FEATURE: Owen The Moment

VANCOUVER, BC – Owen Michaels saw the puck hit the mesh inside the Canucks’ net on his one-knee shot from the slot, realizing the 24-year-old's long-awaited dream of not only playing in the NHL, but also scoring his first goal on Thursday night.

After that, it’s all just kind of a blur.

“Joe just made an unbelievable play,” Michaels said of Joseph’s pass from below the goal line to set him up. “I was alone in the middle and was able to beat the goalie to the far side. After that, I kind of blacked out.”

“Everyone congratulated me, saying to enjoy it. It’s pretty cool when you got some of the best players in the world patting you on the back and congratulating you.”

Michaels made it 2-0 in the second period of Thursday’s 9-7 win over the Canucks by becoming the 432nd different player to score a goal for the Oilers and the 29th undrafted player to score their first career NHL goal with the club.

The tally provided some much-needed depth scoring for the Oilers, but for Michaels,  it was the culmination of a whirlwind month that began at Rookie Camp before it reached a new level on Thursday after the highs of his NHL debut earlier this week.

Michaels was lucky enough to share the dream with his parents, Dan and Judy, and older sisters Bridget and Maggie, who flew out to Edmonton in time to see it, and after seeing that dream evolve into scoring his first NHL goal, he couldn't wait to catch up.

“Yeah, it's pretty cool,” he said. “It was a dream come true to make my debut a couple of days ago and then, a couple of days later, score my first NHL goal, so it’s really cool. I’m excited to get on my phone and talk to my parents and talk to my family, and I'm sure they were watching, so they're probably fired up.”

Connor McDavid was one of those players heaping praise on the surprise story coming out of Training Camp, which has seen the undrafted forward turned NCAA national champion last season with Western Michigan win his spot on the Oilers roster by carving out a role for himself amidst the opportunity available to him.

“Yeah, it makes it fun for everybody,” said McDavid, who recorded five points on Thursday. “What it's all about is these young guys coming into the league and finding a role and finding success. Obviously, he's been the epitome of that since the start of camp. He's been so good, and it’s great to see him get rewarded like that.”

Michaels seized his chance at Training Camp to earn a roster spot as a two-way right-shot centre and is now taking advantage of the opportunity with names like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jason Dickinson missing down the middle as the next man up.

“Michaels, thank goodness for him,” Head Coach Mike Babcock said. “It’s good for our team. We’ve got a bunch of guys auditioning for jobs, and you're never getting a better opportunity than this because you have so many guys out.  You're getting a chance, so you have to decide whether you want to be an important piece moving ahead.”

Everyone loves an underdog story, but for Michaels, he’s always been one to give himself the better odds.

From an undrafted forward to captain of the NCAA title-winning Western Michigan, then an Oilers prospect just days after finishing college, he credits his family for helping him get here and his desire to always be the hardest worker in the room.

"I think just staying grounded, being humble, taking it one day at a time, and being committed to putting the work in and staying consistent," he said. "This wasn't a process or a dream that came true in the last couple of weeks or months. It's been a lifetime of hard work, consistency, and sacrifice. That goes for my family, too. They've sacrificed a lot. So like I said, I'm really looking forward to opening up the phone and talking to them."