Canada coach dealt family tragedy days after – Sports News
Jon Cooper led Team Canada to the gold medal recreation, however Team USA gained 2-1. (Image: 2026 Getty Images)
Team Canada head coach Jon Cooper will quickly step other than his NHL duties with the Tampa Bay Lightning following the announcement of his father’s passing.
Cooper guided Team Canada to the lads’s hockey remaining on the Winter Olympics, solely to fall short in a 2-1 defeat in opposition to Team USA, who claimed their first gold medal since 1980. Cooper voiced his frustration with the Olympic time beyond regulation format, arguing that 3-on-3 hockey is just not an acceptable format for a recreation of such significance.
With the NHL set to renew on Wednesday, quite a few Team USA and Team Canada gamers are getting ready to rejoin their respective golf equipment. Cooper, who helms the Lightning, might be absent for 2 video games following his father’s death shortly after the gold medal match.
This comes within the wake of USA’s Jack Hughes being misled by his brother following a life-altering harm sustained during the Olympic remaining.
Cooper might be absent for Wednesday’s matchup in opposition to the Toronto Maple Leafs and Thursday’s conflict in opposition to the Carolina Hurricanes, together with his anticipated return to the bench scheduled for Saturday when Tampa Bay performs host to the Buffalo Sabres.
Cooper misplaced his father days after the gold medal recreation. (Image: 2026 Getty Images)
The Lightning discover themselves in an enviable place this season, sitting atop the Atlantic Division with a 37-14-4 document. Cooper has been on the helm in Tampa Bay for 13 seasons, steering the franchise to playoff appearances in 11 of these campaigns.
Cooper can be a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Lightning, but needed to settle for a silver medal on the Olympics. Team Canada managed important parts of the gold medal recreation in opposition to Team USA, however goaltender Connor Hellebuyck delivered an extraordinary efficiency between the pipes for the U.S..
After stopping 40 photographs in regulation, which concluded 1-1, Hellebuyck gave Team USA the possibility to say gold in time beyond regulation. Jack Hughes emerged because the time beyond regulation hero, netting the winner for Team USA simply minutes into the additional period.
While 3-on-3 time beyond regulation hockey was a customary rule all through the Winter Olympics, the time on the clock expanded with every spherical. In the lads’s remaining, 20 minutes had been allotted for time beyond regulation.
If the time beyond regulation period had concluded with out a aim after 20 minutes, a shootout would have taken place. However, Cooper felt the sport ought to have continued 5-on-5, the identical format used during the Stanley Cup Playoffs within the NHL.
“You take four players off the ice, now hockey’s not hockey anymore,” stated Cooper. “There’s a reason overtime and shootouts are in play – it’s all TV-driven to end games, so it’s not a long time.
“There’s a motive why (3-on-3) is just not within the Stanley Cup remaining or playoffs.”
The International Ice Hockey Federation introduced the format change this year.
Whilst Cooper was dissatisfied with how the final was decided, he offered no excuses. “All the groups know the foundations going into these beforehand,” he added.
“So you may’t come up right here and say we are the dropping staff as a result of we misplaced in a 3-on-3 and that is not truthful. We knew the foundations coming in. We gained a recreation on this match 3-on-3, in order that’s not the way in which it’s.”
The remarks adopted Alyssa Liu’s show of character towards Amber Glenn after her teammate left the ice in tears.
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