Andy Moog

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Andrew Donald "Andy" Moog (born February 18, 1960 in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada) is a retired hockey goaltender. He is currently the goaltending coach as well as being responsible for monitoring player development at all levels for the NHL's Dallas Stars.

Moog was previously the Dallas Stars' assistant coach and has been their goaltending coach for a number of seasons. He has played for the WCHL's Kamloops Chiefs, WHL's Billings Bighorns, CHL's Wichita Wind, NHL's Edmonton Oilers, Boston Bruins, Dallas Stars, Montreal Canadiens and the Canadian national men's hockey team. Moog is a three time Stanley Cup winner and earned the 1989-90 NHL season William M. Jennings Trophy for fewest total goals against the team during the regular season, sharing the trophy with his goaltending partner, Rejean Lemelin.

Contents 1 Edmonton Oilers 2 Boston Bruins 3 Dallas Stars 4 Later career 5 Trivia

[edit] Edmonton Oilers

Moog was one of the original players of the Edmonton Oilers when they entered the league. He backstopped them to their first Stanley Cup finals in 1983, though they were swept by the New York Islanders who captured their fourth straight. Unfortunately, Oilers general manager Glen Sather had brought in Grant Fuhr for the next season in a two-goalie tandem. Moog was displaced and Fuhr played most of the playoffs but he was injured early in the Finals in a rematch against the Islanders. Moog stepped in and helped the Oilers to win the series, being in net for the Cup-clinching game. However, Fuhr continued to be the number one goalie for the subsequent seasons and Moog walked out on the Oilers in 1988 to play for Team Canada at the Calgary Winter Olympics.

[edit] Boston Bruins

Moog was traded to the Boston Bruins for Bill Ranford after the 1987-88 season. The Bruins also used a two-goalie system and Moog shared the duties with Rejean Lemelin. Despite Lemelin initially starting the 1989-90 playoffs, as he had been in net when the Bruins had a streak to win the Presidents Trophy, Moog would gain the starting position after a few games and perform heroics as his team went all of the way to the Stanley Cup Finals.

One highlight was during the first round against the Hartford Whalers when the series was tied two games apiece but the Whalers had a 5-2 lead entering the third period of Game 5; Moog replaced Lemelin and promptly shutout the Whalers for the remainder of the game while his teammates made the comeback by scoring four goals. Another memorable moment was in the second round when the Bruins finally defeated their longtime rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, in the Boston Garden for the first time in a playoff series since 1943. In the finals, the Bruins lost in five games to Moog's old team, the Oilers, who were backstopped by Ranford.

The Bruins defeated the Canadiens in the second round to make it to the Prince of Wales Conference Finals in both the 1991 and 1992 playoffs. Moog soon gained a reputation as the Bruins' biggest "Hab-killer," as he had shut out the Canadiens as part of a sweep in the 1992 postseason. However, they lost both times to the Pittsburgh Penguins, led by Mario Lemieux. In 1991, Boston was clearly favoured and took the first two games of the series each by 5-4 scores, but Pittsburgh then won the next four games and the series, going on to win the Stanley Cup. In 1992, Boston was no match for Pittsburgh and was swept in the conference finals.

In the 1992-93 season, Moog initially did not start off well, as he had a poor relationship with head coach Brian Sutter, and because his father died in January 1993. Afterwards, things improved and Moog backstopped his team to the Adams Division title and the second-best record in the entire league behind Pittsburgh; Moog himself was the runner-up for the William Jennings Trophy. The playoffs, however, were a disaster, as Boston was unexpectedly swept by the Buffalo Sabres, losing three overtime games. The final game saw Moog give up a heartbreaking overtime goal to the Sabres' Brad May, resulting in the famous "May Day! May Day!" call by Buffalo radio announcer Rick Jeanneret.

[edit] Dallas Stars

Moog was traded to the Minnesota North Stars, who relocated to Dallas for the 1993-94 season. He backstopped them to a winning record to return the Stars to the playoffs where they reached second round. In the 1996-97 NHL season, Moog helped Dallas to the Central Division title, but they were upset in the first round in seven games by the underdog Edmonton Oilers.

[edit] Later career

With the Stars bringing in Ed Belfour, Moog signed as a free agent with the Montreal Canadiens for the 1997-98 NHL season. Ironically, though Moog had helped to defeat Montreal three times in the playoffs, he backstopped the Habs to their first playoff series win since 1993.

Moog was selected to play in the National Hockey League All-Star Game game three times in his career. He was selected to the All-Star team for three of the four teams he played with: the Oilers (1985-86), Bruins (1990-91), and Stars (1996-97).

During the middle and later years of his career, Moog served as Vice-President of the National Hockey League Players Association. In this post, he became known as a spokesman for the players, both during the 1992 NHL players' strike and the 1995 NHL lockout.

On August 19, 2005, Team Canada appointed Moog as goaltending consultant for the 2006 Winter Olympics Canadian national men's hockey team.

[edit] Trivia

• The hockey oriented rock band "The Zambonis" did a song called "Andy Moog meets Robert Moog", which combined their love of hockey (with Andy Moog) and electronic music (Robert Moog).

Preceded by Patrick Roy, Brian Hayward

Winner of the Jennings Trophy 1990 (with Rejean Lemelin)

Succeeded by Ed Belfour