by:
Joe McDonald | Tuesday,
January 20 2004
At
every NHL game there are
unheralded heroes that work very
hard to make sure that the show
does go on. Some are heard but
not seen, such as the announcer
and scoreboard operator and some
are seen but not heard, like the
concessionaires, ushers and the
guy who drives the Zamboni. But
none of these jobs are as
important as the one who is
neither seen nor heard -- the
Equipment Manager.This person
is responsible for the day to
day care for the player’s tools
of their trade. The sticks,
skates, pads and uniforms are
all in his care. And being an
Equipment Manager in hockey
means that you must deal with
the direct day to day whims of
the players, since they adjust
their equipment more than
players from other sports do.
Scott Moon, who does the
equipment for the Islanders,
knows what that means. He is
with the players most of the
time and makes sure their sticks
are ready since they adjust them
all the time.
“They adjust the weight of
their sticks, since they are
tools of their trades,” said
Moon at the
Islanders Booster Club
meeting on January 5, 2004.
“They do their own thing and it
is an ongoing process that never
ends.”
Moon has spent 15 years in
professional hockey. He started
with the Devils organization in
Utica of the AHL and moved on to
Albany when the team moved their
farm team there. When Herb
Brooks was promoted to coach of
the Devils in 1992, he took Moon
with him.
“Coach Brooks told me when we
were in the minors that if he
was going to coach the Devils,
he was going to take me with
him,” Moon said. “He kept his
word and I owe my career to
him.”
Moon feels that Brooks had a
keen sense of what was going to
happen a day ahead of him. He
can see what to do today and
tomorrow and that may be the
reason why he was so good in
short tournaments, such as the
Olympics.
But it was back to the minors
for Moon after Brooks was let go
and he was part of the team that
won the Calder Cup in 1995. He
then moved to Orlando of the IHL
in 1996 and stayed there until
the league folded in 2001. Moon
was working for Mississippi of
the ECHL and was selected to the
All-Star game when he got a
call.
“I got a call from this guy
who thinks he’s Mike Milbury and
he asked me if I wanted to be
the Equipment Manager,” he
said. Moon took the job.
Since then Moon has built a
close relationship with the
players. He said that they are
all solid guys and that it is
more like a family. They are
funny and they have their
quirks, but they are a tight
knit group that is very close.
He also thinks that the
Islanders are on the verge of
greatness with the skill and
tightness to possibly win a
Stanley Cup. “This team and I
will tell you that they are
right there,” he said. “It’s
exciting to be around them.”
But to get there they need to
have top-flight equipment. Each
player goes through 10 dozen
sticks year. Players, such as
Michael Peca, Roman Hamrlik and
Adrian Aucoin use the old wood
sticks, but most players use the
new composite sticks.
“They (the composite sticks)
are not designed to be adjusted,
but Jason Blake keeps trying and
wonders why the stick breaks,”
he said with a laugh.
Moon went on to discuss the
uniforms (the players get six)
and gloves (they are changed
quite often.) But the main thing
is that he and his assistants
provide a good environment for
the team.
With the way the Isles are
playing, it seems like he is
doing his job.
Joe McDonald is the owner
of
MOFO Sports.net.
