from Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet,

An older man with a heart bigger than the Stanley Cup got the rare chance Saturday night to say goodbye to his players and his fans. It was the least Bruce Boudreau deserved.

His 48 years in professional hockey, his 68 years on this earth, all those rinks and bus rides and practices and games, all the sacrifice and moments of extreme joy and disappointment, all that he endured this season when his weeks-long dismissal as the Vancouver Canucks’ coach became a public spectacle — all of that led Boudreau to that one moment behind the bench late Saturday, just after his team lost 4-2 to the Edmonton Oilers in what was likely his final game in the National Hockey League.

“You never know if it's the end,” Boudreau, constantly fending off more tears after shedding many in the dressing room, told reporters in a hushed interview room. “So when you've been at it almost 50 years, I mean, the majority of your life and if it's the end. . . I had to stay out there and just look at the crowd and just try to say: 'Okay, remember this moment.'

“I just wanted to savour looking at the stands because who knows if I'm ever going to get this chance again. And just keep that in my mind in the memory. . . let it burn there forever.”

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