Mantha was born while his father,
Moe Mantha Sr., was playing for the
Cleveland Barons of the
American Hockey League (AHL). He was subsequently raised in Canada, when his father retired from hockey and returned to his hometown of
Sturgeon Falls,
Ontario. Moe Mantha Jr. has represented the United States in international hockey; he was a member of the U.S. team in the 1981, 1985, and 1991
Ice Hockey World Championships as well as the
1992 Winter Olympics. Mantha first played for the
Toronto Marlboros of the
Ontario Hockey Association in 1978, and was drafted by the NHL's
Winnipeg Jets in 1980. He played for the Jets and their minor league farm teams until 1984, when he was traded to the
Pittsburgh Penguins. He was then sent to the
Edmonton Oilers in 1988; the Oilers traded him to the
Minnesota North Stars later that same season. He later played for the
Philadelphia Flyers and another stint with the Jets. 1992–93 was Mantha's final season as a player, for the AHL's
Hershey Bears; he has since coached teams in the AHL (Hershey and the
Cincinnati Mighty Ducks) and the
ECHL's
Columbus Chill. He coached the junior USA team out of
Ann Arbor, Michigan, from 2000 to 2004. In 2005, Mantha was named as the head coach of the Detroit Gladiators of the new
World Hockey Association, but the league never made it to the ice; instead, he served as head coach and general manager of the
Windsor Spitfires of the
Ontario Hockey League (OHL) until he was terminated for gross misconduct during the
Akim Aliu/
Steve Downie hazing scandal that ultimately resulted in the Spitfires being fined $35,000 under Mantha's tenure. Mantha then served as the general manager and head coach for the
French River Rapids of the
NOJHL. On February 16, 2016, he was named interim head coach of the
Saginaw Spirit of the OHL, making his second trip behind the Spirit bench, replacing the recently fired
Greg Gilbert. He was not retained at the end of that season. In 2017, he was hired as the head coach and general manager of the
Brookings Blizzard in the
North American Hockey League. The Blizzard retained Mantha for one season after it relocated as the
St. Cloud Blizzard in 2019 before he retired in 2020. ==Personal life==