On Saturday night, in one of those crazy twists, he’ll look across at the Oiler bench and there will be Coffey, 63, running the defence for head coach Kris Knoblauch.

 

Small world, eh?

“I really grew up an Oiler fan, saw all their Stanley Cups,” said Maurice.

 

And Maurice is now trying to get the Stanley Cup, against the Oilers.

 

Maurice, 57, also remembers Saturday nights around the television as a kid.

 

“We had three TV channels, one French, one from Detroit and CBC,” he said. “On Saturdays, if we weren’t playing hockey, we’d be watching hockey on CBC. My mom, she would be cooking either spaghetti or chili and we would also have popcorn with, you know, a pound of butter. I had my glass of Coke, smeared in butter, salt everywhere.

 

“Next morning, we’d eat the leftover popcorn my dad didn’t eat,” laughed Maurice. “Yeah, that’s what I remember.”