DeBoer, Maurice Reunite; Stars and Panthers Meet in Finland

Dallas Stars coach Pete DeBoer and Paul Maurice of the Florida Panthers have been friends for a very long time.

Like, a really long time.

The two were teammates together on the Windsor Compuware Spitfires for three seasons from 1985-88, with Maurice joining the coaching staff for DeBoer’s final year with the team.

In 1994, while DeBoer was going to law school at the University of Windsor, his roommate asked if he would like to join his staff as an assistant coach with the Detroit Jr. Red Wings of the Ontario Hockey League.

“I didn’t know what I was doing, and he didn’t know what he was doing,’’ Maurice said last year. “We were just doing it all together.”

These two certainly know what they are doing now.

Maurice and DeBoer have two of the best teams in the NHL, teams which will square off against each other in the NHL Global Series starting Friday in Tampere, Finland.

Which means the two old friends have plenty of time to catch up.

Before leaving for Finland, Maurice was asked about meeting up with DeBoer in Finland and hoped the two would have time to grab a cup of coffee.

DeBoer was a little more realistic when asked about it on Tuesday.

“We both are on the back-9 of our careers,’’ said DeBoer, who coached the Panthers from 2009-11. “e started together oh, 30 years ago now, when we started coaching together; 35 years since we played juniors together. We have a long history. I am looking forward to catching up with him in Tampere and having a beer. It really has come full circle from where we were at. It’s a blur. This is my 16th or 17th year and I think it’s his 150th. Looking forward to catching up with him.”

Said Maurice: “We got together at a wedding this summer. His Godson and my nephew are the same person, so, there’s a connection with the families now that run into the kids. It will be good to see him and check in on the families.”

As for DeBoer and that law career, he obviously left that behind and dove headfirst into coaching.

In 1995, Peter Karmanos owned the Jr. Red Wings and the Hartford Whalers. He talked Maurice into becoming an assistant for the NHL team — and DeBoer took over the junior team as head coach.

Maurice would be promoted to head coach weeks into that first NHL season with DeBoer staying in junior hockey until he was hired by Jacques Martin and the Panthers in 2009.

DeBoer and Maurice stayed close, either talking on the phone or texting after games.

Their wives are best friends, and Maurice and DeBoer were in each other’s weddings.

They are Godfathers to each others’ children.

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When Maurice was talking to the Panthers about their opening in 2022, he said he and DeBoer did not discuss it. DeBoer, after all, was interviewing in Dallas.

The two were hired by their respective teams a day apart in June.

They did talk about the Panthers job afterward, however.

“We spoke after because he had coached here,” Maurice said. “I had been to his house in Weston so my wife and I had visited. We talked about where to live, things like that. He was already the Dallas coach so he was moving as well. We talk all the time, talk at the draft. I trust his brain so much. He is a great source of information.”

Dallas has been to the Western Conference final the past two seasons, and, had the Stars beaten the Vegas Golden Knights or Edmonton Oilers, DeBoer and Maurice would have met in the Stanley Cup Final.

When it looked like Dallas could face the Panthers in 2023, Maurice would not say whether he was rooting for his friend — although he always is.

“I can’t say on my impact on him, but he has had a really big impact on me in being able to share things that head coaches go through,” Maurice said then.

“When you have that kind of relationship, you can share deeply. Our personalities are quite different. He has an incredible ability to very quickly get to a problem and not spend a lot of time agonizing about it. He has a very quick mind.

“We’re constantly cheering for each other.”

ON DECK: GAME 12 

NHL GLOBAL SERIES AT TAMPERE, FINLAND

FLORIDA PANTHERS V. DALLAS STARS

• When: Friday, 1 p.m. EDT
• Where: Nokia Arena; Tampere, Finland
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FTL); WPTV 5/WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (Naples/FTM)
• National TV: NHLN
• Streaming: Panthers+; ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Last Season: Florida won 2-0
• This Season — At Tampere, Finland: Friday, Saturday.
• All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 26-21-2, 3 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Saturday vs. Dallas Stars, 11 a.m. EDT