Maurice returns to Jets a man of the world

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This article was published 30/09/2016 (3294 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

He’s had one eye on Winnipeg and another on the World.

Now the multi-tasking is over for Paul Maurice, who’s returned to the city admittedly feeling a little blue one of his jobs has come to an end.

“Disappointment. Really disappointed. Kind of a little bit of… I guess, a mini depression,” the Winnipeg Jets head coach said Friday evening at the MTS Centre.

He was talking, of course, about Thursday night’s World Cup of Hockey game in Toronto in which Team Europe gave up a pair of late third-period goals to Team Canada, losing 2-1 and losing in the final. Maurice was an assistant on that team to head coach Ralph Krueger and was lamenting how close they came to pushing the series to a deciding third game.

It was a surprising result from a team filled with players from eight nations who many didn’t give a fighting chance to make much noise in the tournament.

“What was really interesting is how quickly these guys started to enjoy each other from different countries,” Maurice said. “We did a really good job of never getting ahead of ourselves. We kind of enjoyed every day.”

Despite Thursday’s heartbreaking loss, Maurice said he’ll treasure his time with Team Europe — and look to possibly translate some of the lessons he learned behind the bench for the Jets.

“There are lots of things. I’m keeping all of it. How much we can apply to the Winnipeg Jets and the National Hockey League season I don’t know,” he said. “I’ll look back at it and there’s a lot of really good things that I think you go through, you try. There’s so much more you can try in a small, little tournament.”

He spoke highly of his time with Krueger, the Manitoba-born coach who brought the team of scrappy international underdogs together.

“He’s got an incredible positive energy, from the time he wakes up straight through. The thing I enjoyed watching the most was when he helped all the people there create positive, lasting memories. So our medical guys, our equipment guys, everybody got a hug every day, a handshake, whatever. He connected with everybody,” said Maurice.

Maurice missed the first week of Jets training camp, including the first two exhibition games, which happened to be played at the exact same times he was coaching Team Europe. Maurice said he was juggling duties while in Toronto and had regular chats with Jets assistant coach Jamie Kompon, who was running the show in his absence.

“The first three days of camp they were probably happy I wasn’t here anyways,” Maurice joked Friday. He said that was the only downside to a tremendous personal experience.

“You spend so much time in the summer planning this and you don’t get to be here,” he said.

Maurice said he likes what he’s seen so far from some of the young Jets prospects but added decisions are never made — positive or negative — on one game.

He said the next week is when he expects the intensity and competition to ratchet up.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca