The moment was one they each promised they’d never forget – Noah Davidson saying it “kind of didn’t feel real,” and his father, Michael, describing it as “a miracle.”
Now imagine if either of them actually had seen it happen.
That’s how monumental Noah’s goal was, the kid from Irvine scoring in the final two minutes to lift the U.S. National Under-17 hockey team to a 4-3 victory over Slovakia. It secured the championship of the 2024 Five Nations Tournament, an event held in Slovakia this summer.
“It was a big sense of relief,” Noah says. “It’s a big tournament, and it meant a lot to me, my teammates and a lot of people. To win it was a special feeling.”
Because of heavy traffic in front of the net, Noah says he didn’t see his shot off a rebound go in, explaining that he was unaware he had scored until the goalie’s water bottle resting atop the net popped into the air.
Up in the stands, Michael says he knew the U.S. had scored when all the Americans started celebrating, the players jumping around and the coaches hugging.
But it wasn’t until the on-ice crowd swarmed his son that he fully understood what had transpired in the frenzied scramble that produced the title-clinching goal.
“I was just happy that it looked like the U.S. was going to win,” Michael says. “When I realized it was Noah who scored, it was just a bigger high.”
The moment came about a decade after Noah, now 15, first tried hockey, his father still remembering how nervous the boy was before that first practice.
Noah said he wasn’t thrilled about his skating lessons early on, mostly recalling rinks that felt entirely too cold – until the sticks and pucks came out and the games began.
“I loved the sport pretty quickly,” he says. “Hockey is my passion now and something I want to do for the rest of my life.”
Explains Michael: “When I’d say to him, ‘Hey, there’s this extra practice. Do you want to go to it?’ He’d look at me like, ‘Of course, I want to. Why are you even asking me this question?’ He has a great passion for the game.”
Noah played in the Junior Ducks and Junior Kings programs before starting high school at Beckman. He’s now in Minnesota, in his second year at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, a renowned boarding school with a hockey history that includes the likes of Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews and Zach Parise.
Noah made his national team debut in Slovakia, wearing the iconic jersey with “USA” stitched diagonally across the chest. He was selected as one of 12 forwards after an extensive tryout process that culminated with a weeklong camp in Buffalo, New York.
“I’ve won some tournaments in the past, and those have all been really exciting,” Noah says. “But it definitely means a lot more when you win for team USA in a big international event. It was a huge honor.”
