Following a long, distinguished career in Canada's game, a Windsor Spitfire alum is finally on top of the hockey world.
The third time was the charm for Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice, who on his third trip to the Stanley Cup Finals, went the distance and guided the Panthers to their first Cup win in franchise history with a 2-1 Game 7 win over the Edmonton Oilers Monday night in front of a sellout home crowd in Sunrise, Florida.
Florida avoided being on the wrong side of history. The Panthers won the first three games before Edmonton fought back with three wins to force a Game 7. The Oilers were poised to become the first team since the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs to overcome a 3-0 deficit to win the Cup.
Maurice had coached the Carolina Hurricanes to the 2002 Finals but lost to the Detroit Red Wings in five games. He went back to the Finals last season, his first behind the bench in Florida, but the Panthers fell to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games.
Maurice told ESPN after the game that he knew this Florida team was special when he was hired as its coach.
"I got off the phone with them the summer I took the job, and I kept telling my wife, 'These guys are different,'" said Maurice. "It's the way they treat each other. They love each other."
The Sault Ste. Marie native first made his mark as a defenceman with the Spitfires from 1984 to 1988, playing 189 games, scoring eight goals for 40 points, and racking up 256 penalty minutes. Windsor reached the playoffs each season with Maurice on the roster and reached the Memorial Cup Final in 1988.
Maurice became an assistant coach with the Spits and went in 1990 to the Detroit Junior Red Wings, now the Flint Firebirds. He became their head coach in 1993, and in his second season, guided the Junior Red Wings to a Robertson Cup before they lost the 1995 Memorial Cup to Kamloops.
Becoming a head NHL coach at 28, Maurice was with the Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes through the middle of the 2003 season, making the playoffs four times.
Following an unsuccessful two-year stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs, he returned to Carolina in 2008 and stayed three more seasons.
Before joining the Panthers, Maurice spent eight seasons with the Winnipeg Jets. He made the playoffs five times, with the furthest a trip to the 2018 Western Conference Finals.
During the celebration on the ice Monday night, Maurice looked at the names engraved on the Stanley Cup and found the name of his father, Denis.
"That means something," Maurice told ESPN. "My dad grew up in Montreal without a dad. And then he moved to the Detroit area, Windsor, Detroit, so all his heroes are Montreal Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings. And I know Jean Beliveau’s name and Maurice Richard’s name from hearing it since I was five. That’s what’s cool."