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With strong ties to Paul Maurice and Aaron Ekblad, Windsor has close eye on Stanley Cup final

The Florida Panthers are in their first Stanley Cup final since 1996 and head coach Paul Maurice and defenceman Aaron Ekblad have close connections to Windsor, Ont.

Maurice started coaching junior hockey earlier than most, becoming an assistant at the tail end of his OHL career with the Windsor Spitfires.

His Windsor billet, Charlie McGregor, says he saw leadership qualities in Maurice right away as a player — as teammates gravitated to him and their home on off days and weekends.

"And I'm talking about players that had been there for a couple of years before Paul came. Keith Gretzky being one," he said. 

McGregor described Maurice as a dependable defenceman who "wasn't going to light up the scoreboard."

"Very committed, very sure of himself."

The Florida Panthers head coach suffered a serious eye injury early on during his OHL career.

"To this day, he still has very poor peripheral vision in his right eye. It caused him to consider not playing anymore."

A strong 1988 Windsor Spitfires team that made it to the Memorial Cup finally squeezed Maurice out of the lineup. The team agreed to move him elsewhere or offer him an assistant coaching job.

"He wasn't sure at that time if he would contribute enough to feel good about himself. He didn't know what to do. After some soul searching and speaking to some of his friends and his family, he decided to take the job and the rest is history."

Longtime Windsor sports personality Domenic Papa says even as a teenager Maurice was very mature.

"He had a great personality — a great guy to be around," said Papa, who's also the founder of WE Digital Productions. 

"But there was just something maybe a little bit different where he was. He had that leadership quality.… Just approached

Read more on cbc.ca