Maurice shows love for cats with tie choices behind Panthers bench

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Paul Maurice has dozens of ties that he has collected over the course of his four decades behind an NHL bench.

Some, the Florida Panthers coach wears more than others. Some, he readily admits, should find a new home.

Then there are a couple of new ties that have recently been added to the rotation.

Well, they are new to him, anyway.

Maurice is a cat lover. He and his wife, Michelle, have two cats, whose names fans of the Panthers now know.

At the team's Stanley Cup championship celebration at Fort Lauderdale Beach last June, Maurice wore a T-shirt designed by his daughter, Sydney.

At first glance, it looked like a plain white T-shirt with the Panthers' shield logo on the front and their original 'leaping cat' logo on the back.

On closer look, the faces of the Maurice family's two cats -- Poppy and Penny -- were superimposed on the two Florida team logos.

"My daughter made this shirt," Maurice told the crowd at the beachfront rally, "and I promised her, if we ever won the Stanley Cup, I'm wearing it!"

And, so he did.

Back to the ties.

After Maurice wore the custom cat T-shirt in the rain, he was gifted a vintage silk tie from his daughter.

It was a lighter shade of red than the Panthers' team colors, and the small cat figures embossed on the tie were a lighter blue than the team uses, but it certainly looked sharp.

Maurice wore that tie for the first time in November.

There would be more to come.

Maurice now has about half a dozen different old-school ties with a cat theme that, literally, ties into his family's love of their pets -- and the team Maurice coaches.

"Ties show up in my closet," Maurice said, "and I put them on. Sometimes I get presented with them, too. And, sometimes I look at one and say 'No, I am not wearing that.' Some are over-vintaged. Worn a little too much."

The one he wears most is a dark blue number, sleek looking cats in red.

There is also a light blue version of that tie that goes very well with a gray suit.

Maurice has also sported a black-and-gold tie with feline figures standing on a column, as well as a more cheeky necktie which features both cats and mice -- or, for the Panthers, cats and rats.

Maurice said wearing the ties he is gifted from his family behind the bench helps include them in the experience.

"Every family has a routine, a story, a superstition … whatever it is,'' he said. "Everyone participates in this differently. The cat thing is, well, it's the name of the team and we have cats. We're all pretty tied to it."

Most viewers do not notice the small details of what is on a tie, but Maurice's new fashion statement has caught the eye of some fans who get excited when Maurice brings out one of his vintage silk ties.

He does not wear them all the time.

Maurice wore his blue tie with the crawling cats for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final last week.

Florida lost 4-3 in overtime to the Edmonton Oilers, and none of his other feline ties came off the rack for Game 2, but one did return for Game 3.

Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final is Thursday at Amerant Bank Arena (8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC). Florida holds a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series.

On Monday, Maurice became the third coach in NHL history with 1,000 wins in the regular season and playoffs combined when the Panthers defeated the Oilers 6-1 in Game 3.

"I just [wear the ties] to put a smile on their face," Maurice said of his wife and daughter. "There is no superstition to it. But I know it makes them smile. And that's good."