A Windsor Spitfires alum joined some elite company on Tuesday night in Miami.
Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice lifted the Stanley Cup for the second year in a row after the Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers 5-1 in Game 6 of the Finals.
Maurice has joined coaching legend Scotty Bowman in a rare club, winning at least 800 career games and back-to-back Cups. Bowman accomplished the feat when coaching the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 and 1998.
Maurice is also the 18th NHL coach to win at least two straight Cups. The most recent was Jon Cooper, guiding cross-state rival Tampa Bay to titles in the COVID-affected 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 seasons.
He was no stranger to the Stanley Cup Finals before going back-to-back. Maurice had coached the Carolina Hurricanes to the 2002 Finals but lost to the Detroit Red Wings in five games. In his first season in Florida, 2022-2023, he took them to the Finals, but the Panthers fell to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, Maurice was a blueliner for the Spitfires from 1984 to 1988, with eight goals for 40 points in 189 games played, and 256 minutes in the penalty box. The Spits went to the OHL playoffs every year with him on the roster and made the Memorial Cup Tournament in 1988.
Transitioning into coaching at the tail end of his Spitfires playing career, Maurice was an assistant with Windsor before heading to the Detroit Junior Red Wings, now the Flint Firebirds, in 1990. He was promoted to head coach in 1993 and won an OHL title in 1995 before losing to Kamloops in the Memorial Cup.
Maurice got his first NHL head coaching position at age 28, with the Hurricanes, making the playoffs four times and the Stanley Cup Finals in 2002.
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.