As the NHL Draft approaches, West Mifflin's Logan Cooley set to be 'the highest guy drafted from here'
Logan Cooley is a Pittsburgher.
His accent, tinged with a slight inflection based in the South Hills, will verify that.
But provincialism didn’t dictate his loyalties as a hockey fan.
Chances are, he was the biggest fan of Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin — the long-time Pittsburgh Penguins nemesis — in West Mifflin.
“I don’t even know (why),” Cooley said with a laugh via telephone recently. “I’ve gotten asked that so much. I think I just loved the way he competed. I know being from the Pittsburgh area, it’s not the easiest thing to say, but I’ve always been a (Capitals) fan. When I was younger, I really liked ‘Ovie’ and loved how he competed and scored goals.”
Cooley is diplomatic when discussing the local NHL club.
“I’m a (Penguins) fan, too. I love the way (Sidney) Crosby plays, handles himself as a player and person, too.”
Cooley is bound to gain an immediate influx of fans from another NHL city by the end of the week.
The 18-year-old is projected to be one of the top picks in the NHL’s entry draft, scheduled to begin Thursday.
Most outlets that monitor NHL prospects label him as one of the top three in the draft. Some even have projected him as potentially being the top selection.
Regardless, barring anything unforeseen, Cooley will become the highest-drafted player to hail from Western Pennsylvania.
Currently, that designation belongs to Vancouver Canucks forward J.T. Miller, a native of East Palestine, Ohio, who grew up in Coraopolis. In 2011, the New York Rangers drafted Miller No. 15 overall.
That draft class included a tetrad of prospects from the Pittsburgh area — forwards Brandon Saad (Gibsonia), Vince Trocheck (Upper St. Clair) and Miller and goaltender John Gibson (Whitehall) — all of whom have become standout NHL players, claiming All-Star berths and Stanley Cup rings along the way.
“They’ve done a really good job of continuing to make a name for the Pittsburgh area and to help more kids come out of this area,” Cooley said. “That’s one of my goals, too, to continue to help grow the area. You continue to see guys playing college hockey, (junior). It’s only going to continue from here. I just want to be another guy to add to the list of being drafted to the NHL and, hopefully, playing in the NHL, too.”
The family business
Cooley’s genesis isn’t so much just a Western Pennsylvania story as much as a tale of his family.
His uncles, John and Tom Mooney, were among the first players from the Pittsburgh area to play Division I hockey in the 1980s. John, a star at Serra Catholic, went on to play at Colorado College. Tom, who played for West Mifflin, was a captain at Notre Dame.
The Mooneys weren’t exactly part of the “Mario Generation” of Western Pennsylvanians who picked up sticks after the iconic Mario Lemieux joined the Penguins in 1984.
They predated Lemieux’s arrival and were in love with the sport during the “Mike Bullard” era, John Mooney quipped.
“Somebody gave my dad free Penguins tickets, and he loved the game after that,” said Mooney, 52. “He went out and got us equipment, and it just took off from there. We just started playing and never looked back. From there, all of our kids played.”
Cooley’s brothers each played at high levels, as well. Eric competed at the Division I level with Niagara and Ohio State while Riley, like Logan, suited up for the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite program.
Additionally, cousins Ireland and Kaley Mooney (John’s daughters) played for the Miami (Ohio) women’s team.
John’s son, L.J. Mooney, 15, is a member of the Penguins Elite program.
“We just love hockey,” John Mooney said. “My sister (Logan’s mother, Cathey), she was at all our games. She grew up at the rink. You knew her kids were going to play. All three boys, and even the daughter Lauren, they started when they could walk.
”That’s all we pretty much ever did was hockey. That’s it.”
“My whole family was all around hockey,” Cooley said. “We always pushed each other. It’s something that we love to do. We love to be competitive. It’s something that we enjoy doing. Having my uncles play at a high level, that’s something all of my brothers wanted to do and myself.”
Path to the NHL
Unlike his older brothers and cousins, Cooley was able to participate in Sidney Crosby’s Little Penguins Learn to Play Hockey program, which began in 2008. Cooley, who was born in 2004, doesn’t have concrete memories of participating in any of the camps but did have a pretty distinct recollection of the value they provided.
“Crosby was giving free equipment out,” Cooley said. “My brothers were playing at the time. I feel like I always had a hockey stick in my hand, and my parents knew it. It’s free equipment, so why not try it out? I love the game, I love competing and I just had a blast out there and stuck with it from there.”
Cooley began playing at the venerable Rostraver Ice Garden in Belle Vernon before moving on to the slightly less venerable Ice Castle in Castle Shannon. Eventually, he joined the Penguins Elite program, which is based out of the NHL club’s practice facility in Cranberry.
“Both of my brothers played there,” Cooley said.
“It’s the best spot to play in Pittsburgh. If you want to play at a high level and continue to do something with hockey, that’s the spot to play. You look at the guys that are starting to come out of there, it’s only getting bigger. They have such a great coaching staff here all through the program. The off-ice trainers, too, really push you. It’s a great thing they have going on here.”
John Mooney compared the number of rinks available today compared to his playing days.
“It’s night and day,” he said. “There was probably five or six rinks around. You pretty much practice once, twice a week (in season) and maybe one a week through the summer. Most of the rinks closed, some stayed open. It was not like it is now around here. Where Logan trains, at the UPMC (Lemieux Sports Complex), it’s second to none.”
Cooley’s next step in his journey landed him with the United States National Team Development Program (USNTDP). Based in Plymouth, Mich., the USNTDP is USA Hockey’s premier amateur player development program and trains individuals who will compose the country’s entry into the International Ice Hockey Federation’s World Junior Championship tournament.
Alumni of the USNTDP routinely have been first-round picks in the NHL, including superstars such as Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks and Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Joining the USNTDP meant Cooley had to move to Michigan at 16. Fortunately, he had a good roommate.
“My mom moved up there with me,” Cooley said. “Having her there made the transition a little bit easier. I’m really grateful that she moved up there with me. Being a 16-year-old kid at the time, moving away from home was pretty tough. So to have her there was really nice.”
In his first year with the USNTDP’s under-17 team, Cooley began to realize being drafted into the NHL was a possibility. Upon joining the program’s under-18 team, he started to sense he was capable of being a top pick.
“After the 17 year and at the beginning of the 18 year, I feel like my draft stock continued to go up,” Cooley said. “It’s something that you can’t really focus on too much. You just have to keep enjoying the game.
“At the end of the 17 year and the beginning of the 18 year, I was moving into the top five. Got ranked No. 1 by some, No. 2 or 3, in the top-five range. But nothing really changes. I want to go to a team that wants me and has confidence in me.”
A bright future
Cooley is committed to the University of Minnesota for the 2022-23 season. That could change as NHL rules allow players to de-commit from college in order to turn professional.
“For right now, I’m leaning towards playing a year,” Cooley said. “That’s my goal. But whatever team picks me, they’ll have some say in what I should do. But for now, my plan is to go to Minnesota.”
He also still could play for the United States in the World Junior tournament, which was halted after a few days in December because of the pandemic and rescheduled for August. Like with college, he will weigh the suggestions of whatever team drafts him into his decision for that tournament.
In the meantime, Cooley (5-foot-11, 174 pounds) will continue a demanding training regimen at the former BladeRunners complex in Bethel Park that is now owned by the YMCA.
Along with his uncle John and others, Cooley is routinely on the ice refining his craft.
“It’s intense,” said Mooney, who indicated all parties wake up at 6 a.m. to participate. “It’s all skill work. It’s a tough hour and half. We’re moving the whole time.
“The better he gets, the harder he wants to work, compete. He’s not resting on anything. He’s going to keep working hard, I know that. He’s got his nose to the grindstone. He’s just worried about getting better. Wherever he gets drafted, he’ll be ready to go. It’s amazing. It was all done through hard work.”
The Penguins’ facility in Cranberry has images in the hallways of seemingly every player from the region who has reached the NHL. Stars such as Gibson and Trocheck, as well as journeymen such as John Zeiler (Jefferson Hills) and Bill Thomas (Fox Chapel), have their pictures and a list of their accomplishments plastered on the walls.
Cooley has the chance to join, and, probably, supersede all of them.
“I think his best (attribute) — and me, personally, I don’t think it’s something that you can teach — is his hockey IQ,” said Mooney, who coached at Serra in the 1990s and 2000s. “He just has the smarts for the game. Knows where to be. You combine that with his skating and his skill, and that’s why he’s the player that he is. He can play fast with the puck. And he can play on the defensive side, which is huge. Not only his offense, but his defense is just as good.”
While humble, Cooley is ready to embrace the potential of becoming the greatest hockey player Pittsburgh has produced.
“It’s something that I want,” Cooley said. “I want to be that guy. I want to be the highest guy drafted from here. I want to continue to make a name for this city. … It’s something that I think is really cool. It’s something that I’ve never really thought about too, too much.
“Just being a young kid from Pittsburgh playing hockey, I was having fun with the game. For the draft to be here (soon), it’s a pretty cool experience. It doesn’t seem real right now. After the draft, it will start to hit.”
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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