After Team Canada’s 3-1 loss to Team USA, head coach Jon Cooper discussed the fights to start the game, a tight-checking loss, adjustments to generate more offense, and Cale Makar’s status for Monday’s game against Finland.
On the start of the game, featuring three fights in nine minutes:
Well, a couple of nights ago, when I sat up here, if you had told me something was going to top that, I would not have believed you. But that topped it.
You know why it topped it? It wasn’t planned. It wasn’t two coaches throwing guys over saying, “This is happening.” None of that happened. It was as organic as it gets.
It was probably 10 years of no international hockey exhaled in a minute and a half.
USA vs. Canada started off in MADNESS 😳
📺: ABC/ESPN+/Disney+ pic.twitter.com/BrWlXzMb7J
— ESPN (@espn) February 16, 2025
On whether he thinks the fighting we saw in this game is a positive for the international game:
Well, this is an NHL event. Countries are playing each other, but it is not an IIHF event. I don’t think we can put it in that category.
These guys have grown up with it. It is part of our game. At my last look, I didn’t see anybody running for the exits.
People are going to talk about this. There are probably people who don’t like it, but it set up a heck of a game.
When it was over, for 59 minutes, the two teams battled each other as hard as they could. We will let the fans be the judge of that.
On Cale Makar’s outlook moving forward after missing the game due to illness:
I can’t say what the outlook is right now. Naturally, he was close to playing in tonight’s game, but ultimately, a decision was made for him not to play.
Those decisions are made for the benefit of the player. Everybody wants to play and contribute — and trust me, he is the one who wants to do it the most — but it wasn’t tonight.
We’ll see. Hopefully, it’ll be Monday, but there is no determination on that yet.
On Connor McDavid’s remarks that Monday’s game against Finland is similar to an NHL playoff Game 7:
He is absolutely right. It is a short tournament, and this is our Game 7.
This was our second game. We are seeing some things, and we will look after the technical side, but it does not matter who you are. If it was Scotty Bowman or name the coach, it doesn’t work unless you have a team that cares. On that test, we passed tonight. We have a team that cares.
The result is unfortunate, but I don’t think anybody can leave the building and say, “That team didn’t stick up for each other, care for each other, and play with a passion.” When you do have that, the ceiling is limitless of what the team can do.
In that regard, I am extremely proud of the guys. Now, it is on us here to tweak some things and find a way to beat Finland.
On whether the intensity and pace of the game were right up there with the best he’s experienced behind the bench:
Both teams have a whole bunch of brilliant, skilled players. You can watch an NHL game and see the shots are 45-35. There are chances all over the place, and it is run-and-gun. But when you have this quality of players, and they can all check, that is why shots are 20-20. That is why there is no space.
Again, it goes back to caring. Guys are doing things that they probably don’t do over 82 games all the time. They are used to putting the puck in the net, getting off, and maybe there is a shortcut here or there in their game. But there wasn’t tonight.
That is why it was tight-checking. The margin for error is razor-thin. That is the kind of hockey you get, and it is pretty impressive.
On the team not capitalizing on the early power-play after the Tkachuk brothers both went to the box for fighting:
You are processing what just happened. Rightfully, we got the power play from what happened, and we didn’t score. We had some looks, but it would’ve been great to score.
In the end, we scored shortly after that anyway at five-on-five. We did have the 1-0 lead, whether it was McDavid’s breakaway or the power play. I didn’t think it had an effect. It would’ve been great, of course, but they are trying to prevent us, too.
We had our looks. It just didn’t go in.
On Jordan Binnington’s comment that he wants the 1-1 goal back:
Jake Guentzel plays for me, and Binnington knew it was coming. I knew it was coming. I have seen that goal a thousand times. Jake Guentzel still finds a way to score those goals. Pucks have eyes for some players. It has eyes for him.
Of course, any goaltender wants to have them all back, but I think he is being a little hard on himself, to be honest.
On whether he likes the idea of McDavid and Crosby together moving forward after switching up the lines in search of offense, or if he’ll look to change it up further:
It is hard to say. As a coach, I thought there were some guys that were earning some more ice. I thought Brayden Point was one of them. I thought he was outstanding out there.
It is such a short event. We have talked about this: We don’t have multiple exhibition games. We don’t have the luxury of doing that.
Unfortunately for us, we fell behind, and we weren’t generating the way I thought.
In the third period, we had the puck a lot, but we had the puck for about 180 feet. We couldn’t get it past that extra 20 feet. That is stuff we have to look at it.
There are probably guys in here who have to get in a little bit more, but this is what you find out in the two games. You have to learn from this.
We will see what happens and who plays where, but we learned a lot tonight.
