Easy choice: Dominic Moore for Masterton Trophy

       The numbers don't always tell the story.

       The 596 NHL games, 73 goals, 130 assists, the 14 minutes a game don't give you the complete picture of Dominic Moore, 33, who has been nominated for the Masterton Trophy by the New York chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

       From Ontario to Harvard to New York to eight other NHL teams,  Moore battled, and there was no greater battle, and no more eloquent words spoken about it afterward, than when Moore toook a leave of absence from the game to spend nine months with his wife Katie who was dying of cancer. 

      Not only has he come through one of the darkest of clouds, he has returned to the NHL and New York, where he broke in in 2003-04, with warmth and toughness and an admirable sense of balance, which is rare in professional sports.

       Look up class act in the Websters: Moore's name should be there.