Prince George was his home as a youngster before eventually moving to the US on a Lacrosse scholarship, then turning his attention to Wall Street.
Not an easy task for anyone, but Jon Cooper (44) now he stands behind the bench – as the Championship Coach of the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals.
He coached the Midget AAA in Michigan, Junior in two (separate) leagues, and recently with the Norfolk Admirals. He attended Notre Dame three years at 15 in the 80ties and played two (2) years of Midget and one (1) year in the Juvenile division.
He got an opportunity to be Coach/GM in the North American Hockey League (Tier II junior) for a club owned by Kelly Chase and Brett Hull and others that was first in Texarkana, Texas which eventually saw them move to St. Louis.
He won two (2) titles in his five (5) years while there managing a stat of 223-93-17. Respectable for any league!
He took a position with the Green Bay Ramblers, in the USHL and loved his time in the football crazy city. Moving from bottom (32 points to 82) in his first USHL year was impressive and he amassed a stat of 84-27-9.“ I was a pretty good player when I left my town (Prince George), then got to Wilcox and found out I wasn’t so good,” he said, laughing.
He started to take coaching serious about nine (9) years ago and since then his stock continues to rise. Rumour has it he is on the radar of the Edmonton Oilers, which is not only a residential move, but a major occupational move.
The Oilers are keeping their coach search extremely secretive while it is mentioned (in the media) that the leading candidate is Brent Sutter.
He has yet to have an interview with Oilers since working the bench for Canada at the World Championship. Cooper’s team won the AHL championship thumping Toronto (4-0) in an exciting series.
Given the consecutive number of wins (28 in a row) in league play from Super Bowl Sunday; they finished the season by winning 10 (straight) in the playoffs.
The record will show that they won 43 of the last 46 games. He has yet to be told that his services might require him to move he loves working for the Tampa Bar Lightning.
Two clubs come to mind for a head coach; the Oilers and also the Washington Capitals, so only time.
Cooper told the media “My name is hot right now because of what we’ve done and how we did it, but I haven’t formally been contacted by anybody” and leaves it at that.
Cooper went back to Prince George and got a lacrosse scholarship to Hofstra University, on Long Island playing NCAA Division 1.“I actually thought I might want to be an agent,” said Cooper“. That’s where the coaching started.
I was coaching for free (while a lawyer),” said Cooper.
One year of high school, one year as a part-time assistant on a Tier 11 junior team, then a head coach in junior B, then a head coach for the Detroit Honeybaked midget AAA team, coaching current Buffalo Sabres forward Nathan Gerbe and Ottawa Senators forward Erik Condra.
On a side note for those old enough to remember, the colour guy for the team is former NHL Linesman Pat Shetler who spent time in Barry Ontario a while back. He worked close to 500 league games as well as All-Star games plus two Stanley Cup finals.
Good guy too! His nick-name is “The Red Whistle”.
Patience pays off and having someone believe in you to give you the first chance, means the world to anyone.
Far car from PG, but Edmonton has a nice ring to it too.
Photo is from the Admirals web site and for more info visit http://www.norfolkadmirals.com/index.php
