I鈥檝e always been amazed by Jon Cooper鈥檚 journey to the NHL.
Never mind the 3,256 miles from Cooper鈥檚 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 wasn鈥檛 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, it鈥檚 the reason why Cooper has overcome the stigma of not ever having played in the league.
鈥淗e鈥檚 been a winner on all levels. It鈥檚 just in his nature to win. He has that swagger within him and I think he鈥檇 be the first to tell you. He also carries a confidence with the system that they鈥檙e trying to preach,鈥� 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 night鈥檚 4-1 loss to the Canucks, I was wondering how Cooper was handling the situation with his team being on the playoff bubble.
鈥淲e鈥檝e worked our tails off. We鈥檙e just a different team. We have so many new faces now and guys in different roles. There鈥檚 been a lot of turnover but we鈥檝e got a group that works their tail off. If we keep working, we鈥檒l be okay,鈥� 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 Lighting鈥檚 success over the years has been their ability to lock-down opponents when required but that鈥檚 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 didn鈥檛 help matters but the Russian鈥檚 return does have the team trending in the right direction as his 2.74 GAA would indicate.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no question we have to get better defensively. You can鈥檛 win in this league unless you do that. It鈥檚 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 didn鈥檛 give up a chance forever, and when we did, it wound up in our net but we鈥檙e growing as a team. There are a lot of good things to pull from, but for sure the goals against, that鈥檚 the one we鈥檝e got to clean up,鈥� said Cooper.
Despite their troubles defensively, Cooper feels optimistic about a group that鈥檚 led by the likes of Vasilevskiy, Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman and Brayden Point among others.
鈥淎t some point, it will start clicking for us. There are times like this during a season. This year, it鈥檚 happened during the beginning. Other years it鈥檚 happened during the middle of the year. The big thing for us is that we can鈥檛 fall too far behind in the standings because it is hard to comeback,鈥� 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, you鈥檇 think burnout might be an issue with Cooper but that鈥檚 not the case.
He actually chuckled when asked about it.
鈥淚 just love the competition. There鈥檚 nothing like game day鈥eing behind the bench鈥rying to outdo the other team. That fire still burns. Even though we鈥檝e been to a few finals and won a couple of Cups, I feel like we haven鈥檛 won anything. So there鈥檚 still a lot fire there,鈥� said Cooper.
OVERTIME
Fun Factoid 鈥� Cooper played two games for the Western Lacrosse Association鈥檚 Richmond Outlaws in 1988, recording a goal and an assist.
Brock Boeser鈥檚 three goals in the Canucks win propelled him into a tie with Toronto鈥檚 Auston Matthews for the league led in goals with 21. It was the fifth hat trick of Boeser鈥檚 career. Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet was quick to point out in his post-game comments that it鈥檚 Boeser鈥檚 defensive play that has impressed him the most. 鈥淗e鈥檚 a smart guy and knows the spots to go at but he鈥檚 sharpened up his defensive game. He still wants to get better at his defensive game but it鈥檚 night-and-day from last year,鈥� 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 鈥渢he Moj鈥� Marjanovich writes twice weekly for Black Press Media.
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