Paul Maurice Touched By Congratulatory Texts Ahead Of Coaching In 2,000th NHL Game
Texts from unexpected figures, especially former players, bring a smile as Paul Maurice reflects on his 2,000th NHL game milestone.
Florida Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice is going to hit another major milestone. On Tuesday night, Maurice will be behind the bench for his 2,000th National Hockey League game. He will join the legendary Scotty Bowman, and only Scotty Bowman, as the lone individuals who have coached that many games in the NHL.
After Florida’s morning skate, Maurice spoke about some of the congratulatory messages he’d received. “You’re always in the context of the game, where we’re at, we want to be better tonight than we were in Seattle, we didn’t like that game very much,” he began. “We all work in hockey, we get really, really busy so we lose track of each other, and then you start to get texts, and it’s always the ones that you don’t expect that put a smile on your face.
The congratulations text from ex-players and people that I haven’t talked to in a long time. It’s like Christmas, when you run into some people and everybody is in a good mood, and you haven’t seen them for a long time, it’s nice. It’s a reason to connect with people that have been really, really important to you in your career.
” He wouldn’t elaborate on the content of the messages, as they were private and intended for his eyes only. “I don’t know if I have the right to do that,” he said with a grin. “They sent me the text, they didn’t send it to everybody else, they didn’t post it on Instagram.