Athlete of the Week: Steve Moore '01

The wait for this performance has been excruciating.

Every weekend, star Harvard junior center Steve Moore would display a different facet of his game. Either he'd steamroll over his opponents, or he'd make a flashy pass to set-up a sure-fire goal, or get a golden opportunity himself.

But Moore would never quite have it all at once. A shot would hit the post, his linemate would fail to read the same play he did--something would happen to prohibit perfection. Until now.

In the penultimate weekend of the regular season, Moore was simply dominant. He bagged two goals and three assists to help the Harvard men's hockey team snap a seven-game ECAC winless streak by sweeping Princeton and Yale on the road, 4-1 and 5-2, respectively.

The wins were the Crimson's first at Hobey Baker Rink since 1996 and its first at the Yale Whale since 1993.

"It's getting to the point where we need him to do all the things he's capable of," said senior defenseman Mark Moore, Steve's older brother. "That's a big reason we got the wins on the scoreboard."

[Steve]Moore scored a critical game-tying goal in the finals seconds of the first period Friday at Princeton. Though Harvard outplayed the Tigers in the opening frame, it looked like Princeton would enter the first intermission with a 1-0 lead.

But freshman winger Brett Nowak found Moore in the slot and the junior made no mistake in burying past goalie Dave Stathos with just eight ticks left on the clock.

On Saturday, Moore put the nail in the Elis coffin. On the power play with 6:51 remaining in the game, Moore took a shot from the left face-off circle that was blocked. The rebound came right to Moore in the slot and he rifled it home for a 5-2 lead.

These were shots that Moore seemed to put just wide or barely send over the crossbar--but now they found the back of the net, giving Harvard the gun it has been waiting for all season.

Moore, however, contributes in other ways as well. He finally found a comfort zone with linemates senior Scott Turco and fellow junior Harry Schwefel.

Moore and Turco combined for a few odd-man rushes on the weekend, and converted one for the eventual game-winning goal against Princeton.

Without the puck, there may be no player stronger on his skates in the ECAC. Both the Bulldogs and the Tigers kept trying to out-muscle him along the boards, but he proved as difficult to knock down as the boards themselves.

Moore's renaissance--along with his younger brother, freshman center Dominic, and junior winger Chris Bala, who both had terrific weekends--couldn't come at a better time for Harvard. The Crimson will battle Union and RPI at Bright this weekend; if it executes the sweep again, Harvard will be home for the first round of the playoffs.

And if it does pull of the trick, look for Moore's name at the top of the scoresheet. At last.