EDMONTON -- The Edmonton Oilers are led by head coach Craig MacTavish and three assistant coaches. Two of them, like MacTavish, were players with the Oilers. Craig Simpson and Charlie Huddy were key members of the teams that won Stanley Cups in the 1980s. Then there's assistant coach Bill Moores. American hockey fans would likely say, "Bill Who," just proving Shakespeare's point that "there are more things in Heaven and Earth ... than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Around Edmonton, Moores is revered as the coach who led the hometown University of Alberta Golden Bears to national college championships and as one of hockey's most forward thinkers. At Oilers practices, Moores conducts detailed drills and gives instructions that you see the players quickly put into practice. Veterans like Mike Peca, Ryan Smyth, Shawn Horcoff, Ethan Moreau and Ales Hemsky listen with rapt attention. Among Moores' skill drills are faceoff practices that helped the Oilers become one of the best NHL teams in that important category. Horcoff credits Moores for improving his ability and he won nearly 53 percent of his drops this year.
"It's been the same since Day One, really, at training camp," Horcoff said. "It's something that has worked for us and that we take pride in. We did well with it during the regular season and the earlier part of the playoffs and it's been a huge part of our success. ... Those little battles go a long way towards the outcome of the game."
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Schedule / Links:
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| Gm. 1: CAR 5, EDM 4 | Photos |
| Gm. 2: CAR 5, EDM 0 | Photos |
Gm. 3: June 10, 8:00 p.m. ET
at Edmonton (NBC, CBC, RDS) |
Gm. 4: June 12, 8:00 p.m. ET
at Edmonton (NBC, CBC, RDS) |
*Gm. 5: June 14, 8:00 p.m. ET
at Carolina (NBC, CBC, RDS) |
*Gm. 6: June 17, 8:00 p.m. ET
at Edmonton (NBC, CBC, RDS) |
*Gm. 7: June 19, 8:00 p.m. ET
at Carolina (NBC, CBC, RDS) |
| *if necessary |
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"Billy is one of the few guys that can speak to anybody at any level in the game of hockey and he can present it in a fashion that can make sense to them," MacTavish said when asked why he put Moores on his staff. "He can go into a Pee-Wee team and speak to them in a fashion, because of his experience, they are very capable of understanding it. He can teach coaches, the highest-level coaches, seminars. He can teach them the intricacies of the game, as well. He's a wealth of information and I'm glad you mentioned his name, I couldn't be happier for him in this situation. He's certainly a guy that's paid his dues. He has the utmost respect from the players (because he's a) very knowledgeable guy and very important member of the coaching staff."
MacTavish, who served as an assistant coach, along with Moores, on the 1997-98 New York Rangers, isn't the only figure in this Stanley Cup Final who can provide a line on Moores. Carolina Hurricanes Head Athletic Therapist/Strength and Conditioning Coach Pete Friesen, a Saskatchewan native, worked with Moores at UA. They both came up under Clare Drake, a legendary figure in Western Canadian college hockey.
"My relationship with Clare Drake and Billy Moores started in the early 1980s when I was the trainer for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies and coach Dave King," Friesen said. "So, we went up against the Golden Bears a lot. Then I had the good fortune to move to Glen Sather's clinic, where I was the head trainer. That's where I began a closer relationship with Clare and Billy. Clare was kind of the grandfather of college hockey in all of Canada, if not the world, to be honest with you.
"I have the utmost respect for both of those two guys. The relationship really grew stronger during the off-season when we would gather every Friday in Bill's office, or in one of the classrooms at the University of Alberta, and we would discuss hockey and how to handle different situations, more from a fitness and mental aspect than an Xs and Os sort of thing. That's when I developed such a respect for Bill.
"In college, you can experiment with a lot more things that you can at the NHL level. He has all of that practical experience that he can bring to the game. So, I think that those Oilers players are pretty darn fortunate to have that type of practical experience that most other teams don't."
Moores is quiet-spoken and modest. He doesn't volunteer his heroics, but he was a star for the junior Edmonton Oil Kings in the late 1960s and the University of Alberta's leading scorer in 1970-71.
"I played one year for Clare Drake when I was going to the University of Alberta," Moores said. "Four or five years later, I was coaching minor hockey and then got involved with helping him coach. That was in 1976 and it seems like a long time ago, now. I stayed there for 16 years and took over the head-coaching job when he was on sabbatical and then again for five years before I left. Every young coach in the country would have loved to have had the opportunity that I did to work with him. He was a bit of a taskmaster, never yelled, but he got the job done, almost like a John Wooden.
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Bill Moores led the hometown University of Alberta Golden Bears to two national college championships.
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"I learned the importance of details and that you don't leave any stone unturned. His teams were always very strong teams in terms of aggressive forechecking and making sure you were applying pressure all over the ice. I carried that over when I was coaching that team. The Oilers style has always been a very aggressive, hard-checking team. It's very similar in a lot of ways.
"We were fortunate in the early years that I was with Clare to have very good players. As it went along, the parity in the league increased and the good players were spread around the league. The bottom line is you want players with good character who work hard. If you didn't have those things, you weren't part of the hockey team. It was that simple."
Drake took a sabbatical to coach Canada's 1980 Olympic team and Moores guided the Golden Bears to the University Cup and was named CIAU Coach of the Year. Replacing Drake again in 1984, Moores won the first of his four Canada West Hockey Coach of the Year awards. In his seven seasons as head coach at Alberta, Moores compiled a career record of 220-80- 23 (.717) with a Canada West Hockey conference record of 129-44-20 (.720).
Moores coached one year with the Regina Pats, 1986-87, and sent five players to the NHL, Brent Fedyk, Brad Lauer, Robert Dirk, Mark Janssens and Selmar Odelein. On that team was former NHL scout Brad Hornung, who suffered a paralyzing injury that year.
It was a long route for Moores to the NHL, a long time before the League took advantage of his talents. He was asked if being a valuable member of an NHL coaching staff validated his life's experiences.
"It does," Moores said. "You go back to the coaches of that era, Clare, Dave King, Tom Watt, gave the impetus to we young coaches coming through and the younger college coaches coming along. The opportunities for Canadian and American college coaches have started to present themselves."
