*This is a guest post by Jack Danielsen*
There is a long and forever growing list of NHL players who are beloved by their fanbase because of singular moments, whether they be goals, saves, hits, or even post-game comments (every once and a while, I’ll find myself pulling up Dan Boyle trying to kick Larry Brooks and “the other one, Brett?” Cyrgalis out of the Rangers’ locker room). These are the players who cause you to immediately remember everything that happened in their seasons or maybe just their few games with the team. You’ll probably even remember some things you never even meant to be associated with a professional hockey team. Those moments away from a game where maybe you checked your phone to look at the score and, after seeing the hopefully good news, your surroundings instantly become part of a memory you will never forget. Every franchise has them and soon Seattle hockey fans will, too.
Dominic Moore and his goal against the Habs during the Stanley Cup run in 2014 is the perfect example of a moment like that for all of Rangers fandom (sorry Habs fans). Obviously though, Dom Moore isn’t tied solely to that one Rangers playoff goal in 2014. He’s an NHL award winner, an unsung hero to several teams’ Stanley Cup runs, an NHL analyst (and a fantastic one at that), and heads and organizes for not one but two charities dedicated to rare cancer research.
Before beginning a professional career that would span 15 years and two continents, Moore played 4 seasons at Harvard University from 1999 until 2003, entering the school as a sociology major. In the year 2000, Moore was drafted in the third round, 95th overall by the New York Rangers. In that same year, he was named to the ECAC All-Rookie Team after posting 12 goals and 12 assists in 30 games. Moore’s freshman year was also played alongside his two older brothers, Mark and Steve Moore, both NHL draft picks themselves (#179 by the Penguins and #53 by the Avalanche, respectively). The brothers Moore would become the first trio of siblings to play together in the long history of Harvard University’s men’s hockey team.
In his second year, the young center would earn ECAC Second All-Star team honors after putting up 43 points in just 32 games. After his two brothers graduated from Harvard, Dom Moore would help lead the Crimson on to win the 2002 ECAC Championship over Cornell, one of Harvard’s biggest rivals. The youngest Moore brother earned the captaincy for the 2002-03 and in that same year would be named NCAA (East) First Team All-American, ECAC All-Tournament Team, and ECAC First All-Star Team. In his final season in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Moore would leave the NCAA behind after posting a career-high in goals and points with 24 goals, 27 assists, and 51 points.
While he wouldn’t end up with the Rangers in his first pro season, he would make a lasting impression during that camp and earn one hell of a story. During a drill on day one of that Rangers training camp, Moore laid a check on the then 42 year-old Mark Messier that sent the Hall-of-Famer down to the ice, leaving a lasting impression with players and staff alike (a story that he himself shared on episode 271 of the Blueshirts Breakaway podcast). While he wouldn’t crack an NHL roster full-time until the 2005-06 season, he did play in his first 5 NHL games in 2003-04, tallying 3 assists in his first NHL game after filling in for an injured Eric Lindros. More impressive still, he did it under 8 minutes of ice-time in that game. He would spend the entirety of the 2004-05 season in Hartford but would never play in the AHL again after making the Rangers’ roster the following season.
In his first full season in the NHL, Moore played in all 82 games and put up 9 goals and 9 assists. Prior to the start of the 2006-07 season, Moore would be traded from New York to the Nashville Predators in a three-team deal for winger Adam Hall, and was immediately sent to Pittsburgh along with winger Libor Pivko in exchange for a 3rd round pick in the 2007 draft. Moore wouldn’t play a full season with the Pens, as he was then traded again to Minnesota after 59 games in the black and yellow in exchange for another 3rd round pick in the 2007 draft. After 40 games in parts of two seasons with the Wild, he was claimed off waivers by the Toronto Maple Leafs. In his second season in Toronto, Moore would be named an alternate captain with the team before another trade would land him in Buffalo. Splitting time with Buffalo and Toronto for the 2008-09 season, Moore would have the best season of his professional career with 13 goals, 32 assists in 81 games between the two clubs.
In 2009, Moore would finally be able to choose the team he played for, signing with Florida for 1-year at $1.1 Million. However, later in the season, because of his well-deserved reputation as a great penalty-killer and faceoff specialist, Moore would once again be checking his bags, this time en route to Montreal in exchange for a 2nd round pick in the 2011 draft. While only in Montreal for 21 regular season games, Moore would play some of the best hockey of his career, potting 2 goals and picking up 11 points. He would almost double his games played for the Habs that year after the bleu, blanc, et rouge went on an impressive playoff run that would see them upset the #1-seed Caps and the then defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins. In their series against the Caps, Moore had his first iconic playoff moment when he scored the game winning goal in game seven for the Habs (he giveth and he taketh away, I suppose). The below YouTube clip shows the goal, and nearly every comment (with the exception of the top comment, because of course Youtube) features fans sharing how special that goal was to them, how they miss Moore playing for their team and how they can remember celebrating that goal and that playoff run vividly.
But unfortunately for the player nicknamed The Professor, Moore wouldn’t reach the Stanley Cup finals in Montreal, as they were ousted in the Eastern Conference Final by the Flyers after being shutout in 3 of their 4 loses.
After a more than successful stint in Canada, Moore tested decided to sign in Tampa Bay for 2 years at an AAV of $1.1 Million. During the 2010-11 season with the Lightning, Moore set a career-high in goals with 18 in 77 games played. In the playoffs that same year, Moore set career-highs in assists and playoff points, scoring 3 goals and 8 assists for 11 points. Tampa would rally from a 3-1 series deficit and Moore would have 3 points in the first-round series win against the Penguins that year. His biggest point that series would come from an assist on the only goal scored in game seven; a beautiful behind the back, no-look pass to Sean Bergenheim. The Lightning would advance to and then sweep the Washington Capitals. Funnily enough, Adam Hall, another player involved in Moore’s first trade of many that sent him to Pittsburgh in 2006, would end up on the same Tampa Bay team that year and the two would combine for an empty net goal in game one of that series. Moore and Bergenheim would combine another 3 times in that series, giving Moore 5 points in those 4 games.
In the first game against Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals, Bergenheim would again score on a Dominic Moore pass for the first goal of the series which would again go to a game 7. A lone goal from Nathan Horton would send Boston to the Finals where they would take the Cup back to Boston, and Vancouverites would take to the streets in the Vancouver Stanley Cup Riot. Not the riot from the 1994 Stanley Cup loss, this was a whole new, fresh take on rioting after a Stanley Cup loss for the city in 2011. After the game seven loss, Moore would return to Tampa to fulfill the second year of his contract in 2011-12. He’d have a bit of a down year in scoring, tallying 19 points before he was packaged with Tampa’s 7th round pick in the 2012 draft in exchange for the San Jose Sharks’ 2012 2nd round pick.
Dominic Moore and his family have undoubtedly gone through more hardship than most people go through in their lifetime. The eldest Moore brother, Mark (who scored a 1590 out of 1600 on his SATs), sustained a string of concussions that would eventually end his professional career before it really started. Steve, the middle Moore brother, was on the receiving end of one of the most brutal events to ever happen in the NHL. Todd Bertuzzi ended his career after he sucker punched Steve in the back of the head and pushed him down on the ice, breaking three vertebrae and knocking him out for 10 minutes. Bertuzzi would end up pleading guilty to assault in 2004 and is paying Steve Moore damages resulting from the loss of income.
Like was mentioned before, Dominic Moore funds two charities that focus on rare cancer research. This is because in 2012, his first wife, Katie Urbanic Moore, would be diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer. After the two learned the diagnosis, Moore immediately left the sport to spend time with her, working on and eventually finishing the renovations on the home they shared in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and playing board games like Scrabble together. The two met at Harvard, both division one athletes. Unfortunately, after a nine-month battle, Katie passed away in January of 2013 at the age of 31.
Moore decided to turn this experience into as much of a positive as one could, founding the Katie Moore Foundation and Smashfest in 2013 (both links lead to the respective donation pages, please check them out if you feel so obliged). The goal of these organizations is to raise awareness and help develop treatment options for those diagnosed with rare forms of cancers. For Smashfest, NHL players design custom ping-pong tables that are auctioned off, the proceeds going to rare cancer research. Links to both of these organizations will be added below in case anyone wants to donate to two fantastic charities.
After an 18 month hiatus from the sport, Moore would make his return to hockey on July 5th of 2013 after he signed a one-year, $1 million contract with the New York Rangers. During the 2013-14 season, Moore had 6 goals and 12 assists in 72 games. But the regular season isn’t why the Ontario native is beloved by New York Rangers fans. In the first round of the playoffs that season, the Rangers faced off against the Flyers (and Adam Hall again). There, Moore would have 3 points (2 G, 1 A) in a series that would yet again go to 7 games but the Rangers would come out on top and advance to face the Penguins. Martin St. Louis would score his incredible Mother’s Day Goal in game six of this series to help make this one of the greatest playoff runs to watch as a fan.
This series would also go to 7 games and Moore would only have 1 point but it could not have come at a better time. Derek Dorsett, Dominic Moore, and Brian Boyle would combine for a gorgeous tic-tac-toe goal that would be the first of the game, Moore getting the primary assist. Brad Richards would ultimately send the Rangers on to the next round with a power-play goal in 2nd period and the team would move on to the Canadiens in one of the most memorable individual series in recent memory for Blueshirts fans (this is also where I’m legally obligated to point out that Chris Krieder was tripped).
Rangers’ legends Kevin Klein, Dominic Moore, and Martin St. Louis would combine for the first goal of the series. For the second, Moore would have the secondary assist on a Mats Zuccarello goal in a game that would lead to a 7-2 rout of the Canadiens. These would be the only points he would score in the series. That is, until the Moore and the Blueshirts would find themselves in game 7 once again. The first period would come and go and the teams would remain scoreless until the end of the second period. If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you know what happens next. Ryan McDonagh won a board battle and sent the puck behind the net to a waiting Brian Boyle. Boyle snapped the puck to Moore’s stick as he crashed Dustin Tokarski, and Moore would ingrain himself in a memory for Rangers fans everywhere with a series-clinching goal.
Henrik Lundqvist did Henrik Lundqvist things for the remainder of the game and shut-out Montreal to advance to the 2014 Stanley Cup Finals. Moore would score one more point, a goal in a 4-5 loss to the Kings in game 2, and if you’ve watched NBCSN while they reference anything to do with the Stanley Cup playoffs, you’ve seen the Alec Martinez double-OT goal that wrapped up the series in favor of the Kings.
Before Moore signed with the Rangers that season, most people who followed the league had heard about his story. Coupled with such a successful year on the ice, he would earn himself the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, awarded to a player who exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey.
The Rangers would re-sign Moore to a two-year, $1.5 million contract that off-season and, in 2014-15, he would play all 82 games, putting up 10 goals and 27 points to help the team win the President’s Trophy. Dom Moore would be largely quiet in the opening series against the Penguins until game 5 where he had the primary assist on Carl Hagelin’s series-clinching and game-winning goal.
In a comeback from a 3-1 series deficit against the Capitals, Moore would be held off the scoresheet in the seven game series but would bounce back in the Eastern Conference Finals against Tampa, where, in the first game, he would score the game-winning goal with less than three minutes remaining. The Rangers would tie the series up in game 6 and Moore would combine with none other than Tanner Glass to give James Sheppard a goal in a wild third period that saw 7 goals scored. Unfortunately for Moore and the Rangers, however, they would be eliminated in game 7 by the Lightning that year.
The next season would be Moore’s last with the Rangers. He’d score 15 points in 80 regular season games and would score one goal in the playoffs before he and the Rangers were eliminated in round 1. In a two-on-one with Krieder where both miraculously crossed the blueline onsides, Moore wristed it past Fleury to give New York a 2-0 lead that they wouldn’t be able to hold. That goal would be Moore’s last NHL playoff goal, as well as his last game in a Ranger’s sweater.
Moore would go on to sign a 1-year contract with Boston in 2016 where he’d put up 25 points in a full 82 game season. Unfortunately, the Bruins’ post-season would end after just 6 games where Moore would score his final playoff assist. From Boston, Moore would sign back with Toronto and play in last 50 regular season games, scoring his last 12 NHL points.
After being held scoreless in his final 2 NHL playoff games, the then 37 year-old wouldn’t re-sign with an NHL team for the following 2018-19 season, opting instead to sign in Switzerland for the then resigning NLA champions, the ZSC Lions toward the end of their season. The Lions were captained by former NHL defender and game winning goal enthusiast Kevin Klein and Moore would have 1 assist in 11 games. The Lions tried to make a playoff push but missed their goal by just one point. These 11 games in Switzerland would be Moore’s last as a professional player but he’s remained very active in the hockey world.
You may have seen him on NBCSN recently as a studio analyst for the NHL playoffs, a job that he’s been excelling at and will hopefully continue for years to come. In his 13 seasons playing in the world’s best hockey league, he played in 897 regular season games with 282 points with 106 goals. Including playoff games, he sits tied with Alex Burrows (among others) with 998 total games played. He was also one of the best faceoff specialists in the league, ending with a career 54.8% from the faceoff dot. More impressive still, his FO% was never below 50% for any single season. Moore would also receive votes for the Lady Byng and Selke awards in 4 different seasons. While his point totals may not jump off the page, his work ethic, defensive play, and determination was what endeared him to fans, teammates, and staff alike. He’s the person who was the first in the gym and the last out; the first on the practice ice and the last one to leave it. Fans always took notice of Moore’s play and they won’t soon forget it.
If there’s anything to take away from Dominic Moore’s time in the NHL or from his life, it’s to always remember the good times.
