Isa国际传媒檝e always been amazed by Jon Coopersa国际传媒檚 journey to the NHL.
Never mind the 3,256 miles from Coopersa国际传媒檚 home town of Prince George, B.C. to Tampa Bay, Florida, his route to being behind the bench for the Lightning has been a rather unorthodox one.
While most coaches have resumes that includes playing time in the NHL, Cooper does not.
He played hockey and lacrosse growing up and eventually wound up attending the prestigious Notre Dame Academy in Wilcox, Saskatchewan where he realized his dream of playing in the NHL wasnsa国际传媒檛 going to happen.
Cooper shifted his focus to lacrosse and wound up attending Hofstra University where he was a letterman for four years while earning a business degree. From there, it was off to Lansing, Michigan where he graduated from Cooley Law School and practiced law for five years.
Michigan is also where he became a coach for the first time with Lansing Catholic School. From there, Cooper had stints as a head coach in various developmental leagues in the U.S. before the Lightning hired him to run their AHL team in Norfolk.
The common denominator among all those stops?
Cooper won championships at every level, which was a harbinger of things to come in the NHL.
According to J.T. Miller of the Canucks, itsa国际传媒檚 the reason why Cooper has overcome the stigma of not ever having played in the league.
sa国际传媒淗esa国际传媒檚 been a winner on all levels. Itsa国际传媒檚 just in his nature to win. He has that swagger within him and I think hesa国际传媒檇 be the first to tell you. He also carries a confidence with the system that theysa国际传媒檙e trying to preach,sa国际传媒� said Miller, who played for Cooper in Tampa during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons.
So when the Lightning came to Vancouver sporting a 13-11-5 record prior to Tuesday nightsa国际传媒檚 4-1 loss to the Canucks, I was wondering how Cooper was handling the situation with his team being on the playoff bubble.
sa国际传媒淲esa国际传媒檝e worked our tails off. Wesa国际传媒檙e just a different team. We have so many new faces now and guys in different roles. Theresa国际传媒檚 been a lot of turnover but wesa国际传媒檝e got a group that works their tail off. If we keep working, wesa国际传媒檒l be okay,sa国际传媒� Cooper explained after the game.
Now the longest tenured coach in the league, Cooper is looking to get his hockey club back to a championship level.
One of the primary reasons for the Lightingsa国际传媒檚 success over the years has been their ability to lock-down opponents when required but thatsa国际传媒檚 not been the case this year as they have now given up 106 goals which is tied for second worst in the league.
Not having all-world netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy available for the first 20 games of the season as he recovered from off-season back surgery didnsa国际传媒檛 help matters but the Russiansa国际传媒檚 return does have the team trending in the right direction as his 2.74 GAA would indicate.
sa国际传媒淭heresa国际传媒檚 no question we have to get better defensively. You cansa国际传媒檛 win in this league unless you do that. Itsa国际传媒檚 been tough for us. I think at the beginning, we were just been giving up way too many odd man rushes and shooting ourselves in the foot. It feels like in the first third of the year here we didnsa国际传媒檛 give up a chance forever, and when we did, it wound up in our net but wesa国际传媒檙e growing as a team. There are a lot of good things to pull from, but for sure the goals against, thatsa国际传媒檚 the one wesa国际传媒檝e got to clean up,sa国际传媒� said Cooper.
Despite their troubles defensively, Cooper feels optimistic about a group thatsa国际传媒檚 led by the likes of Vasilevskiy, Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman and Brayden Point among others.
sa国际传媒淎t some point, it will start clicking for us. There are times like this during a season. This year, itsa国际传媒檚 happened during the beginning. Other years itsa国际传媒檚 happened during the middle of the year. The big thing for us is that we cansa国际传媒檛 fall too far behind in the standings because it is hard to comeback,sa国际传媒� said Cooper.
Now in his 12th year behind the bench for the Lightning with two Stanley Cups to his credit and two other Cup Final appearances, yousa国际传媒檇 think burnout might be an issue with Cooper but thatsa国际传媒檚 not the case.
He actually chuckled when asked about it.
sa国际传媒淚 just love the competition. Theresa国际传媒檚 nothing like game daysa国际传媒eing behind the benchsa国际传媒rying to outdo the other team. That fire still burns. Even though wesa国际传媒檝e been to a few finals and won a couple of Cups, I feel like we havensa国际传媒檛 won anything. So theresa国际传媒檚 still a lot fire there,sa国际传媒� said Cooper.
OVERTIME
Fun Factoid sa国际传媒� Cooper played two games for the Western Lacrosse Associationsa国际传媒檚 Richmond Outlaws in 1988, recording a goal and an assist.
Brock Boesersa国际传媒檚 three goals in the Canucks win propelled him into a tie with Torontosa国际传媒檚 Auston Matthews for the league led in goals with 21. It was the fifth hat trick of Boesersa国际传媒檚 career. Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet was quick to point out in his post-game comments that itsa国际传媒檚 Boesersa国际传媒檚 defensive play that has impressed him the most. sa国际传媒淗esa国际传媒檚 a smart guy and knows the spots to go at but hesa国际传媒檚 sharpened up his defensive game. He still wants to get better at his defensive game but itsa国际传媒檚 night-and-day from last year,sa国际传媒� said Tocchet.
Next up for the Canucks is a visit from the Florida Panthers Thursday night at Rogers Arena. The organization will induct Roberto Luongo into its Ring of Honour prior to the game.
Veteran B.C. sports personality Bob sa国际传媒渢he Mojsa国际传媒� Marjanovich writes twice weekly for Black Press Media.
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