Andy Moog

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (July 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Andrew Donald "Andy" Moog pronounced /ˈmoʊɡ/ to rhyme with "vogue") was born February 18, 1960 in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada. He 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, Reggie Lemelin.

1 Edmonton Oilers
2 Boston Bruins
3 Dallas Stars
4 Later career
5 Musical Connection

[edit] Edmonton Oilers

Moog was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in 1980 and spent most of the season in the minors, until injuries to goaltenders Ron Low and Eddie Mio forced him into action late in the season. He was spectacular in a three-game first round sweep of the Montreal Canadiens that year. The following year, Moog was expected to team up with Low in the Oilers net, but 19-year old Grant Fuhr surprisingly made the team out of training camp and Moog was once again relegated to the minors, appearing in only 8 NHL games all season. In 1982–83, Oilers general manager and coach Glen Sather decided to go with the young duo of Moog and Fuhr and traded away Low. Moog was given the nod in the playoffs, where he backstopped the Oilers to their first Stanley Cup Finals, though they were swept by the New York Islanders, who captured their fourth straight. The next year, however, Sather went with Fuhr in the 1984 playoffs, until he was injured in the third game of 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, after demanding a trade, Moog walked out on the Oilers in 1987 to play for Team Canada at the Calgary Winter Olympics.

In the Olympics, Moog and Sean Burke played in four games each, and Canada finished fourth.

[edit] Boston Bruins

Moog was traded to the Boston Bruins for Bill Ranford shortly after the Olympics, on the trading deadline of the 1987–88 season. The Bruins also used a two-goalie system and Moog shared the duties with Reggie Lemelin, who saw most of the action as the Bruins went to the 1988 Finals and lost to the Oilers, though Moog was in goal for the clinching game. 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 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.

[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. During his time with the Stars, Moog often shared the workload of regular season games with Darcy Wakaluk and later Arturs Irbe.

[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 four times in the playoffs (once with the Oilers and three times with the Bruins), 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 four times in his career. He was selected to the All-Star team for three of the four teams he played with: the Oilers (1985 and 1986), Bruins (1991), and Stars (1997). In his two All-Star appearances as an Oiler, he and Fuhr were both selected to the team each year.

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] Musical Connection

The hockey oriented rock band "The Zambonis" composed and performed a song entitled "Andy Moog meets Robert Moog", which appears on their album "More Songs About Hockey...And Buildings And Food." This song combined their love of hockey (referencing Andy Moog) and electronic music (referencing Robert Moog).