After Team Canada’s 4-3 overtime win over Team Sweden, head coach Jon Cooper discussed Mitch Marner’s overtime winner, Sidney Crosby’s first-star performance, experiencing best-on-best international hockey from behind the bench, Jordan Binnington’s performance in net, and Shea Theodore’s injury.
On what the OT game-winning goal could do for Mitch Marner:
Are you saying it is a confidence-building goal? Well, that kid oozes confidence. I thought it was a big-time player making a big-time play at a big-time moment. That is why guys like him are on this team. It was fabulous.
On Marner’s special abilities as a player:
When you are that size, you have to have something. You have to be unique at something. You have to be better than everyone else at something.
If you really watch that game, the plays he made in tight, the plays he made in traffic… He is not the fastest kid on the ice. He doesn’t have the hardest shot on the ice. He doesn’t do a whole bunch of things that a lot of guys on both teams do better than him. But it is really hard to sit here and say, “Was there a better player?”
He puts himself at that elite level with the way he thinks the game and processes the game at such a high level and at such a high rate of speed. That is why he is the player he is.
I have watched him close up. I have coached against him in playoff series. I have watched what he can do. There are not too many guys who can excel as a power play player, a penalty killer, a five-on-five guy, and at three-on-three. Mitch can do it all.
I have watched this kid grow from when he was a kid in pro hockey to what he is now. He just keeps getting better.
On Sidney Crosby’s first-star performance:
I could write a book on just my time around Sidney Crosby in this short little window I have had.
If you were really listening to what happened at the beginning of the game when everyone was announced, Mario Lemieux’s roar aside, the roof was coming off for Sidney Crosby.
He has been a Pittsburgh Penguin his whole life. That shows you how much people care about him and respect him in this country.
If I am going to think about my top three or four moments of this, the ovation Sidney Crosby received (will be among them). What a crowd.
With his demeanor on the bench, he says all the right things at all the right times. When the team needs a lift, he is the one who sets up the helper. When you need a lift in overtime, he is the one that sets it up.
It is no coincidence, his record when he wears a Canadian jersey. It is not a fluke. He will go down as the greatest player to ever represent his country — and if not, he is going to be on the Mount Rushmore, for sure, of people who have thrown on the Canadian jersey.
On Jordan Binnington’s performance in net:
We spoke, and when I told him he was going to start tonight, we talked about playing in big moments and big games. He has done it all. Even in his Cup run, he had to go on the road to win Game 7.
In the end, I said, “You are going to have a team playing hard in front of you. Just make the saves that you’re supposed to make, and maybe slide in one that you’re not.” That is what he did, and when we needed a big save in overtime, he made it. He gave us a chance to win, and we did.
On Shea Theodore’s injury status:
Shea is out for the tournament. That is a big blow. What a kid. He only got to play six minutes. It is heartbreaking for the kid.
He was the first at the door hugging everybody when we came off. It is a tough one to swallow. You know how much it means.
Hopefully, in hindsight, he got to touch the ice and get some time in there, but for us, it was tough. You talk about the speed of that game, and you have to fight through the last 50 minutes with five defensemen. That is a grind. They did a hell of a job.
On meeting Mario Lemieux before the game and having him read the starting lineup to the team:
I have gotten to meet so many people in this league. I have been so blessed. I have met everybody from Bobby Orr to Wayne Gretzky. One I had never met was Mario Lemieux until tonight.
You talk about eye-opening moments. Growing up, my visions and memories of what Hockey Canada was about — I have spoken often about the ’87 Canada Cup. Just to see the presence — he is a presence.
I got to meet him pre-game. He came down, and I said it would be an honour for him to come read the starting lineup for the team. In humble Mario Lemieux style, he was a little gun-shy. We talked about his heroes. He was walking into our room as a hero to a generation of players now.
The way that game started, he was a big part of it, with what he came and did with our team prior.
I remember some roars in my life, and a couple have been in this building, but I don’t know if I have heard anything like I heard when he was marched out at center ice.
In total Mario style, he was kind of trying to wave Sid over like, “I am getting embarrassed here.” That thing would’ve gone on forever.
To sit there and watch Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby stand at center ice together was pretty special.
On the big ovation he received from the Bell Centre crowd:
Well, they had no choice. I am kind of coaching their team.
I have been in this league for long enough that I think the people in Montreal know how much this place means to me. The first time I ever made the playoffs was here. We got swept, and it was tough, but I will never forget how I was treated in the town.
We have had some battles with the Canadiens over the years. We have lost playoff series and won playoff series. I love the city. I love being here. I think this is the greatest away arena in the league to come to.
I marvel at what is put on here. Hockey is done right here. You just have to appreciate the fans. I feel very fortunate that they appreciate me.
On what it was like to experience best-on-best international hockey from behind the bench:
You never really know until you are in it. I remember the first practice I went to with that under-23 team back in 2016. I thought that was the fastest hockey I had ever witnessed up close. Well, this just trumped it. It was a lightning pace out there.
I have to give a testament to the job our defensemen did to be able to keep up that pace and still perform.
I am going to say one thing. Some guys on this team played 10 or 11 minutes and are used to playing 20. When it got down the stretch, we shortened the bench a bit. It goes to OT, and some guys aren’t playing, but they were the loudest ones on the bench. They were the ones willing everyone on and getting everyone going. I thought, “Wow, this is a really short tournament, but I think we have a really close team.” That is pretty cool to be a part of.
