Tampa Bay at Chicago for Monday’s Game 3
The tale of Jon Cooper’s journey to the Stanley Cup Final is almost too good to be true.
A former criminal defense attorney who played lacrosse in college and gave up practicing law to pursue a career in hockey, the coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning didn’t take a traditional path to landing a job in the NHL and guiding his team within three victories of the sport’s most coveted trophy.
Cooper is an exceptional communicator who began working with most of Tampa Bay’s younger players, including the “Triplets” line of Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov, in the minor leagues. His calm demeanor and knack for winning have made him a hit with veterans, too.
“When I got into coaching, I think I brought the life philosophy. … I was probably more of a life coach when I started out than a tactical coach,” Cooper said. “I had to learn more tactically and systematic coaching as I kind of went up in my career, and the more serious I got about it.”
A native of Prince George, British Columbia, who grew up shooting pucks into a clothes dryer in the basement of the family home, Cooper played for his high school team before heading off to Hofstra University, where he played one year of club hockey and was a four-year standout in lacrosse.
He later graduated from the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan, where he launched a career as a successful lawyer only to realize he had a greater passion for hockey.
His venture into coaching began with a stint with a struggling high school program he transformed into a playoff team. He eventually gave up his law practice in 2003, embarking on a ride that saw him win American junior hockey championships with the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers, NAHL’s St. Louis Bandits and NA3HL’s Metro Jets.
Cooper won big with Tampa Bay’s top minor league affiliates, too, leading Norfolk of the American Hockey League to the 2012 Calder Cup title and compiling the AHL’s top regular-season record at Syracuse the next year.
Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman brought him to replace Guy Boucher in March 2013, setting the stage for an impressive turnaround.
Tampa Bay went from finishing with the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference to the third-best in Cooper’s first full season. A year later, the team is in the Stanley Cup Final against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Injury report
Forward Bryan Bickell and defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk could return to the Blackhawks’ lineup tonight, coach Joel Quenneville said. He did not say if they will play, however.