The junior goalie has been a standout netminder for the Lower Merion Liberty girls ice hockey team this winter, leading the squad to its best-ever record (11-6), one of the best records in the Intercounty Scholastic Hockey League Girls American Division, and a first-ever Flyers Cup appearance. In the Flyers Cup opener March 6, she recorded 40 saves on 42 shots and was named the MVP of the game for Lower Merion Liberty, which includes players from both Lower Merion and Harriton. Lower Merion Liberty head coach Lauren Patterson noted that Moose is one of the best puck-handling goalies in the league and added, “Kat’s work ethic is unmatched, even coming to every game and practice for our JV girls team. Having her in net, our team plays without the fear of making a mistake because they know Kat can come up big when we need her to – it has just made the entire team that much more confident and is a huge reason we became a playoff contender and Flyers Cup nominated. Plus, to have a goalie that never gets down on herself or her teammates no matter what adversity is thrown her way, you can’t begin to imagine how rare of quality that is, and how much that positively impacts every player around her.” Moose is also the junior assistant goalie Coach for one of the 12U Little Flyers girls teams.
Q: What (in your opinion) has been the most memorable save you’ve made this season – can you describe how the play unfolded, and your role in it?
A: The most memorable save I made this season was a break away save against Conestoga in overtime during our Flyers Cup game. Conestoga’s top scorer, Darcy Malik, split the defense and came in all alone. I made a reverse Y save which kept us in the game and gave my team a chance to win.
Q: What does it mean to you for this Lower Merion/Liberty team to be the first to make the Flyers Cup playoffs?
A: It means my teammates and I are forever a part of the history of girls’ hockey at our school. This being my first year living in Pennsylvania (moving from Virginia), I didn’t know much about the Flyers Cup but have come to realize what an honor it is to have the opportunity to play in the tournament.
Q: Have you always been a goalie, or have you played other positions as well? What originally attracted you to the goalie position?
A: I didn’t always play goalie. My first season was on an independent team during COVID. I played wing but switched to goalie the next year when the team didn’t have one. I decided to give goalie a try to honor my late father, who was a goalie. My brother also plays goalie for the Lower Merion JV team, so it’s kind of a family thing. So, when the opportunity to give it a try came, I took it and skated with it.
Q: Who have been your biggest ice hockey mentors, and what was the important thing each of them taught you?
A: My biggest hockey mentor is my step dad, Coach Chris Lagan. He has been coaching me since I started to learn to play. He took the time to learn all he could about goalie to teach it to me. I have become the goalie I am because of his guidance. Chris has taught me all I know, but the most important thing he has taught me is that I can use all the losses from past games, past teams, and all the second places and use it to get better, to learn from my losses and mistakes.
Q: What aspect of your play are you currently working on the most at the present time?
A: I actually am constantly working on improving my fundamentals, like skating and positioning. But this season I have been specifically working on playing the puck every chance I get, whether that is in-between plays at practice or during games.
Q: You wear uniform jersey No. 31 for Lower Merion Liberty – is there a reason you chose that number?
A: I wear No. 31 because it is the same number as my favorite goalie and the one I look up to the most, Igor Shesterkin. It is also the number of my dad’s favorite goalie Grant Fuhr. I couldn’t wear my dad’s No. 24 when I started playing because it was already taken, so I chose to wear No. 31.
Q: Can you give us an example of how good communication between the goalie and the defense has helped Lower Merion Liberty on the ice this season?
A: Coach Chris has always encouraged me to play the puck more. As I began to play the puck this season, I didn’t realize how rare it was. I have had to work a lot on communicating with my defense when I come out of the net so they know what I want them to do so I can make the play I want to make. But the biggest thing I have to tell them is that I am playing the puck and they need to get open. I do this by calling out “MINE!”
Q: What hockey players who you really admire, and why?
A: I admire many hockey players, many of them are goalies or players from the NHL; like Igor Shesterkin, Henrik Lundquist, Marc-Andre Fleury, Ken Dryden, Kaapo Kakko, Jacob Trouba, and Mika Zibanejad. But I also have players that I have played with, whether it is for their play, their attitude on and off the ice, or because of one of their other traits, like: my current captain, Ella Miller; Piedmont Predators goalies Maggie Cowden and Liz Moeller; as well as Megan Fitzgerald and Claire Anderson and Coach Tiki Tikhonov from the Preds. I have played with all of these amazing girls and they have all taught me something, and for that, I look up to them.
Q: What has been your most memorable moment as an ice hockey player outside of Lower Merion Liberty?
A: My favorite memory outside of Lower Merion Liberty is the game I played against the Jr Flyers last year. I was on the Piedmont Predators 16U AA team, and I was playing against Jr Flyers. It was a tight game against a program we had never beaten. I had to make 41 saves and got a shutout. We won 1-0 and it was my first shutout of the season and Jr Flyers is a great program. So, the fact that we beat them was amazing.
Q: What is your favorite ice hockey venue and why?
A: My favorite hockey venue would have to be where it all started, Prince William Ice Center in Virginia. It is where I started playing hockey and I will love that place forever because of it.
Q: What is your favorite course at Harriton? What do you think you’d like to major in at college? Is there a particular career field that interests you at the present time?
A: I love the math classes at Harriton. I actually want to major in education and minor in mathematics so I can be a math teacher in the future. If I stay on this path, I am planning to be an Algebra teacher by day and a hockey/goalie coach by night.
Fun facts – Kat Moose
Favorite book: The Game, by Ken Dryden.
Favorite author: Marie Lu.
Favorite TV show: Supernatural.
Favorite movie: Miracle.
Favorite athlete: Igor Shesterkin.
Favorite pre-game pump-up song: Enter Sandman by Metallica.
Favorite team: New York Rangers.
Favorite place to visit: Oregon.
Person I most admire, and why: “My stepdad, Chris Lagan. He is a man who had to step into the position of being a parent very late in my life, and he has been there for me ever since. He taught me how to play hockey and many other things.”
Family members: stepfather Chris Lagan, mother Laura Moose, father (deceased) Ellis Moose, little brother Henry Moose, pet cat Matu, dog Nimitz.
(To be selected as Main Line Girls Athlete of the Week, a student-athlete must first be nominated by her coach.)
