Florida coach Paul Maurice didn’t shake fingers with the Carolina Hurricanes when the Japanese Convention ultimate ended. And he requested Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour to not shake fingers with the Panthers, both.
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It wasn’t out of disrespect.
Fairly the opposite, actually.
The handshake line on the finish of a playoff collection is one in every of hockey’s sacred traditions, regardless of how bodily the collection was earlier than one crew finally prevailed. And Maurice thinks the handshakes are a part of what makes the sport nice to hockey followers, and he is all for it taking place.
He has simply stated repeatedly all through this postseason that he thinks the coaches should not be a part of it — reiterating that after the Panthers eradicated the Hurricanes on Wednesday evening, even going so far as convincing Brind’Amour to take a seat it out himself. In that second, Maurice stated, nothing ought to take the eye off the gamers on the 2 groups that simply performed a collection.
“I don’t believe that the coaches should shake players’ hands at the end,” Maurice stated. “There’s this long list of people in suits and track suits. We had like 400 people on the ice. They’re all really important to our group. But not one of them was in the game.”
So, simply as he did after the Spherical 2 win over Toronto, Maurice and his workers shook fingers with Brind’Amour and different members of the Carolina workers. That occurred close to the benches, whereas the gamers partook within the conventional handshake line down the middle of the ice.
Maurice stated a number of weeks in the past that he is not positive when the post-round handshake expanded to incorporate coaches, and figures somebody years in the past did it simply to both be seen or seize some tv time. He stated when he began teaching, folks within the fits weren’t in these handshake moments.
This season, he is been attempting to amend the custom. And he thanked Brind’Amour for taking a threat, as Maurice stated, in agreeing with him.
“There’s something for me visually, with the camera on just the men who played, blocked shots, fought for each other, it’s end of one’s season, it’s excitement for the other,” Maurice stated. “The last thing that a player on the Carolina Hurricanes deserves is 50 more guys in suits, they have no idea who they are and that’s not a negative. There’s something really kind of beautiful about just the camera on those men who played shaking hands. And we should respect that.”
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