Pittsburgh pipeline brings talented L.J. Mooney to Gophers hockey

The famous Alaska Pipeline stretches 800 miles, delivering vital crude oil from the edge of the Arctic Ocean to a port on the Pacific Coast.

Perhaps the most unexpected talent pipeline in the century-plus history of Minnesota Gophers hockey stretches nearly 900 miles, from the Pittsburgh suburbs to the ice sheet at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

Thats where soon-to-be Gophers forward L.J.

Mooney met with the media this week, skating for Team USA at the World Junior Summer Showcase, with hopes of wearing red, white and blue for the tournament in December and January.

Before that, he will be donning a maroon and gold jersey and continuing a recently established family tradition of Steeltown relatives coming to the State of Hockey to take classes and score goals.

Less than three years ago, L.J.

watched his cousin, Logan Cooley, do the same.

Were with each other a lot.

Just having him around, Im pretty lucky, Mooney said following a Team USA scrimmage next door at Ridder Arena.

In the summer, the cousins are at home in western Pennsylvania, skating together most days.

Cooley, in his lone Gophers season (2022-23), led the team in goals, assists and points, and helped them get to the brink of a sixth NCAA title before falling to Quinnipiac in overtime in the national championship game.

As an NHLer, Cooley was picked third overall by the Arizona Coyotes in 2022.

He signed a pro contract after Cooley was one of three finalists for the 2023 Hobey Baker Award, given to college hockeys top player.

The Coyotes relocated after Cooleys first pro year, in which he made the NHLs all-rookie team, and with the Utah Mammoth, he has become an on-ice leader and a fan favorite in the NHLs newest market.

Those college and pro heroics came after Eric Cooley built an outdoor rink, with a refrigeration system, in the yard of their familys home in West Mifflin, Pa., for his three hockey-playing boys.

Their cousin, L.J., would often join the fun.

As the youngest of five children, and the only boy, he was quick to learn and emulate his uber-talented relative.

We live actually in the same yard.

Theyre right across from us, said John Mooney, L.J.s father, who played two seasons at Colorado College for former Gophers coach Brad Buetow back in the old WCHA days.

So either with the rink or with street hockey, there was something every day, all day long.

While apples-to-apples comparisons between the cousins on ice are inherently unfair, sisters Cathy Cooley and Donna Mooney have produced some of the same traits in their hockey-playing sons.

Theyre both very dynamic, with their edges and their compete, all of it, said Gophers assistant coach Steve Miller, who coached Cooley on Team USA and in college, and will do the same for Mooney at the U and possibly with World Juniors this winter.

Theyre both very highly competitive men.

Thats where it all starts.

It has already been an exciting summer for Mooney, 18, who wore the colors of the American flag the past two seasons as a member of USA Hockeys National Team Development Program in Michigan.

While a Gophers sweater is in his immediate future, he hopes to wear what French-Canadian fans call blau, blanc et rouge after he was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens with their fourth-round pick in June.

In his final season with the NDTP, the slightly undersized Mooney (officially listed as 5-foot-8) averaged a point per game and has made an impression both with teammates and likely future college and NHL rivals.

Hes been a stud for a while, said Boston University star Cole Eiserman, a first-round pick of the New York Islanders in 2024.

Obviously, hes super skilled, and he went in the fourth round or whatever it was.

I think he has a chip on his shoulder, for sure, being a smaller guy that can still produce.

College programs like Ohio State, Penn State and Mercyhurst are an easy drive from Pittsburgh and are the next step down for fans in the region where Sidney Crosby and the Penguins are the kings of the rink.

But for Mooney, seeing Logan at the U of M scoring goals versus the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions left a lasting impression.

Asked about choosing Minnesota, the Mooney family talks about the history, the tradition, and the facilities of the storied college hockey program, but family history definitely was a factor, as well.

You look at Minnesota through the years, what theyve done, but I think 100 percent it would be because of Logan and the experience he had there, John Mooney said.

That rink, the crowds they get, the first time L.J.

saw it, thats where he wanted to go.

When he got the feedback from Logan, it pretty much was a no-brainer.

Throughout his career, Logan wore jersey No.

18.

When he arrived in Minneapolis as a freshman, those digits were in use by then-junior Mason Nevers.

Using the mathematical logic that nine times two equals 18, Cooley switched to 92 and still wears that number with the Mammoth.

In another nod to family tradition, with Nevers graduating and now playing pro hockey in Idaho, Mooney will wear 18 with the Gophers.

Hes already played alongside a few of the incoming freshman class with Team USA and elsewhere, and the initial predictions are that in an incredibly competitive Big Ten race, Minnesota fans are going to like what they see.

Ive had a lot of fun playing with him.

Ive had the opportunity to play with him a few times, and weve been linemates quite a bit.

Hes obviously a super-skilled player, so all positive things, said future Gophers forward Mason Moe, from Eden Prairie.

If you get open for him, hell find you, and he finds a way to get open himself, so its kind of just reading off each other and knowing where youll be.

Mooney planned to head home after the Showcase concluded Saturday, having made his case for one of the 25 roster spots on the World Juniors team.

He will ride that Pittsburgh-to-Minneapolis pipeline back to Minnesota around State Fair time, when the latest member of the family to become a Gopher will move into his campus home and take his place as the next in line with designs on hanging more banners from the arena rafters.

By the end of August, Ill be up here for good, Mooney said.

I look forward to it all.

All this summer, you keep working towards it, but I couldnt be more excited to get up here and start playing.

Its not just an educational and athletic opportunity.

For two Pittsburgh cousins, its a family tradition..

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