Do I want this guy to go "all the way" or do I want him to go flat somewhere South of the promised land? Its a tough call tonight.
Vindictive or supportive?
At this stage of the Leafs' lengthy exile from meaningful hockey you'd think I'd no longer have ill will towards those good enough to still be playing? Under other circumstances I probably wouldn't, but with a guy like Maurice who for two years got it wrong in Toronto, its hard not to be a wee bit...bitter. He seemed to be in the right place at the right time when he was called upon by his pal Jim Rutherford to run the Hurricanes, a team most of us didn't think would even make the playoffs. Lucky bastard.
Or is he?
Again, Maurice took over a team stuck in a serious funk. At the time of his hiring just keeping the Canes in contention appeared to be a stretch.
Skip ahead
Here we just a few short months later and the team Maurice fronts finds itself among the NHL's Final-Four AGAIN. It's an amazing accomplishment helped along by a reinvigorated head coach who's re-discovered success in the only place he's ever tasted it before. It seems a simple theory to a complicated journey and one that has Maurice edging closer to the pinnacle with the Canes while moving further from that fruitless chapter in his career with the Leafs.
Is the grass really that greener? Or is timing everything?
In the case of Paul Maurice you'd have to believe its a bit of both, kind of like my feelings towards the ex-Leafs bench boss. Deep down it wouldn't kill me to see him win the ultimate prize. Hey, who am I to wish ill will on someone so usually classy? Then again, he's no longer a member of the team I've devoted my support to...which tonight may or may not be a good thing?
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