Education
Hofstra University.
Hofstra University.
Metro Jets During the 2001-2002 Central States Hockey League (now North American 3 Hockey League) season, Cooper led the Metro Jets to the Silver Cup - the United States of America Hockey National Junior B Championship. Street.Louis Bandits Green Bay Gamblers Cooper was the coach of the United States Hockey League (USHL)"s Green Bay Gamblers starting in 2008. He led the team in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 to a record of 84–27–9.
Syracuse Crunch/Norfolk Admirals In 2010, Cooper was hired by the Tampa Bay Lightning to coach the Norfolk Admirals, the team"s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate.
Foreign the 2012-2013 season, Cooper became the head coach of the Syracuse Crunch after the Lightning changed their AHL affiliation. In 65 games with the Crunch, Cooper led the team to a 39–18–3–5 record, the best in the AHL at the time of his promotion.
Tampa Bay Lightning On March 25, 2013, following the dismissal of Head Coach Guy Boucher, the Tampa Bay Lightning announced that Cooper would become the eighth head coach in franchise history. On November 13, 2015, Team North America General Manager, Peter Chiarelli, named Cooper as an assistant coach for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
Cooper will serve as an assistant coach with Peter DeBoer, Dave Tippett and Jay Woodcroft under Team North America head coach Todd McLellan.
Cooper was born in Prince George, British Columbia. He played high school hockey at Notre Dame in Wilcox, Saskatchewan. He graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration from Hofstra University in 1989.
Despite his prior lacrosse experience being that of the box variety, he was a letterman in each of the first four years of John Danowski"s tenure as the varsity program"s head coach.
He also played one year of club hockey during his time at Hofstra. He earned a law degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan.
Prior to his career as a hockey coach, Cooper served as a public defender. Cooper started playing hockey again while attending law school, ultimately leading to Cooper"s first experience coaching hockey at Lansing Catholic Central High School.
Cooper would eventually land a job with the Saint Louis Bandits of the North American Hockey League (NAHL), which would in turn lead to other coaching positions.
Cooper is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada. Cooper"s mother was American, while his father was Canadian. Prince of Wales Trophy (National Hockey League): 2014-2015.
An attackman who eventually transitioned into a midfielder, Cooper scored 74 goals with 25 assists for 99 points and was a member of East Coast Conference championship teams as a junior and senior.