Paul Maurice was a little tied up to take part in the annual H.P. Broughton Award ceremony on Tuesday night.
The Sault native is in the midst of the Stanley Cup final as head coach of the NHL’s Florida Panthers — the third straight year he has led the Panthers to the final, including last season's memorable victory.
Maurice was named this year's winner of the H.P. Broughton Award, which recognizes Sault Ste. Marie’s sportsperson of the year.
The 58-year-old has been with the Panthers for three seasons and led the team to a 47-31-4 record this season, finishing third in the Atlantic Division.
After the Panthers disposed of their in-state rivals, the Tampa Bay Lightning, in the first round of the playoffs, the team beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in round two before advancing to the final thanks to a five-game series win over the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Panthers currently lead the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in the Stanley Cup final heading into game four tonight.
“I’ve learned more about life and hockey in the last three years from these players than I could ever possibly imagine,” Maurice said in an interview with NHL.com, prior to the start of this year's final. “It has been life-altering working with these men. And I’m specific with my words. There’s no hyperbole to it. It has absolutely been life-altering coming to the rink working with these men.”
In three seasons with the Panthers, Maurice has led the team to the Stanley Cup final in all three.
Maurice’s NHL coaching career has seen him coach over 1,900 games between the Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets, and the Panthers.
Other nominees for the Broughton included curler Brad Jacobs and the Sault College women’s hockey team.
Jacobs took over as skip of an Alberta-based team last summer, a team that included former teammate Marc Kennedy.
Jacobs skipped the team to a Montana’s Brier title in Kelowna in March, beating Matt Dunstone’s Manitoba-based rink 5-3 in the final.
Team Jacobs then represented Canada at the 2025 World Men’s Curling Championship in Moose Jaw, Sask., where the team beat China to win bronze at the nine-day tournament.
The Jacobs rink played in a pair of finals during the Grand Slam of Curling season as well.
The Sault College women’s hockey team captured its third consecutive American Collegiate Hockey Association national championship in March in St. Louis, Mo.
A 3-0 record in the round robin propelled Sault College into the playoff round, where they beat the University of Wisconsin in semifinal play to advance to the national championship game.
In the title game, Sault College beat Assiniboine College 6-2 to win the championship.
In addition to the Broughton, the night saw the Sault’s top male high school athletes recognized.
Multi-sport athlete Nathan Guizzetti was named the winner of the Walter Lowe Memorial Award as the top male high school athlete in the Sault.
The B’Nai B’Brith Award, which goes to the student who best combines academics and athletics, went to a pair of athletes in Tate Turco of Korah and Ethan Heimonen of Superior Heights.
The Ross Winslade Award, which goes annually to the secondary school that accumulates the most points within the city for boys’ and girls’ sports sanctioned by the local athletic associations, was awarded to Korah.
The award was accepted by Kim Policiccio and Marco Bernabucci — athletic directors at Korah — along with athletes Addisyn Tremblay and Nathan Guizzetti.
The night also saw Clair Campbell inducted into the Russ Ramsay High School Sports Hall of Fame.
Campbell, who passed away earlier this year, played basketball at Sault Collegiate before heading to the University of Saskatchewan.
After returning to the Sault as a teacher, Campbell remained involved in sports locally refereeing high school basketball.
Sport-by-sport winners on Tuesday night included:
- Badminton – Dylan Wootton (Superior Heights)
- Basketball – Erik Martone (Korah)
- Cross Country Running – Peter Gartshore (Superior Heights)
- Curling – Carter McClelland (Korah)
- Football – Nathan Guizzetti (Korah)
- Hockey – Griffin Albert (Korah) and Dom Corbett (CASS)
- Nordic Skiing – Jasper Tchir (Korah)
- Soccer – Elijah Beaton (Superior Heights)
- Track and Field – Ethan Carbone (Korah)
- Volleyball – Zayn Murdoch (Korah)
- Wrestling – Ben Trevisanut (Superior Heights)
SooToday will have coverage of the city's top female athletes, who were recognized separately Wednesday night at the 51st Annual Tenaris Female Athletic Awards.