Moe Mantha Autographed Card

It's December 24th, and I thought I could feature someone whose name rhymes with "Santa", Moe Mantha.

Moe Mantha Jr. had hockey bloodlines, though not from George and Hall Of Famer sibling Sylvio Mantha of Montréal Canadiens fame, but from Moe Mantha Sr., a career minor-leaguer who played in Québec leagues (the Québec Citadelles of the OHA and the Montréal Royals of the QHL), as well as the IHL (Cincinnati Mohawks and Columbus Checkers), AHL (Cleveland Barons, Québec Aces, and Providence Reds) and WHL (San Francisco Seals, Seattle Totems, and Vancouver Canucks).

The son, however, was an Olympian, suiting up for Team USA in 1992, and played defense for the Winnipeg Jets and Philadelphia Flyers twice apiece, as well as the Pittsburgh Penguins, Edmonton Oilers, and Minnesota North Stars - and also some of their AHL and CHL affiliates - accumulating a total of 81 goals, 289 assists and 370 points in 656 regular-season games, and a very good 5 goals and 10 assists (15 points) in 17 playoff games, all with the Jets.

His best season was in 1985-86 with the Pens, as he used his sharp passing skills, fluid skating ability, fine stickhandling skills and hard slap shot to put up 67 points in 78 games.

Like many of his contemporaries, he was known to sport a dashing mustache, as can be attested from card # 506 from Score's 1991-92 Canadian Edition set, which he signed in blue sharpie:

It shows him wearing the Jets' early-1990s purplish-blue (away) uniform.

You may recall his name from having replaced Greg Gilbert as the Saginaw Spirit's head coach last season. It was the second time he was named interim head coach of the OHL franchise, the previous time occurring in 2003-04. His record as a coach isn't stellar:

Courtesy of HockeyDB.com

That's barely three times with a record over .500, and just once advancing past the first round when making the playoffs at all.