Striving to Learn Moore– an Interview with Dominic Moore

Friday, 02.11.2011 / 03:36 PM / Radio Waves By Lightning Radio
We continue with our Lightning player interviews, as “assistant to the assistant” Rob Boelke brings you his interview with Dominic Moore, recorded on February 2nd.


You can listen to the interview in its entirety here:

http://downloads.lightning.nhl.com/audio/2011/02/08/lrn/DMooreRW.mp3

Original Post here:

http://blogs.lightning.nhl.com/11319/striving-to-learn-moore-an-interview-with-dominic-moore/

If you remember the last time I penned a column for Radio Waves, I also eluded to this edition of the Lightning as a team ‘graduating college’ or beginning the process of becoming one of the premier hockey franchises in the world. In the past couple of weeks we have certainly seen evidence that supports my analogy, both on and off the ice. Off the ice, our owner Jeff Vinik has pledged the better part of $50 million to renovate the St. Pete Times Forum as well as to assist local charities and organizations within the Tampa Bay area. On the ice, the Lightning continues to set franchise records, off to its best start this late in to a season.

During a recent six-game win streak, broken February 4th in a loss to the Washington Capitals, Dominic Moore made his presence known once again, especially in the shootouts against Florida and Atlanta. “Those were a couple games where we maybe did not play our best, but we hung in there and gave ourselves a chance. I was fortunate to get lucky on those couple of goals. The more important thing is that everyone is doing their part and that we have a total team effort every night”, Moore told me after practice last Wednesday at the St. Pete Times Forum.

Moore is no stranger to talks of graduation or schooling either. In fact, this entire team isn’t. Eleven players have attended college in some capacity, not to mention Coach Guy Boucher’s four degrees, but there is something about Moore that most wouldn’t know without having a look at his bio. He spent four years at the Ivy League of Ivy League schools– Harvard University. As soon as I found that out, I knew I had to grill him about the secret societies and infamous final clubs.

“The good thing about going to a place like that is that you get the best of both worlds. (Harvard) hockey is one of the longest standing traditions in NCAA hockey, and academically, the best thing about going there are the people you meet. People from all walks of life, and that’s what I appreciate the most.”

Any educated hockey fan knows that the usual course to a professional career is one of the many regional junior leagues, but what I wanted to know was how many current NHL’ers went the college route like Dominic. USA Today keeps an updated database on NHL player origins. As I counted the 142 names one by one, nearly 20% of the league, I realized Moore’s decision to follow a different path is truly rare and unique. He told me that this path was not one paved just by hockey, but by family.

“We’re very grateful for the opportunities that we we’re able to get and I give the credit to my brothers for paving the way. It was a neat experience, one which we all appreciate.” Dominic’s older brothers, Steve and Mark, also attended the university and also played Hockey for the Crimson. In fact, the trio was able to play together during the 1999-2000 Eastern College Athletic Conference season, a season in which Dominic was named Ivy League Rookie of the year. Dominic went on to captain the Crimson during his junior and senior seasons, and following his senior season, he was named Harvard Male Athlete of the Year.

Aside from his brothers already being in Cambridge, Dominic mentioned that his decision to play college hockey over juniors came down to the structure of the league, and his ability to grow as a player within that structure. “College hockey is stronger now than it ever has been, and for me, it was a great experience. I was a late bloomer in terms of my game, and (college hockey) allows you to work on your fitness more, because you don’t play as many games.”

Late bloomer or not, his game is all there now, giving reason to the Lightning’s offseason acquisition of Moore, who’s bounced around the league a bit, playing with the Rangers, Leafs, Sabres, Penguins, Canadiens, Wild, and Panthers, before signing his current two year deal with the Bolts. When asked, he seemed happy to be here and have a bit of consistency. “There were so many changes here from last year to this year, with a lot of new faces from top to bottom. It’s an exciting time to be a part of this team, and I think everyone feels that energy.”

That bolt of energy has helped Moore carve out a niche in the hard-working third line of the Lightning, and has also helped him start his time in a Lightning uniform with four goals in the first five games of the season. In fact, the Bolts are 7-1 when Moore has scored this season. His work ethic on the ice is something we can all learn from… and it’s an education we can all experience without the costly student loan repayments over the next 25 years.