CHICAGO (AP) — Pat Maroon played his first and his last NHL game at the United Center.
In between, it was quite a ride.
Maroon closed his 14th and final season when the Chicago Blackhawks hosted the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night. While Chicago has two road games left, Maroon skated in the home finale in front of a group of family and friends before beginning his retirement.
“Every career comes to an end,” Maroon said. “It doesn't last forever. I let that kind of soak in a little bit. I'm happy (with) where I'm at in my career, where I ended.”
Defenseman Alec Martinez also indicated in a pregame TV interview that it was his last game as well. He joined Maroon in the starting lineup.
“A lot of different emotions today, but just very thankful, very appreciative of a lot of people,” Martinez said on Chicago Sports Network, “my family, a lot of people that have helped me along the way in this game.”
Maroon, a St. Louis native who turns 37 on April 23, signed a $1.3 million, one-year contract with Chicago in free agency last summer. The rugged forward announced last month that he planned to retire after this season, but he waited until Saturday to reveal that the home finale would be his last game.
“He's been awesome. Such an enjoyable person to be around,” Blackhawks forward Connor Bedard said. “Obviously, his experience in the league ... he can teach us a lot of things. But I think just the laughs he brings and energy he brings to the room, he's just a guy that everyone wants to be around.”
The Blackhawks paid tribute to Maroon with a highlight video during a first-period timeout. The crowd responded with a standing ovation, and an emotional Maroon waved and patted his heart in appreciation.
Maroon was selected by Philadelphia in the sixth round of the 2007 draft. He was traded to Anaheim in 2010 and made his NHL debut in the Ducks' shootout loss at Chicago on Oct. 25, 2011.
Maroon helped his hometown Blues win the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history in 2019. He also won back-to-back championships with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020 and ’21.
He became the fourth player in NHL history and first since 1964 to win the Cup three years in a row with two teams. He entered the matchup with the Jets with 126 goals and 197 assists in 847 regular-season games, also playing for Edmonton, New Jersey, Minnesota and Boston.
“I've been fortunate to do what I love for a living for a long time,” Maroon said. “As I look back on my career when this is all done, I'm going to look back on the bad times that I went through in Philly to where it got me to where I'm at today.”
Maroon left open the possibility of working in hockey down the road, but he wasn't ready to think about that just yet.
“As of right now, my focus is family,” he said. “My wife's due any day now. So we're going to focus on that, focus on getting back to Tampa, getting settled in and kind of digesting everything and what our next step is.”
The 37-year-old Martinez is another a three-time Stanley Cup winner who joined Chicago in free agency on July 1. He had 88 goals and 201 assists in 861 regular-season games going into the matchup with Winnipeg, also playing for Los Angeles and Vegas.
Martinez had one of the biggest moments of his career playing against the Blackhawks. He scored in overtime when Los Angeles eliminated Chicago with a 5-4 victory in Game 7 of the epic 2014 Western Conference Final.
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Jay Cohen, The Associated Press
