Bombers’ O’Shea hopes Maurice’s Panthers beat Oilers

Mike O’Shea is as Canadian as they come, a defenseman for the Maple Leaf, proud of his father’s service in the military and an avid supporter of three-down football.

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But when it comes to Monday night’s deciding game in the Stanley Cup Final between Edmonton and Florida, his heart is south of the border.

“They also have Canadians on their team,” the Blue Bombers head coach said of the Panthers hours before the opening game. “I would like to see Paul win one.”

Paul, of course, would be former Jets coach Paul Maurice, who O’Shea admired and even learned from during Maurice’s tenure in Winnipeg.

The two were hired just six weeks apart ten years ago and met. They attended some of the same events (their sons shared a classroom at St. Paul’s High School) and occasionally chatted about their work over coffee.

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“For young coaches, he’s a good guy, whatever your sport, he’s a good guy to listen to,” O’Shea said. “He does well with the media, and he obviously has longevity.”

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Maurice left the Jets midway through the 2021-22 season, took over the Panthers job and has reached back-to-back cup finals.

The 26-season veteran is second only to Scotty Bowman for most games coached in NHL history. He has reached the final three times in his career, but never won.

His Panthers have had three chances in this series, but lost them all and saw a 3-0 series lead evaporate.

“In all of this, I like to see as clean a game as possible,” O’Shea said. “Just no mistakes, so guys can feel good no matter what happens – just as good as you can feel if you don’t finish on the right side of the score. But the regret you get when you make mistakes is hard. Tough for the rest of your life.

“I just hope it’s a clean, clean game for the players, in terms of how they’re executed. You hope it’s very controversial. A one-goal match is always good. No challenge, not a hair by a hair.”

O’Shea, who had suffered back-to-back losses in the Gray Cup, was asked if he could imagine the pain that would come from losing a Game 7 in this way.

“I can’t do that,” he said.

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