Dominic Moore was just visiting Utah.
The retired NHL veteran spent part of his July with his family in Mantua, perhaps best known as a speed trap town between Brigham City and Logan, celebrating what the locals, including Moore’s mother-in-law, call Little Valley Days.
He didn’t plan to stay.
“Little did I know a month later I’d be getting a call from the team,” Moore said.
And Utah Hockey Club’s newest TV analyst — who played 13 seasons of professional hockey — has a history of answering the call when needed.
Returning to New York
When Utah takes the ice at Madison Square Garden this weekend, it will be another unexpected return for Moore.
In 2012, Moore took a step away from his on-ice career after his wife, Katie, was diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer. She passed away following a nine-month battle at the age of 32.
Moore was not sure he would ever return to the National Hockey League.
“Hockey was my whole life and everything I ever wanted to do,” Moore said recently, sitting at the Utah Olympic Oval. “But then when something like that happens, it puts it in perspective very quickly. I think you see it for more of these bigger-purpose things after that.”
Then the Rangers came calling.
The team initially drafted Moore 30th overall in the 2000 NHL Draft, but he had not played for the club since 2005-06. Moore and the team agreed to a one-year deal.
“Almost to a certain degree, if it wasn’t New York it might not have happened,” Moore said. “I think the idea of coming back to New York where I started my career was kind of the thing that made me want to return.”
Moore added center depth to a Rangers team that had its eyes on the Stanley Cup.
He was the driving force on the Rangers’ fourth line for most of the year while centering forwards Brian Boyle and Derek Dorsett. His veteran experience, defense-minded and gritty style of play set the tone for the bottom six, and his teammates quickly followed.
“He had an unbelievable year for us, and I’m so grateful that he did because I got to play on a line with him,” Boyle said. “It was remarkable just to see what he had gone through and how he could come to the rink and put everything into being at the rink. Not only just for himself as a player, but he helped me so much.”
Boyle, who was in his fifth season with the Rangers at the time, recalled meetings Moore used to hold with their line before games. Moore would gather the trio in the Knicks locker room at Madison Square Garden and go over their role for the matchup and the opportunity to make a difference. The fourth line took pride in what they did; Moore made sure of it.
New York Rangers center Dominic Moore (28) shoots to score against the Montreal Canadiens during the second period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs Eastern Conference finals, Thursday, May 29, 2014, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
The Ontario native finished the regular season with 18 points (six goals, 12 assists), but his most important tally of the year came in the playoffs. It was May 29, 2014, at MSG. The Rangers were in the Eastern Conference Finals and hosted the Montreal Canadiens for Game 6. If New York won, it was on to the Stanley Cup Final.
The contest was locked at 0-0 for almost 40 minutes. That is, until Moore broke through. Boyle had the primary assist.
With less than two minutes remaining in the second period, Boyle collected a pass from defenseman Ryan McDonagh below the goal line. He settled the puck as much as he could before popping it up to Moore, who crept into the slot and, with no hesitation, wristed it home for the 1-0 lead and ultimately the game-winning goal. The arena exploded.
“I’ll never forget the noise. The noise that erupted after he made that finish. I’ll never forget it. I can’t talk about it without a big smile on my face,” Boyle said. “I was just watching him celebrate, and I was kind of late to the pile because I was just trying to take it all in. Like, ‘I can’t believe he just buried that.’”
Moore’s goal sent New York to the Stanley Cup Final where they lost in five games to the Los Angeles Kings, but that play has a forever home in Rangers history. Beyond the score or the outcome of the season, Moore had climbed his way back into the NHL and followed through for his team under the brightest lights.
“That’s obviously the most memorable goal of my career,” Moore said. “It was definitely a culmination of a lot — the struggle to come back. You’re working tirelessly day in and day out to be able to make an impact in a key moment.”
Moore went on to play four more seasons in the NHL before retiring in 2019.
“The way he’s picked himself up off the floor after something unimaginable and contributed to the society around him, the world around him is remarkable really,” Boyle said. “That is Dom.”
A new calling
Moore eventually made the transition to the media side of things as a hockey analyst for NBC Sports and ESPN. He was living in Boston with his wife Mary, and their two young daughters. They planned to be there forever.
And then the Utah Hockey Club called.
It was mid-August when Moore got a call from the team “out of the blue.” Utah wanted him to join its broadcast team. Moore initially said that his family was not going to leave Boston.
“But, I’m not in the habit of saying no to things before learning more about it,” Moore said. “They just really communicated the vision of the team, talked about Ryan and Ashley [Smith] and what they’re trying to build here with the Utah Hockey Club. It was really evident really quickly that it was something special.”
A few weeks later, Moore, his wife and daughters were on a plane to Utah.
Throughout training camp and preseason broadcasts, Moore has been getting a feel for Utahns’ interest and knowledge level of hockey. Most of his research has been done at the dinner table during family gatherings with his local relatives.
“They’re so fired up about it. It’s great for me because they’re kind of like a great focus group for my role,” Moore said. “They’re really sporty, into sports, but for a lot of them, hockey is new. The questions they ask and the stuff that they want to talk about, it gives me a good sample of what’s going on in the community.”
(Ted S. Warren | AP) Then an ESPN NHL hockey analys Dominic Moore, left, hosts draft coverage with Chris Fowler, right, as he is introduced Wednesday, July 21, 2021, as a new player for the Seattle Kraken during the team's expansion draft event in Seattle. Moore is now a color analyst for Utah Hockey Club broadcasts.
Moore is working alongside play-by-play announcer Matt McConnell. McConnell spent 13 seasons as the voice of the Arizona Coyotes before joining the team in Utah when it relocated. The duo have been in the booth for a handful of preseason games as the hockey club is introduced to its new fans for the first time.
“As a play-by-play person you’re kind of a traffic cop and you let the analyst do what they do best, which is analyze the game because they played the game,” McConnell said. “I try to set him up, I try to bring out his experiences, I try to get him involved in not so much what we just saw on the ice, but how it happened and why it happened. He’s done a tremendous job in that area.”
Moore has leaned on his time as a professional NHLer to help communicate the game to a broader audience. He compared his new role to being a coach that isn’t just critical, but that tries to understand what a player saw on a certain play and then offers adjustments or explanations.
His daughters — who are 2 and 4 years old — visited him in the broadcast booth at the Delta Center during Utah’s first home preseason game on Sept. 23. The two stayed for the first period, went home in Utah Hockey Club shirts and insisted on wearing them to bed.
Moore, evidently, has a wide audience to speak to this season.
“I love to teach the game, and that’s what draws me to the role,” Moore said. “What could be better than teaching the game to a community that is embracing this sport and embracing this team for the first time?”
He knows that’s part of his calling now.
