Local news delivered daily to your email inbox. Subscribe for FREE to the rdnewsNOW newsletter.
(Lloyminster Bobcats/ X)
Player of the Month

Red Deer’s Cooper Moore excelling with Bobcats in AJHL rookie campaign

Dec 5, 2024 | 4:07 PM

Red Deer’s Cooper Moore has played impressive hockey early in his Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) rookie campaign with the Lloydminster Bobcats.

The 2006-born forward was named the AJHL Player of the Month for November after he scored five goals and 10 assists for 15 points in nine games.

His run included three game-winning goals and had five consecutive mult-point games in the process.

He was also named the Rookie of the Week for November 11-17, and the AJHL Player of the Week for November 18-24.

He told rdnewsNOW he was honoured to be named the player of the month.

“I think it’s a pretty big accomplishment. It feels good and it’s pretty neat to have that recognition from the league,” he said.

“At the end of the day, I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the team and the team’s success we’ve been having.”

So far this season, Moore leads the Bobcats and is third among all AJHL rookies with eight goals and 16 assists for 24 points in 21 games.

His contributions have helped the Bobcats achieve a 9-0-0-1 record in their last 10 games and they were undefeated in regulation time through November.

“As of this month I’ve been playing up to the standard that I’ve set for myself,” he added.

“Obviously, there is still improvement to go in my game but I’ve been playing with some more confidence with the puck so I feel like I’ve been playing pretty good hockey right now.”

Moore played the last two seasons with the U18 AAA Red Deer Optimist Chiefs of the Alberta Elite Hockey League.

In his final season with the Chiefs in 2023-24, he was one of the league’s top scorers notching 26 goals and 30 assists for 56 points in 38 games. He also added five points in five playoff games.

His play earned him a spot at the Junior A level signing with the Trail Smoke Eaters of the British Columbia Hockey League.

After focusing on improving his strength and shooting abilities throughout the summer, he headed to Smoke Eaters training camp but decided it was the wrong fit for him.

After he was released by Trail, Moore revisited the Bobcats who expressed interest in signing him previously.

“They’ve always wanted me from the start of last year and I thought it was going to be a good place who has great community support,” he said.

“The Bobcats organization has been incredible… Everywhere we go we get recognized and talked to, so It’s just great. The team has been really good to me and they made me feel comfortable. It’s been a great experience.”