Lightning coach Jon Cooper on the verge of familiarity Hockey

Jon Cooper was a fresh face-rising star when he coached the Admirals of Norfolk to the American Hockey League Calder Cup in 2012 after going into the 28-game winning streak during the season.

Now he’s one of the Tampa Bay Lightning wins away from becoming just the second NHL high-wage coach to lift the Stanley Cup in a row. Cooper is one of many parallels between Norfolk nine years ago and Tampa Bay, although the former lawyer admits to being better at his job thanks to being behind the bench in the world’s top hockey league for nearly a decade.

I’m a much more experienced, experienced, better coach than I was then, Cooper said. “I’ve learned a ton from other coaches, watching other coaches and then the game. The longer you are around you and you see the tendencies and things in the game that you think you can improve on, it just takes time. I think that’s why it’s called to experience.

The experience of 2012 was a building block to this moment. Together with Cooper, Lightning strikers Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Alex Killorn were key players for the Admirals.

Only three Norfolk players had more points in the playoffs than Johnson. After playing a minor role in the 2020 bubble-knockout games and even being set off twice for the highs, Johnson was called to move up the lineup when Killorn was injured early in the final and let him go.

It was a small surprise for Cooper when Johnson scored two goals in the 3rd match against the Montreal Canadiens to raise Tampa Bay 3-0.

That’s why Tyler Johnsons ’award case is pretty crowded, and because he’s the final player on the team, Cooper said. We never lost faith in Tyler Johnson, and he never lost faith in himself. Roles change, you have to adapt, and no one has done it better than Tyler.

Johnson, like Cooper, Killorn, Palat and a few others, is also a link to the 2015 final in Tampa Bay before losing to Chicago. It made Lightning players realize how hard the win was and fed them last year and now.

“I don’t know how many opportunities you’re going to get,” Johnson said. I know how much fun it was last year when we won, so you want to do it again. Whenever you get so close, you really feel it. “

Cooper feels that there are many similarities between the 2012 admirals and the 2021 lightning bolt. Andrei Vasilevskiy is aiming for goal like Dustin Tokarski, Steven Stamkos is leading like Norfolk captain Mike Angelidis, and the mentality of both teams is the same.

You have to have the ability to win a semi-high score and you need to be able to win matches 1-0, said Cooper, who was a Washington finalist finalist in the summer of 2012 and was promoted to coach in Tampa Bay. in March 2013. Both teams had a goalkeeper goalkeeper, both teams had a big strong D, and both teams had dynamic strikers. But probably the biggest similarity was that they were mentally very tough where you can go to the games at the beginning of the game and feel like you already have the lead.

It has so far looked against the Canadiens. The lightning has never retreated, and now they have the opportunity to cover it up just like the admirals by swiping in the finals.

Nothing would be possible without Cooper, whose players enjoy how he tries to explain hockey in a simple way. This is a very unfair speech from a 53-year-old who quit his job in 1999 to coach full-time.

You can paint a picture in black and white many times and be pretty accurate and analyze things, but he does a great job of keeping the message positive and keeping the message coming in different directions, veteran defender Ryan McDonagh said. We know he’s going to set himself up and put our team to success as he breaks things down.

Stamkos, one of the few players who preceded Cooper’s arrival with Lightning, feels as if he and his teammates have taken on the behavior of a confident coach. The way he approaches the playoffs and leagues has certainly teased the players and contributed to the outcome of a possible second consecutive cup win.

He wants the guys to go out there and do their best, and trust that, Stamkos said. He’s grown up as a coach, of course, since he’s been here in Tampa, but he kept that expectation: that the guys would go there and play with what got them to that level.

Cooper is now at the coaching level, saying he will be the lead candidate to take on the Canadian 2022 Olympic team next winter, assuming the NHL reaches an agreement to send players to Beijing. He would then have the opportunity to coach Lightning stars Brayden Point, Canadiens goalkeeper Carey Price and defender Shea Weber and perhaps Stamkos, as well as against Palat, Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman.

It’s a short tournament and a different test. Cooper has already made it through the long NHL season and the playoffs.

He’s one of the best guys to get us changes within the series or to adapt to the things of the season … and deal with adversity in various forms, whether it’s a guy injured or a collapse in our play, “McDonagh said. A good sense of where the rooms are always and when players take care of it or when he needs to step up and let his voice be heard.

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