Lisbon native Greg Moore has landed his first head coaching gig.

For the past three seasons, Moore has served as an assistant coach and helped developing some of the best 16- to 18-year-old hockey players the country has to offer at USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program (NTDP) in Plymouth, Michigan.

Moore will move to the Chicago area and the reigns of the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League, the nation’s only Tier I junior hockey league.

“I’m grateful and excited to serve as the head coach of the Chicago Steel,” Moore said in a press release. “The organization, (general manager) Ryan Hardy and I share a progressive vision for how to develop hockey players at the junior hockey level. I am very much looking forward to watching that vision unfold, supported by a phenomenal resource in Belfry Hockey.”

Moore was a key part of St. Dominic Academy winning back-to-back state titles in 1999 and 2000 before moving to the NTDP program from 2000-2002 and helping the Americans win gold at the 2002 International Ice Hockey Federation’s World Under-18 Championships.

He spent four seasons at the University of Maine, from 2002-06, where he played in two Frozen Fours and was a Hobey Baker finalist his senior year. As a sophomore he was on Team USA’s first World Junior Championship (U-20) gold medal team when the Americans defeated the Canada.

As a 2003 fifth round draft pick of the Calgary Flames, he played nine professional seasons, including short stints in the NHL with the New York Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets. His final four seasons were spent in Europe, primarily in Germany before his career ended after the 2014-15 season.

He’s not the first local to be apart of the Chicago Steel organization. Lewiston’s Mark Anthoine played with the team for two-and-a-half seasons, from 2007-2010, before playing at UMaine.

Rutt named Cape coach

Just like Moore, Jake Rutt’s high school career started at St. Dom’s before playing for Scarborough in his sophomore and junior seasons. Also like Moore, Rutt landed his first head coaching position this week when he was named the Cape Elizabeth boys’ ice hockey coach.

Rutt spent the past two years as an assistant at Biddeford under Jason Tremblay, the brother of Rutt’s junior hockey coach with the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs, Sean Tremblay. Biddeford won the Class A South regional final this past season before losing in the state championship to Lewiston.

Cape Elizabeth is coming off a Class B South regional final appearance, in which they lost to Greely.

Rutt also played four seasons at Maine (2011-15) before a year of professional hockey in the ECHL with the Idaho Steelheads in 2015-16, and a pair of games in 2016-17.

Nordiques make college commitments

Goaltender Michael Errico will be playing his college hockey at Lindwood University, an ACHA Division I (club hockey) program in St. Louis, Missouri.

Errico, 20, had his best season in 2017-18 for the Nordiques. The native of Schomberg, Ontario, posted a 15-5-2 record in 24 appearances, which included a career-best 2.04 goals against average and a .927 save percentage. He also played in three playoff games and posted a 2-0-1 record.

Earlier this spring, forward Clifford Ogle committed to University of Jamestown in North Dakota, and Patrick Romeo committed to Niagara University in Lewiston, New York. Both programs are ACHA teams.

Thunder sign Ames

Tanner Ames is the third goaltender the Twin City Thunder have signed for the 2018-19 season.

The 18-year-old played with the Springfield Pics of the United States Premier Hockey League’s Elite league last season. He accumulated a 3-16 record with a 5.39 goals against average and a .863 save percentage.

Derek Fournier and Jaxon Friedman are the other two goalies on the roster.

Lisbon native Greg Moore (10) celebrates with USA Hockey National Team Development Program teammates Patrick O’Sullivan, Ryan Suter and Patrick Eaves.