WINDSOR, Ont. — On a quiet dead-end street in suburban Pittsburgh — West Mifflin, Penn., specifically — sits what two of its neighbours affectionately call “the compound.”
The compound is the shared yard of the Mooney and Cooley families.
The Mooneys are John and Donna and their six kids — Kaley, Ireland, Shaynen, Brin, Faryn, and LJ, or “Little John,” the only boy.
Next door are uncle Eric Cooley Sr., aunt Cathy, and cousins Eric Jr., Riley and Logan.
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Logan, 22, and LJ, 19, are the babies of the family. Logan is a star forward for the Utah Mammoth, and LJ is a fourth-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens. Together, they’re a part of Pittsburgh’s biggest hockey family.
On the Cooley side, Eric was a five-year NCAA player who spent a season in the AHL and ECHL and attended NHL development camps with the Sabres and Maple Leafs. Riley played some junior hockey, too.
On the Mooney side, Kaley and Ireland both played college hockey at Miami University, “Big John” played college hockey and some minor pro hockey, and his brother Tom is a former captain at Notre Dame.
On any given summer day, their quiet street can cease to be that.
“It’s just nuts here,” John said of the compound.
For as long as all of the kids can remember, John has skated and trained LJ, Logan, Eric, Riley, Kaley and Ireland daily at 6:30 a.m. at the YMCA in Bethel Park and the nearby Ice Castle before he goes to work. They always had free rein of the ice because one of John’s buddies ran it. After the ice, they’d all load into cars and go to the gym. During the summers, skates and workouts would be followed by lunch, street hockey, shooting pucks, golf and then dinner. In the winters, John would build an outdoor rink out front of their two houses.
LJ dragged along in the early years.
Then he became the best 2007-born hockey player in the city, and then the state, and then the top-ranked one in the country ahead of his following in Logan’s footsteps at the NTDP and then the University of Minnesota.
He hopes to follow his cousin to the NHL next.
LJ Mooney and Logan Cooley come from a prominent Pittsburgh-area hockey family. (Courtesy John Mooney)
After Cooley was the talk of the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite program, LJ was.
You couldn’t miss him out there. He was the tiny little kid who, from early childhood, moved up to mites and then played a year ahead of his age group the rest of the way — a small-for-the-’07s playing with ’06s.
Over time, he learned to overcome his size disadvantage by being quicker and more competitive than everyone else, often delivering big hits on bigger kids.
“We never really even thought about his size as an issue. He could always handle the physicality and never shied away from it,” John said. “And I think if you’ve got that compete level that measures up to everything. You can look at height and weight all you want, but if you’re going to measure that, then you’ve got to measure the heart, and I think that outweighs everything.”
Kevin Muller, who coached him with the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite, laughs when asked to contextualize how good LJ was in minor hockey.
He was “six inches shorter than most kids,” according to Muller, but he could still “just take a game over,” and his speed meant his size wasn’t an issue.
“He averaged multiple points per game even through 16U,” Muller said, chuckling. “He has elite speed, he has an uncanny ability to evade any pressure and checks, and I mean his puck skills are out of this world. It was special.”
He was so good that there were times when Muller tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Hey man, we need a goal here,” and he’d look back and say, “I got you, coach,” and then do it.
His compete level was also “off the charts.” When the team would bag skate, he’d take it as a badge of honor to beat his teammates by a zone and a half.
“It was unreal. No matter what he did, he competed, and it was all out all the time. It was wild,” Muller said. “Certainly dad’s very competitive, and I think that’s where LJ gets it. LJ was probably forced into a little more compete than most people at that age are because of who his dad and cousins are.”
His natural quickness was also on display on local soccer fields and in flag football as a kid. He played the latter until 15.
“He absolutely loved flag football, and I think that’s such a great sport because you play offense and defense and you never leave the field,” John said. “He was never sitting still. It was always something, playing something.”
Though Logan’s three years older than him, he was “such a role model for LJ”
“Just to see what Logan has done, it’s absolutely incredible, and it’s his compete, too, and what he puts into it. I see it on a daily (basis) when they come home. Right when the season’s over, it’s right to work and with Logan,” John said. “The work he puts in, (LJ) looks up to him so much. I can’t have better words to say about what he has meant to LJ”
LJ Mooney has worked hard in the gym to be “more physical.” (Courtesy John Mooney)
These days, the routine is starting to change. John still runs the skates, but this summer they’ve trained in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ gym for the first time under Pens strength-and-conditioning coach Mark Gaydos. John’s skates have expanded to about a dozen guys as well, and now feature NHLers such as Vincent Trocheck, J.T. Miller and John Gibson.
This summer has been nonstop for LJ. After he registered 30 points in 34 games as a freshman at Minnesota (second on the team in scoring and first in assists), the Golden Gophers had a month-long training camp under new head coach Brett Larson this spring; he went home for 24 hours and straight to Habs development camp. Then he was home for just three weeks before traveling to the World Junior Summer Showcase.
In between, he has worked hard in the gym and now doesn’t look as slight as he did for so long (USA Hockey lists him at 5-foot-8 and 175 pounds).
“I’ve put on a lot of weight, but I still feel fast,” he said. “I feel more physical.”
He was a little nicked up coming into the World Junior Summer Showcase and arrived late as a result but registered two points in two games against the Swedes. Next up: getting ready to go back to Minnesota for his sophomore season.
Two things remain as constants, though: the compound, and that Logan still drives him everywhere.
His speed and competitiveness haven’t changed, either.
They persisted at the program.
“LJ just competes, man,” said his former NTDP head coach Nick Fohr. “He’s such a shifty little player, and he works extremely hard, and he’s dialed in to doing the right things over and over and over again. His elusiveness and his ability to change direction is elite, elite, and he’s got the hockey sense and the stick skills to make plays out of it too.”
They persisted this week with Team USA, too.
“He’s a crafty player. He can really skate and move. He’s shifty. He’s been through a tournament, he’s played a lot of international hockey (LJ had 17 points in 14 games across two U18 Worlds, and was named one of USA’s three best players at his second), and he’s a guy who can make guys around him better,” said head coach Adam Nightingale.
“I’ve enjoyed being around him at this camp, and you can definitely notice him out there. He’s at his best when he’s using his speed to create offensively and hunting down pucks. I don’t think he gets enough credit for that, the way he uses his speed and smarts. It’s one thing when you have it, but you’ve got to get the puck back too, and he has done a good job of that.”
He’ll be a returnee on this year’s team after registering three points in five games last year.
There hasn’t been a day since USA’s quarterfinal loss to Finland that he hasn’t thought about it.
“That sucked,” he said. “That hurts. And it was the last crack for those ’06 guys. It was pretty sad. Our ’07 group, the returning guys, we know what we need to do.”
To do? A gold medal around his neck on January 5, his compound family in tow this time.
“(The Cooleys, my sisters, my parents), everyone’s treated me so well,” he said. “They still do. They still do so much for me. They come to all the games. They’re always texting me. Our families are super tight. Logan, he’s so competitive. Like he treats every practice like it’s a game. Just having them around, going out to play in the yard, hockey, going to the gym, it’s pretty special.”