On Team Canada’s off-day, head coach Jon Cooper discussed the Hagel-Cirelli-Marner line’s performance against Team Finland, his players’ buy-in to the cause, and the meaning of Thursday’s final against Team USA.
You put Mitch Marner with Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli against Finland. In a tournament setting like this, as you think ahead to the Olympics, how important is it to have players who are malleable and you can put into a top line role or a checking line role? How do you think the line did?
Cooper: I don’t want to talk about the Olympics. This is where we are at.
When you come to these tournaments, and you have no exhibition or pre-games, you are thrown into the fire. You have to see what works. We have done a little dabbling, and after the U.S. game, we had two games under our belts. We had a pretty good feeling about where the pieces fit into the puzzle. Fortunately, it worked out for us yesterday. All of the lines fit.
Cirelli and Hagel play a different brand of game than Mitch, but they both need each other. Mitch needs them, and they need Mitch. He can create for them. They are the worker bees, and he is the one who kind of organizes things in the offensive zone.
Sometimes, you get labeled a checker. Sometimes, you get labeled a scorer. But they need each other. I thought the line was great.
You mentioned Connor McDavid and all of your players are willing to dump pucks in and go get them back because it is winning hockey. Considering the level of skill of these guys, what makes dumping and chasing the puck still the winning brand of hockey?
Cooper: They weren’t dumping and chasing it all the time. [McDavid and MacKinnon] shot it in the net three times. Somebody has to do that, and those guys did it.
Basically, it is puck management. It is what happens if you don’t get it deep, or you turn one over. If you look at some of the goals that went in against us, why did we give up 2v1s or breakaways? It was all because we mismanaged pucks.
Sometimes, you just have to cut your losses. Not every shift is going to be a win. Sometimes, there are ties. If you can have a whole bunch of ties and mix in a few wins without any losses, it is a pretty damn good game for you.
That is the mentality we had to instill in the guys. These guys are superstars, and they expect to win every single shift. But in this environment, against this talent, you are not winning every shift. The enemy has a vote, too. They are going to make sure they are doing everything to stop you.
The guys did a great job of digesting that and adjusting accordingly.
Part of what makes this experience unique is that you have only played three games so far as we enter the final. How can you use the two days before the final to get ready for it?
Cooper: Today was a rest day. It was a rest day for the entire tournament.
I am just speaking for the Tampa kids. They played a back-to-back, rolled right into practice, and played a game. There just hasn’t been a day of “Let’s take a breath.” Even after the emotional game on Saturday, we couldn’t take a breath because it was bang-bang-bang with the schedule.
It was a rest day on Tuesday, a work day on Wednesday, and a game day on Thursday.
How do you manage the fact that you don’t want the players to burn the two days and ensure they are at the hype level you want them to be at on Thursday? Do you even need to do anything in the circumstances?
Cooper: Today is already burned, so I will start thinking about tomorrow (laughs).
This is a sporting event, so I don’t want to make it grander than it is, but everyone else in the league is [sending] text messages from the Bahamas or Hawaii as they have 10 days of fun. These guys are at work still. Not only are they working physically, but it is a mental grind, too.
The guys have done a phenomenal job of taking out the white noise and understanding that there is a whole country cheering for you, not just your city.
These guys are working. For them to take a break and have a free day to do whatever they are going to do — they deserve it. Ultimately, for the two teams playing on Thursday, [Tampa Bay] isn’t playing on Saturday, but there are like 15 games on Saturday night. They have to jump right back into it.
These guys deserve a little break themselves. Plus, it is a lot for this group and all of the teams here. I hope they had some fun yesterday, and I hope they have some fun today. Tomorrow is a work day, but I have said it for the whole tournament: This group is a dialed-in, determined group. I don’t have an ounce of worry about them.
You mentioned before the tournament that this would not be similar to an All-Star Game. This has proven correct. Some of the players have wondered how we would go back to an All-Star Game after this tournament. Do you have any thoughts on it as someone who has been a coach at the All-Star Game?
Cooper: The one thing about this tournament… Nothing has done more for hockey in a decade than what this tournament has done.
The problem with the tournament, though: Where is Leon Draisaitl? Let’s go down the list of guys — Nikita Kucherov — who aren’t here and who you do get to see in an All-Star game or some kind of event. Those guys are special talents.
Some of the greatest players in the world are here, but you do miss out on everyone. Maybe there is something down the road where everybody gets to play. That would be super cool.
Brandon Hagel just said he would run through a wall for his country. On a personal level, as someone who has won Stanley Cups, what does the final game mean to you? What would it mean to win a championship for your country?
Cooper: After the way the game started, I remember looking just at the crowd. I stopped watching what was going on on the ice. If you can envision what was going on in the crowd, that is how I am feeling right now.
When you think about it that way, that is what it means to me.
Can you confirm if Cale Makar is good to go for Thursday night? If Quinn Hughes is part of Team USA, what does it mean to have two Norris winners in the lineup when they weren’t for the first matchup?
Cooper: It is good for the game; there is no doubt about that. Quinn Hughes is a special player. But I don’t know the rules. Is he allowed to play?
I’m told another injury is needed for Quinn Hughes to play
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) February 18, 2025
It was unfortunate that he was hurt to begin with. I don’t know if you get any better than those two guys.
As for Cale, I thought he was great [vs. Finland], and I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t play on Thursday.
Can you clarify what your understanding is of how you can use Thomas Harley once he joined? Was he only allowed to play if another defenseman was out?
Cooper: Yes. We weren’t going to play short, so that was the only way he could come in — to avoid playing short. Since we lost Theo and Makar, that just made him eligible.
