‘A photo finish’: How Jon Cooper helped pick Team Canada

TAMPA, Fla. – Jon Cooper’s heart sank right around Christmastime.

The year was 2021.

The world was spinning upside-down and standing still all at once.

We were all confused and cautious and cranky and triple-guessing our decisions.

So, yes, the National Hockey League was going to participate in the 2022 Beijing Winter Games. And who better to coach the Canadian national team than that boy from Prince George, B.C., who had just guided his club team to back-to-back Stanley Cups?

Then, no, the NHL pulled out six weeks before the torch got lit. Canada’s original choice for coach would remain in North America, his dream deferred.

The late December news hit Cooper like a lump of coal jammed in the toe of a hung stocking.

“I’ve been on the wrong side of two Stanley Cups, where I’ve had to watch the team on the ice throw their gloves up and cheer, where you have to wait to stand in line (for handshakes). It’s as bad as that or worse,” Cooper recalled.

“It was gutting to not be able to go.”

So, for Cooper to be re-selected by Hockey Canada for the gig, is a privilege (and extra workload) he doesn’t take for granted.

The man who will be behind our country’s bench at both February’s 4 Nations Face-Off warmup and the 2026 Italy Games remembers Henderson in ’72, Gretzky and Lemieux making magic at the ’87 Canada Cup, and Crosby’s golden touch in ’10.

“These are moments that just are etched in stone, and it's all on the grand stage of representing your country best-on-best. I think it’s going to be phenomenal for the sport,” Cooper said. “To be one of the guys leading the charge for our country — especially since there hasn’t really been a best-on-best since 2014 — you gotta pinch yourself.”

Once the pinching is over, however, the work begins.

Cooper has been a vocal stakeholder, alongside 4 Nations GM Don Sweeney and Olympic GM Doug Armstrong, in the hotly debated roster decisions Team Canada finalized Sunday evening for this February’s tournament.

“If it was a horse race, it would be a photo finish. That close,” Cooper said Saturday of filling out the final spots. “It's been a process, but a super cool process. It’s amazing, the work that’s been put in by management. And it’s been extremely, extremely thorough.”

When time permits, Cooper has started to form personal relationships with Canada’s surefire Olympians.

“Colorado for example. They’d come play Tampa, I go sit down with, say, Cale (Makar) or Mac (Nathan MacKinnon) for a little while, and get to know these players,” Cooper explains. “Otherwise, you probably wouldn't get to see what they're like.”

The 57-year-old coach has been blown away by the quick camaraderie between members of rival NHL clubs. The experience has been as educational as it’s been rewarding.

Sweeney and Cooper are major shot-callers of two great Atlantic Division rivals, and both the Bruins and Bolts will be well-represented at 4 Nations. Yet they share info openly, knowing it’s for the good of the country.

“Other than him giving me Boston’s systems, where we've pretty much exchanged everything,” Cooper said.

As Cooper travels with the Lightning, he’ll meet with GMs and coaches from rival teams to pick their brains on their candidates for Canada’s roster.

“Probably the biggest thing I've taken out of this is the honesty,” Cooper said. “There's just so much honesty, even with other coaches in the league talking about their guys. And not afraid to pump them up, but also talk about potential weaknesses of the player — and you might be playing them that night. But it's been a fabulous experience to be part of.”

Toronto Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube, for example, has a few Team Canada hopefuls in his room: Mitch Marner, John Tavares, Morgan Rielly and Chris Tanev.

“I talked to Coop a couple of times,” Berube said. “It’s just questions about certain players, about what you think. Can he kill a penalty? Can he check? Because you’ve got to find roles for all these guys, right? Not everybody can play on the top line. I do, of course, talk our players up.”

We’re assuming Marner is a lock:

Cooper was, of course, tight-lipped about the Canadians who have made the cut, but he did offer a peek into management’s thinking. And management has made it clear they aren’t just going to foist players onto Cooper and ask the coach to figure out roles for them afterward.

Which should give a couple of two-way Lightning forwards, Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli, a slight edge for Canada’s deepest position.

“They’ve really played well for us this year. Whether it’s power play, penalty kill, five on five, trying to protect the lead, trying to get the lead — every aspect of the game, those two guys have really kind of stirred the drink for us for the entire year,” Cooper said.

“And it's not to take away from anybody else. But you ask anybody in the locker room, those two guys have been really good for us.”

Canada’s 4 Nations roster, which will be announced Wednesday evening, has been constructed knowing that they’ll play three games against three different teams.

More than two months will pass between the naming of the roster and puck drop, and injury-necessitated substitutions can be made anytime up to and including the start of the tournament on Feb. 12.

“I bet you there’ll be 10 new players, minimum, from the four teams,” Cooper said. “If you're not named to that team, stay ready. Because, unfortunately, there's probably gonna be some spots open.”