I’m stumbling. I almost fall down. I’m freaking out. My teammates mob me in the corner. What is happening?”

It’s a story he has told in interviews countless times by now. Justin Abdelkader scored the game-winning goal for Michigan State during their 2007 national title game win over Boston College, and as his hockey career has continued to grow, so too has the legend of his most-famous goal.

The Red Wings’ No. 8 – a Muskegon native who grew up a MSU fan – had a chance to share his own college hockey story through The Players’ Tribune recently. Here are some of the highlights, but make sure out check out the article below.

 

“Sir, I was pretty impressed with your son out there, and we’d like to offer h– …”

“We’ll take it! We’ll take it!”

He didn’t even get to finish his pitch. I was already a Spartan. A lot of parents might have seen dollar signs, or just been blinded by the thought of their kid playing in the NHL. But my dad was always like, “Imagine the feeling of putting on the green and white jersey and playing for the entire school? How cool would that be?”

 

Just the rush of that first game, and your first realization that you’re playing for your fellow students — the same people you’re in class with the next day — is worth all the homework and the late-night Study Table sessions and the Computer Programming class that gives you nightmares.

The next spring, near the end of my junior year, it was time to make a decision. The Detroit Red Wings wanted me to sign a contract. I could play in my first NHL game that Thursday. As a kid from Michigan, I grew up rooting for the Wings. They had just finished the regular season with the best record in the NHL and were about to make a run at the Cup. Now I had a chance to put on the Red Wings sweater and be a part of it.