Male Athlete of the Year: Moore is Better for Harvard Hockey

The captain of the Harvard men’s hockey team had a disappointing season, concluding his career in late March instead of mid-April as he might have liked. It’s probably indicative of how much Dominic Moore has brought to the Harvard hockey team that an appearance in the ECAC finals, a berth in the NCAA tournament and a finish among the Top 10 teams in the country can be considered disappointing. And for that reason alone—all numbers and accolades excluded—Dominic Moore is The Crimson’s male athlete of the year.

Not that Moore doesn’t have his share of numbers or accolades—he has both in spades—but the true measure of a valuable player is his ability or lack thereof to make his teammates better. Over the course of his four years in Cambridge, he has improved from a skilled scorer to a potent, all-around player that can just as easily juke a defender as direct a perfect puck to an open teammate across the ice. And his contributions to the hockey program and the folks in the seats at the Bright Hockey center have not gone unnoticed.

“Dominic Moore has been a great player for us for four years,” Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni said, in a phrase that exists squarely in the realm of understatement.

Over those four years, Moore has tallied 146 points, placing him 11th on Harvard’s all-time scoring list, and earning him praise from the coaches of conference opponents whom he gives many a sleepless night.

“I’ve always been impressed with Dominic Moore’s ability, particularly down low,” St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh said. “He’s like a one-man cycle, he really protects the puck well with speed and he’s strong over the puck.”

Moore’s strength over the puck is something that has been developed over years of conditioning and practice with his teammates, the people who voted Moore the 107th captain of the Harvard hockey.

“The whole team, all the members of each class, from the seniors down to the freshmen, they all have a great deal of respect for him,” sophomore goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris said.

That respect comes from the hard work and intensity he exhibits, traits which are both assets and liabilities for Moore, according to his coach.

“Sometimes Dominic can even put too much on his own shoulders and try to do too much,” Mazzoleni said. “But I’d rather have players like that—you want kids who want the puck at the crucial moment.”

Wanting the puck at the crucial moment is a perfect phrase to describe Moore, and it recalls perhaps the most crucial moment of the 2001-2002 Harvard hockey season.

The second game of Harvard’s opening round ECAC playoff against Brown had dragged on late into the night. Three periods were not enough for the Crimson to solve Brown goaltender Yann Danis, and then an extra 20 minutes wasn’t enough either. But at 14:41 of the second extra session, Moore singlehandedly advanced the Crimson to Lake Placid and the ECAC semifinal.

The play started with a hard shot from the slot which Danis turned aside. Having already logged a high portion of the game’s 85 minutes, most of the skaters on both sides were sluggish; Moore was not. He collected the rebound that Danis could not hold and skated around behind the net, emerging on the other side to fire another shot towards the Brown goalie. Again Danis blocked Moore’s shot, but again he failed to collect the loose puck. Moore scooped it up once again, circled the net a second time, and emerged to wrist a quick shot by Danis. The goal gave the Crimson a 2-1 win, and sent Harvard on the road to Lake Placid, and an eventual ECAC title.

That is only one example of a time when Moore wanted the puck and converted in crunch time. Multiple other examples of his clutch performance can be drawn from the end of this past season, when Moore went on a tear, scoring 28 goals over his last 12 games. That was the most points of any player in college hockey over that stretch, earned Moore All-American acknowledgement and confirmed what many folks in the bleachers at Bright had said all along—Dominic Moore is the best all-around hockey player in the East.

Evidence for that heady contention was on display in the Crimson’s last two games of the season. Despite Harvard losing both games, Moore acquitted himself as the most potent offensive weapon and one of the best defensive players among the best teams in the ECAC and in Hockey East. Against Cornell and BU, Moore outshined Ithacans like Stephen Baby and Ryan Vsece, and Terriers like Ryan Whitney.

And after the final game of Harvard’s season—a 6-4 loss to BU in the opening round of the NCAAs—and still fresh off the disappointment of that loss, his coach took time to recognize just how valuable a player Moore was in his time at Harvard.

“Let me just say something for a minute,” Mazzoleni started. “I thought Dominic Moore was exceptional tonight, and I’m not just saying that because he’s in this room right now. He was the best player on the ice tonight, hands down.”

“He’s someone we’re really going to miss in this program,” Mazzoleni concluded. “You can see the type of winner he is by the way he finished his career.”

Moore was exceptional against BU, scoring a goal and winning almost 80 percent of his face-offs over a variety of Terrier centermen. And Harvard is certainly going to miss him; how much is still anyone’s guess.

One thing is clear though: Moore’s individual efforts are exemplary, his grit unquestioned and his game continuing to develop.

—Staff writer Timothy M. McDonald can be reached at tmcdonal@fas.harvard.edu.