Chicago Steel first-year head coach Greg Moore will guide his team into the Clark Cup Playoffs next week. With one weekend left in the regular season, Moore and his team are holding onto a one-point advantage for second place in the Eastern Conference of the USHL.
“Greg Moore has done a remarkable job transforming a new staff and young team in a very short period of time,” said General Manager Ryan Hardy. “His knowledge of the game, creating mind, attention to detail and work ethic are as good as I’ve seen at every level.”
The 35-year-old Lisbon, Maine, native was brought to Chicago after two decades of experience with the USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program.
As a player, Moore won championships at several different levels. As a coach, he returned in helping Team USA in the USHL and helped guide USA to the gold medal at the 2017 IIHF U18 World Championships in Slovakia.
“The players in our program have benefited immensely from his knowledge and his demeanor,” Hardy said. “Greg will coach in the NHL some day; it’s just a matter of how fast he wants to get there.”
Moore played his collegiate career at the University of Maine, culminating in a 28-goal senior campaign. His play helped Maine to two NCAA Frozen Fours, including a National Championship in 2004. The Calgary Flames selected Moore in the fifth round of the 2003 NHL Draft.
After three seasons with the Hartford Wolf Pack in the AHL, Moore was traded to the New York Rangers, along with Jamie McLennan and Blair Betts, in exchange for Chris Simon and a seventh round pick in the 2004 draft.
The Rangers called up Moore in the 2007–08 season, playing six games at the NHL level at right wing. Moore would spend two more seasons in the AHL, after signing with the New York Islanders and a trade to Columbus, before cracking the NHL lineup again with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Moore also spent time in the Philadelphia Flyers, Augsburger Panther and the Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg on the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, a German professional ice hockey league.
Behind the bench this weekend, Moore’s Steel take on the Central Illinois Flying Aces on Friday at home before concluding the regular season at the Muskegon Lumberjacks. Both contests will play a major role in the playoff picture, as Chicago wants the first-round bye in the Clark Cup Playoffs, earned for finishing either first or second in the conference.