Head coach Jon Cooper reacts to Team Canada’s heartbreaking 2-1 overtime loss to Team USA in the gold medal game.
On how he reflects on the difficult nature of the loss:
Well… It is hard to reflect so soon after the game. We asked the players to come in here and grow as a team. We came here to play six games and get better in each game. I didn’t think we could play better after the Finnish game, and they proved me wrong. It was a flawless performance by a group of players who bled red and white for three periods-plus of hockey.
I couldn’t be prouder of the group. They did everything we asked of them and more. We executed our plan. Sometimes, it is just not meant to be. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be today, but it wasn’t because this team stubbed their toe. They were exceptional.
On the game-losing goal in overtime:
Overtime is overtime. If you take four players off the ice, now hockey is not hockey anymore. There is a reason why overtime and shootouts are in play. It is all TV-driven to end games, so there is not a long time. There is a reason it is not in the Stanley Cup finals or the playoffs.
There are still skilled players out there making skilled plays. The US team has some skilled players, as do we. They made one more play than we did in overtime. You have to tip your cap to them.
It is still a competitive nature out there. It is different. It is different hockey, there is no question. Players are put in different situations. As I said, we didn’t score on our chances, and they scored on theirs.
On the debate about whether three-on-three OT should decide such important games:
Listen, the game is 60 minutes long, and it should end. All the teams know the rules going into these beforehand. You can’t come up here and say, “We’re the losing team because we lost in a three-on-three, and it is not fair.” We knew the rules coming in. We won a game in this tournament at three-on-three.
That is not the way it is. Traditionalists want it a certain way. I am sure they do. But there is a lot more that goes into this.
I have been a part of a five-OT game in the Stanley Cup playoffs. I don’t think people want to watch hockey for six-and-a-half hours, but we all get it. We got the rules. You have to abide by them. We were on the short end of the stick.
On the goalie battle and Jordan Binnington’s performance in net:
I don’t think we can look at this game and say one goalie outdueled the other. They were both exceptional. I think one goalie got more work than the other did. There were a couple of chances we created that, probably 95% of the time, it goes in. It didn’t go in tonight.
Hellebuyck made a heck of a save. He didn’t give up on a play on Toews and stopped it. Good on him for that with the competitive nature.
Overtime could’ve ended about 30 seconds earlier if it wasn’t for that sick save on the one-timer by Binnington. You can sit there and credit all of the players on the ice for doing their thing, but the goalies put on a show. It was probably the reason it was such a low-scoring game.
On whether the loss was more difficult knowing the rivalry between the USA and Canada and the political tensions between the countries:
Losing hurts. It doesn’t matter who it is to. I look at this game, and I am so proud of what went on. I am proud of our country, I’m proud of our players, and I’m proud of our team.
In the end, you are going to read a book in which, in 2026, the USA won the gold in Olympic hockey, and Canada won the silver. But in the grand scheme, the big winner of this tournament was ice hockey. That is what we should all take out of this.
