Action Jackson: Harvard Institutes Moore Curriculum

Welcome to Dominic Moore 101.

Over four seasons of college hockey, Moore, the Crimson captain, has built himself a reputation for teaching opposing defensemen and goaltenders new ways to look foolish.

After Saturday, however, Dominic Moore 101 is also a statement of fact. With five points this weekend, including his milestone 100th, Moore has tallied 101 career points in a Crimson uniform.

Following the game, Moore downplayed the significance of the milestone.

“I actually forgot about it,” Moore said. “I knew I was getting close, but I wasn’t really thinking about it. When they announced it after, that’s when I remembered it.”

Similarly, Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni appeared genuinely surprised.

“It was what—his 100th point?” Mazzoleni said. “I didn’t know. I have never been a big stats guy.”

Working down low on the power play in the second period, Moore took a perfectly threaded pass from junior forward Tim Pettit at the point.

“I was hoping to get the shot off right away, but it wasn’t quite where I wanted it,” Moore said. “Funny thing is, the defensemen thought I was going to shoot and went down. I just stepped around him, walked into the hole and found the top corner.”

He says it matter-of-factly, as though he could reproduce the same move, the same shot and the same result a dozen times over if given the opportunity.

The goal was classic Moore.

Asked after the game Friday if he was concerned as the team opened the season without a goal in its first 87 minutes, Moore made a slight shrug and quickly dismissed the idea.

“We are a persistent group of guys,” Moore said. “We were just going to keep pushing until it came. I knew once we got one the floodgates would open, and we’d been on track. That’s exactly what happened.”

Just as Saturday’s milestone goal against Vermont was clearly a career highlight for Moore, the Catamounts’ last visit to Cambridge in February 2002 may have been lowest point in Moore’s Harvard career.

Moore spent that night in a suit and tie, watching the action from off the ice after a coach’s decision by Mazzoleni left him as a healthy scratch for the first time in his Harvard career. The Crimson was mired in an eight-game stretch in which it won just once, and a return to national prominence was the farthest thing from most people’s minds.

What does a late-season surge, an ECAC tournament title and a NCAA birth change?

Everything.

Harvard entered the 2002-03 season nationally ranked in the top 15 and returned the conference’s most explosive offense, of which Moore is the the unquestioned leader.

“I’m a creative player,” Moore said at the start of the season. “And a lot of times I may have bucked the system [Mazzoleni] has been trying to enforce.”

Whereas Moore’s independent creative style on the ice landed him on the bench last season, there are early signs that Mazzoleni may be more willing this year to allow his offensive players more freedom on the ice.

That should serve as a warning to goaltenders around the conference.

“This year [Mazzoleni] has more confidence in us,” Moore said. “He’s got a more talented group of players that he feels he can allow more liberty with.”

You can see the praise and admiration for Moore in Mazzoleni’s comments.

“He is a slasher and dasher. And a true skill player,” Mazzoleni said. “It is nice to see someone who has worked so hard and given so much to this program rewarded. He’s a humble man and this is a very rewarding milestone for him.”

The Crimson has the talent at forward to punish defenses on a weekly basis, as long as the effort is consistently there and its most creative players are given the opportunity to shine.

“There are a lot of skilled guys on this team right now and that is why we have such high expectations for ourselves,” Moore said. “Last week wasn’t ideal, but we learned our lesson that we have to compete every night to get a win despite our talent.”

With 56 shots on net Saturday against Vermont and another 32 Friday on Dartmouth, it is safe to say the Crimson took the lesson to heart.

“Vermont likes to open it up a lot,” Moore said. “We knew their run-and-gun style would backfire eventually, and we’d get our chances. We’ve got the skill that can play that open game, and it worked for us.”

It is also a lot of fun to watch.

Led by Moore, senior center Brett Nowak and junior winger Tyler Kolarik, who netted four points this weekend, Harvard showed the offensive barrage the team is capable of when it gets to the net, creates traffic and let’s its best players create opportunities.

“One of our most accomplished areas is our ability to move the puck in the offensive zone, move our feet and try to get to the net,” Mazzoleni said. “If you get to the point where it’s not there, put it back on the wall, keep being tenacious along the boards and you will be rewarded, as we were [Saturday].”

For more lessons in goal scoring, stay tuned for Dominic Moore 102, 103, 104 and beyond. It is coming soon to an arena near you.

—Staff writer Timothy Jackson can be reached at jackson2@fas.harvard.edu.