MONTREAL – \u201cI don\u2019t feel like I\u2019m smaller than anyone out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
That line says everything about John \u201cLittle John\u201d Mooney \u2014 a 5-foot-7 forward whose game is anything but small.<\/p>\n
And yes, Little John really is his name, albeit unofficially. Hard to believe at first, but easy to understand once you get a look at the Canadiens prospect.<\/p>\n
\u201cPretty often,\u201d he said when asked how frequently the LJ question comes up. \u201cWhen I was in Montreal for development camp, a lot of guys would ask what it means. And when I\u2019d tell them, they kind of laughed; they didn\u2019t believe me at first. Then when I got to Minnesota, the same thing happened. So, it\u2019s pretty funny.\u201d<\/p>\n
Funny name or not, there\u2019s nothing lighthearted about the way he plays. Mooney\u2019s compete level is relentless, his edge unshakable, and his elusiveness enough to make even the biggest defenders wish they could move like someone half their size.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019ve always had that compete growing up. My dad really harped on that with me, not being scared of anyone on the ice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That mindset was born in his backyard, where the homemade rink doubled as a testing ground. Just next door lived his cousins \u2014 Utah Mammoth forward Logan Cooley among them \u2014 and the battles they shared weren\u2019t for the faint of heart.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always had an outdoor rink, so we\u2019d be out there skating, or just playing on the concrete with him and his older brothers. They all played hockey, everyone in our family did. So, we were always at the rink together, practicing,\u201d Mooney explained.<\/p>\n
Those backyard games against the older and stronger Cooley brothers forced him to think faster and fight harder. It\u2019s where his fearless drive started to take shape. Every puck battle and every shinny duel under the floodlights added a layer to his own game \u2014 one built on grit, creativity and confidence.<\/p>\n
The 18-year-old isn\u2019t the only one who sees it that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cLJ Mooney is someone with a lot of character. He\u2019s a competitor who\u2019s very dynamic on the ice. [\u2026] We\u2019re not worried about his size, and that\u2019s why we did it,\u201d said Canadiens co-director of amateur scouting Martin Lapointe of the team\u2019s decision to select Mooney in the fourth round of this year\u2019s NHL Draft.<\/p>\n
Habs fans don\u2019t need convincing when it comes to undersized players. Take, for example, Cole Caufield and Lane Hutson. When Mooney appeared at development camp this summer, he quickly won over Montreal\u2019s crowd and media, many wondering if he might be next in line.<\/p>\n
For now, the West Mifflin, PA native is focused on the present \u2013\u2013 life as a Golden Gopher. Seventeen games into his freshman season at the University of Minnesota, the 162-pound centerman has notched 13 points.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTREAL – \u201cI don\u2019t feel like I\u2019m smaller than anyone out there.\u201d That line says everything about John…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-325846","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}