Mike Moller: From the Sportsplex to Hockey Night in Canada

Mike Moller starred in junior with the Lethbridge
Broncos of the Western Hockey League,
on Canada's World Junior team, and
then played in the NHL with Buffalo and Edmonton.
Source: https://www.hockeydb.com
/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=3768
(May be subject to copyright)

One minute I was watching him score at the Lethbridge Sportsplex, the next he was scoring on Hockey Night In Canada.

Recently, I went to an author talk in Stavely and the speaker told a story about his good friend and former professional hockey player, Mike Moller.

These are my stories of Mike Moller.

Bronco to Sabre
Mike Moller was having a solid career with the Lethbridge Broncos. He broke into the Western Hockey League in the 1979-1980 season, scoring 30 goals and 41 assists for 71 points in 72 games. That was just a sign of things to come.

In the 1980-1981 season, Moller had a breakout season, appearing in 70 games where he scored 39 goals and 68 assists for 108 points.

That year he also got called up by the Buffalo Sabres, who had drafted him 41st overall in the second round in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft.

He would play in five games that season, recording two goals and two assists for four points.

One of those was a very special goal – to me anyway.

Goal!
It is one of my fondest memory of going to see the Broncos at the Sportsplex. We went to a mid-week game. All of a sudden Moller comes down the right wing and lets go a shot that looked like it went through the goalie. The crowd went wild at the goal.

He got called up to the Sabres shortly after and they were in Edmonton for Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday night. Jim Robson was calling the game. Suddenly Moller streaks down the right side.

I can hear Robson calling the play.

“The puck goes to Moller,” he says.

He lets go a shot and – you guessed it – it looks like it goes through the goalie.

In school that Monday, my classmate and friend Tim Nestorowicz, was talking about the game. He said that shot he scored on in Edmonton was a shot he patented in Lethbridge, It got just far enough off the ice to bo over the goalie’s stick and between his pads. It was pinpoint accuracy.

World Junior champions
In the 1981-1982 season, Moller appeared in 49 games for the Broncos, recording an incredible 41 goals and 81 assists for 122 points.

That play caught the attention of Hockey Canada, who had embarked on a new approach to the World Junior Hockey Championships. Canada had never won gold up to that point, and never really seemed to care that much. The Canadian entry was the Memorial Cup champion, which was an issue because the team that won the Memorial Cup in the Spring looked very different come December.

That all changed in 1981-1982 when Hockey Canada decided to assemble an actual select team made up of the best junior and university Canadian players. Mike Moller and his brother Randy, who patrolled the blue line for the Broncos, were selected to that team.

That team would trigger a chain reaction that led to the dominating performance of Team Canada over the next 40 years and made the tournament as popular as it is.

Back then, it was a round robin format with the team with the best record taking gold. By far the most memorable game was Canad’s route of the Soviets, but they still needed a win or a tie against Czechoslovakia to take the gold.

Just recently, I discovered Mike Moller scored the tying goal against the Czechs making that the gold-medal winning goal. His jersey actually hangs in the International Hockey Hall of Fame because of that.

He appeared in seven games at the World Juniors, scoring five goals and assisting on nine others for 14 points.

The pros
Moller would appear in nine games in the 1981-1982 season for the Sabres, but not register a point or a penalty.

He played in 49 games for Buffalo in the 1982-1983 season, recording six goals and 12 assists for 18 points, and played in 10 games for the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League, recording one goal and six assists for seven points. Moller played in 59 games in 1983-1984, recording five goals and 11 assists for 16 points.

By the 1984-1985 season, his time in Buffalo was limited. He played in five games recording two assists. He also played 73 games for Rochester, scoring 19 goals and setting up 46 for 65 points.

In 1985-1986, he moved on to the Edmonton Oilers organization, appearing in one game for them, and in 62 games for the Nova Scotia Voyageurs, their AHL affiliate, where he recorded 16 goals and 15 assists for 31 points. The following season, 1986-1987, he played six games for the Oilers, scoring two goals and an assist, and appeared in 70 games for Nova Scotia, recording 14 goals and 33 assists for 47 points.

He would not play another game in the NHL, playing 60 games for the Voyageurs in 1987-1988 scoring 12 goals and 31 assists for 43 points; joining the Canadian National Team for 58 games in 1988-1989, scoring 18 goals and 16 assists for 34 points; and wind up his career with the Binghampton Whalers of the AHL in 1989-1990, playing in 12 games earning a goal and two assists.

He wrapped up his career with 134 NHL games, scoring 15 goals and adding 28 assists for 43 points. His AHL career was longer, with 63 goals and 133 assists for 196 points in 287 games for three different teams.

Parting thoughts
It is funny the odd things a person remembers. When we went to Bronco games, my Mom always said Molner because she knew someone by that name, and never did say Moller.

For me, Mike Moller was the first player I saw score a goal live, then see him do it again on TV in the pros.

It was actually pretty cool. Although I never met him, I felt that connection that junior hockey can create with its fans.

For years I have also believed that World Junior Team was the best Canadian junior team ever, not because of stats or super stars or talent, but because they paved the way for all the greatness to come. Had they fallen flat on their face, Canada may never have realized that junior success, or it may have been delayed for years to come.

So, I have always loved that team.

Because that Canada-Czechoslovakia game was not televised, I never knew Mike Moller scored the gold medal winning goal, until recently.

That only makes the memories even better.

Thanks for the memories Mike.