Lisbon-raised Greg Moore is looking forward to another chapter with USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program.
Moore was named the 17th head coach in the history of the NTDP on Wednesday. The two-year program based in Plymouth, Michigan, features the top 16- and 17-year-old boys players in the country. He will coach the 2007 birth year players this season on the NTDP’s U17 team and the 2024-25 season on the NTDP’s U18 team.
In between his standout stints at St. Dominic Academy and the University of Maine, Moore was a player in the National Team Development Program. He also spent a few seasons as an NTDP assistant coach after his playing career ended.
“Obviously, having played there when I was 16 and 17 years old and starting my coaching career there a few years back, it’s been fun watching the program grow over the years,” Moore said. “The playing and coaching experience there will help me be a better head coach for the program and the players, and be able to help them handle the adversity the players go through at a young age.”
After a standout sophomore season at St. Dom’s in 1999-2000, when Moore put up 32 goals and 40 assists in 31 games and led the Saints to their second consecutive Class A state championship, he joined the NTDP when it was based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons. That included earning a gold medal with the U18 team at the International Ice Hockey Federation’s 2002 World Under-18 Championships.
Moore then played four years (2002-06) at the University of Maine, where he became the program’s first Maine-born captain, as well as an All-American and a Hobey Baker finalist, and helped the Black Bears reach two Frozen Fours.
Moore then embarked on a 10-year professional career. He was drafted in the fifth round by the Calgary Flames, but while he was still at UMaine he was traded to the New York Rangers. He eventually played 10 games in the NHL for the Rangers and the Columbus Blue Jackets. He played six seasons in the American Hockey League and four more in Europe, mostly in Germany.
His pro career ended in 2015, the same year he was hired to be an assistant coach for the NTDP.
“We are excited and fortunate to welcome Greg back to USA Hockey,” Scott Monaghan, USA Hockey’s assistant executive director for the NTDP and USA Hockey Arena, said in a news release. “He brings diverse experience, and we know he’ll be a great fit as a head coach in our program.”
After three years with the NTDP, Moore got his first head coaching job with the Chicago Steel of the Tier I United States Hockey League prior to the 2018-19 season. The Steel finished that season 37-21-1 and reached the USHL final.
Moore helped the Steel become not only one of the premier programs in the USHL but all of junior hockey in North America. He coached Owen Power, the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NHL draft who plays for the Buffalo Sabres, and Mackie Samoskevich, another 2021 first-round pick. Chicago won the 2020-21 USHL title.
The Steel started Moore’s second season 12-3-1. The Toronto Maple Leafs had taken notice of the Steel’s success, and in November 2019 hired Moore to be the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies. Moore racked up a 111-95 record with the Marlies.
Despite leading the Marlies to a 42-24 record this past season and reaching the second round of the AHL playoffs, Moore was let go by the Maple Leafs when they fired general manager Kyle Dubas, who had hired Moore, in May.
Moore said there are differences between coaching in the AHL and junior hockey.
“Pro hockey is a different level; there’s a lot of different pressures to win,” Moore said. “In the American League, it’s pretty volatile, with your roster changing all the time with injuries, call-ups to the Leafs and calling up players from the (ECHL), there’s so much turnover day-to-day to your lineup, it sometimes can make it challenging.
“But all those challenges for me have been a lot of good reps at managing different dynamics within the pro level. They will also help me with the unique dynamics that also take place at the NTDP, which is unlike any other place in the world in what they are managing and how their program is built.”
Moore said the pressure he experienced in Toronto, a city that wants to win hockey championships, was a lot different than the pressure he faced during his times at St. Dom’s and at the University of Maine.
“I think Toronto is a different situation, but (those three) are all great examples of good programs who play at a high level, who demand and expect championships and results,” Moore said. “I have been fortunate enough as a player or as a coach to be put in situations where there is a high expectation, high standard, and I want to continue that with my new role at the NTDP and the ’07s.”
The under-17 team plays a mixed schedule in the USHL, exhibitions against North American Hockey League teams and international competitions like the World Under-17 Challenge.
The Under-18 team also plays in the USHL, as well as exhibition games against NCAA teams and international tournaments. Winning the IIHF World Under-18 Championship is what the program prides itself on — the USA has won gold 10 times in program history.
Moore said he planned meet with the U17 players on a Zoom call Wednesday night. One of those players is defenseman Carter Amico from Westbrook.
Amico will be the fourth Mainer to play for the NTDP, joining Moore, James LaLiberte of Waterville, and Oliver Wahlstrom of Yarmouth.
“I am really excited to see a fellow Mainer on the roster,” Moore said of Amico. “I think it will be easier for us to connect, knowing a little bit of the similarities and the common things we know about the area of that country and the state of Maine. It’s very exciting and cool for him to have the opportunity to come here and play.”
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