(Fort Lauderdale) Paul Maurice spent his summers by a lake in the middle of nowhere in Canada. He usually had his morning coffee with his wife, either on the dock or on the porch, depending on the number of black flies. Sometimes the moment lasted 30 minutes, sometimes hours.
And he loved the quiet. “It was just peaceful,” he said.
Simply put, the coach who led the Florida Panthers to a Stanley Cup title — and spent 30 years in the hockey world before realizing his dream — needed a break. A long break.
He needed a break from practices and game plans, microphones and tape recorders, so he packed his bags shortly after the Panthers parade and drove three days to Canada, seeking solitude and quiet.
Now he’s back, rested and ready. His third season with the Panthers begins Thursday when training camp officially opens. His eyes aren’t on what the Panthers won, but rather what the team can do to repeat that feat.
“That’s hyperbole, and it’s blatant hyperbole,” Maurice said in an interview with The Associated Press. “If you sat here for 100 years and told me what it means to win the Stanley Cup, you’d never be able to tell me. You can’t know. But that’s not what I thought either.”
It’s even better.
The celebration – for the coach, anyway – lasted a few days. He only lifted the Cup twice. The first time was the night the Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of the final. The second time was at the parade a few days later. He held it up afterward, but he didn’t raise it over his head.
“You don’t win the Cup,” Maurice explained. “What I realized is that you share it, it’s not yours.”
For him, the summer was filled with small moments of sharing. He and his father held the Cup together a few weeks ago, each with a big smile on their face.
Words weren’t needed to describe what that moment meant to them. Nor were they needed when one of his wife’s uncles – a lifelong hockey fan from Quebec who uses a walker to get around – saw the Cup. Suddenly, he didn’t need the walker anymore, which he set aside to hug the Cup, tears welling in his eyes.
“The power of this thing, the power of the Cup, is just ridiculous,” Maurice said. “It’s indescribable. The best part of a day like that is seeing all the people around you happy at the same time.”
As far as hockey and professional success go, he’s happy. Happier than ever, really.
Maurice is fourth in National Hockey League (NHL) history for season wins. The 15e Panthers’ campaign game will be his 2000e led by including the series within the circuit. Only Scotty Bowman has reached this plateau.
His place in history was already assured before the seventh game of the final. The story could have been very different, though, if they had lost the final game after leading 3-0 in the series. But they won, and the coach got his title.
“The one thing I almost haven’t thought about – because it’s almost too scary – is ‘what if we hadn’t won?’ I won’t allow myself to think about it,” Maurice said. “I don’t have to do it, so I don’t.”