George Richards, FHN Publisher
SUNRISE — Paul Maurice said he fell in love with hockey as a kid growing up in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
On Saturday night, if he was not playing hockey, his mother would make a big pot of spaghetti or chili and the Maurice family would settle in for an evening of Hockey Night in Canada.
“You knew you were getting older because you could make it to the third period,’’ Maurice said. “That’s the way it was. My mom would make popcorn with a half-pound of butter. The half-glass of Coke you got was smeared with butter, there was salt everywhere. You’d get up the next morning and eat the rest of what dad didn’t eat. That’s what I remember about growing up. And it was hockey Saturday night.”
After a lifetime of watching, playing or coaching the game he loves so much, Paul Maurice finally reached the pinnacle on Monday night.
At long last, Maurice got to grab hold of the Stanley Cup and lift it over his head.
It will likely be one of the more memorable snapshots of a night full of them.
“I did not know this when I got asked at the start of this whole this and said, ‘I need one, I’ve got to win a Stanley Cup’,’’ Maurice said in his postgame press conference early last Tuesday morning.
“There are a whole bunch of things you don’t know until you get there. You don’t win a Stanley Cup. I didn’t win the Stanley Cup tonight. I get to share it.’’
Maurice, who was the youngest coach in the NHL at 28 when he was shoved into the Hartford Whalers job in 1995, was given the Cup by goalie Spencer Knight following Florida’s 2-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final.
He whispered something to Knight as he grabbed hold of the Cup, took a look at some of the names hammered into the silver, placed a kiss on it and hoisted it into the air.
Then, as if on cue, dropped an F-bomb.
Paul Maurice may be a Stanley Cup champion, but some things do not change.
Not when lifting the Stanley Cup, nor at the Stanley Cup celebration.
Maurice was in rare form on Sunday with a profanity-laced speech on Fort Lauderdale Beach in which, at one point, you could tell how much he cared for this team.
And, of course, his two cats Penny and Poppy.
“I want to thank you, for these men here, for welcoming our families to Florida,” Maurice said.
Before getting hold of the prize he had been chasing his whole life, Maurice told Canada’s Sportsnet that this was for his family back in Sault Ste. Marie.
“It’s for my mom and dad, in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, for my brothers Mike and Shane in Sault Ste. Marie and Waterloo,” Maurice said.
“All of the people that suffered through 30 years of me losing and making excuses; Mom and Dad especially.”
Then, Maurice began recounting some of the legendary names who are on that Cup.
“Hey Dad, your name is going up with your heroes,’’ Maurice said, listing off Jean Beliveau, Maurice Richard, Gordie Howe, and Ted Lindsay.
And now?
“Maurice.’’
In his postgame comments, Maurice mentioned the losing, the first barb his critics would fire his way whenever things did not go his team’s way.
Yes, Maurice has more losses than any other coach in NHL history — not counting the years the only jobs he could get were with Toronto’s AHL team or in Russia.
Simply put, Maurice coached a lot of dogs — starting with that first Hartford team in 1995 — over the course of his career.
Your record wouldn’t look too good if your coaching jobs included a team about to relocate to North Carolina, or one in Winnipeg which had failed in Atlanta.
When he was hired by the Panthers following their 122-point Presidents’ Trophy season in 2022, it was by far the best job Maurice had ever stepped into.
And he proceeded to tear them down only to build them back up.
“I showed up here and they had 122 points,” Maurice deadpanned before the Final started.
“I managed to get them down to 92 in one year. Brilliant.”
It was by design.
And, really, brilliant.
The reason general manager Bill Zito hired Maurice was because he knew the Panthers had to change — or they were never getting where they wanted to go.
“How do we put it into words what he has done in his career and what he has meant?” Zito said. “The ups-and-downs and the level of quality person he is? I cannot say enough.’’
In two seasons under Maurice, the Panthers have hit heights they only dreamt of.
He has been the steady hand all along.
After Florida coughed up a 3-0 series lead to Edmonton, he said he came into the team’s training facility early Monday morning.
The large banks of televisions in the complex were tuned to ESPN which, at the bottom of the scroll, had a banner: ‘If the Florida Panthers lose, is this the biggest collapse in sports history?’
Maurice stood there for a minute.
“I was like, ‘roll it people! Lets move it!’ For 15 minutes it was there,” Maurice said. “I was waiting for our video guy to come in … to get that network off the TV. I’m sitting there, I don’t like it and I’m 57. What if you’re 25 and you’re going ‘I have to live 50 more years being a part of the biggest collapse in sports history.’
“From the [Game 6] loss to the drop of the puck, something had to change and had to get better. That’s where I think I worked. Once the puck dropped, I was done working and I liked our first period. I was good.”
Maurice got the televisions changed to something else, another example of him not panicking when things were not going their way.
The Panthers followed his lead on Monday night.
“There was no wavering on his part,’’ longtime friend and assistant coach Jamie Kompon said Monday night.
“He steered the ship the right way. What an unbelievable feeling this is for Paul to finally get this. People who know him and understand what kind of person he is, coach he is, human he is are so happy for him.”
That includes his family.
The Maurice clan was on the ice enjoying this win as well, his sons Luke and Jake hanging around the stage put up by the NHL to soak it all in and watch their dad enjoy a moment he had been waiting decades for.
“You see how hard he works behind the scenes,’’ Luke Maurice said. “Everyone loves the games, those are fun to watch, but the guys put in 23 hours a day. They grind so hard, it eats of their lives. When you have been doing that for 30 years, wow, it’s nice to win.’’
Said Jake Maurice: “Last year’s ride was so great, and watching those highlights are awesome. But you always have that thought that it did not have the ending you wanted. This one, the highlights will be even better to watch.”
When the Final started, Maurice was asked about having another chance to win the big prize and finally take that asterisk off his coaching record.
He got his first chance at Stanley Cup glory in 2002 when those relocated Hartford Whalers won Game 1 against the mighty Red Wings — then lost the next four.
Last year, the Panthers upset Boston in the first round and then beat Toronto in 5 and swept his old Carolina Hurricanes before losing to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Many in the hockey world were rooting for the Panthers because of Paul Maurice.
“It’s a little why I think the Sarah McLachlan commercials are good,’’ Maurice said, chuckling. “We resonate with suffering animals. I think they have seen me on TV for 30 years and they’re kind of going ‘can you give this guy a Stanley Cup because this is painful and pitiful to watch.’ As humans, I got adopted by the Florida Panthers tonight.’’
Maurice said he would have said ‘Thank God,’ if you would have told him after that Vegas loss that the Panthers would get back to the Final.
He also said that he did not need to win the Stanley Cup to validate his life’s work to those most important to him away from the ice.
“As you age,’’ Maurice said. “you get a different perspective on life and what’s important and valuable.”
Then he paused.
“I need to win one,’’ Maurice continued. “Now, it’s not going to change the section of my life that’s not related to hockey at all. That’s the truth. That’s how I feel. I’m 30 years into this thing. Wouldn’t mind winning one. …
“Yeah, I’d like to really win one, man.’’
So, how heavy was it?
“Heavier than I thought it would be,’’ Maurice said. “But I haven’t been to the gym in a long time.’’