Christine Cooper got to the rink just 10 minutes before her favourite hockey team, the Tampa Bay Lightning, skated out to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins to take on the Lightning in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Eastern Conference semifinal series.
She and her husband Bob wouldn't miss it for the world, knowing their son from Prince George, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper, has his team just seven wins away from sipping suds out of the Stanley Cup.
Nearly a year had passed since last time Christine was in the building to watch the Lightning play in the playoffs when they were in the finals against Chicago and the fans in Tampa reminded her how much they love their hockey in central Florida.
"The city of Tampa is so behind this team, it's unbelievable, it's just fabulous, they just love it," said Christine, obviously disappointed the Penguins won 4-2 Wednesday to take a 2-1 series lead. "I'm looking at eight buildings right now near the hotel and every one of them has 'Go Bolts' banners on them. We always say the cup is half-full, we're only down one game so far."
The Coopers are staying across the street from Amalie Arena at the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel & Marina, where most of the media covering the series are also stationed, and many of them recognize the Prince George couple after meeting them last year. Reporters wanting the inside scoop on Cooper from his parents know they don't consent to interviews at the request of their son. Jon is known around the league for his friendly approachable demeanor, which makes him popular with the media, but likes to keep his family life separate from his job.
"I just talked to (Hockey Night in Canada reporter Scott Oake) today and he said, 'Geez, I'm afraid to be seen with you because I'm not allowed to talk to you.' Jon doesn't like us speaking to the press. We're not allowed to talk to anybody, that's an edict. They want us to tell them something personal, that kind of crap, so we don't do that.
"You're very lucky that I'm speaking to you," she laughed.
Cooper, 48, and his wife Jessie have twin eight-year-old daughters and a six year-old son and as much as possible they try to avoid the trappings of celebrity.
"Tampa is a very friendly place and everybody kind of knows who he is or they find out," said Christine. "He's just gracious to everyone and it's a pleasure to watch. Everyone's great to us and I don't know how they know who we are, but the treatment we get is just fabulous."
Cooper's rise to the NHL can be traced back 1989, when he graduated with a business degree from Hoftra University in New York State, where he played lacrosse. He was turned down in his application to coach the Williams Lake Mustangs in the B.C. Hockey League and decided to go to law school in Lansing, Mich., and was working as a public defender when a judge asked him to coach his son's high school hockey team in Lansing. He took the team to the regional title that year, which led to a job behind the bench of the HoneyBaked midget team,and they won the Tier 3 national championship in 2002. He gave up practicing law the following year and led the Texarkana Bandits to the North American Junior Hockey League Tier 2 national title in 2007 and 2008.
In 2010, he won a Tier 1 national title with the USHL Green Bay Gamblers and was hired the following season to coach the Norfolk Admirals, the Lightning's top farm team in the AHL, guiding them to the Calder Cup in 2012.
The Lightning hired Cooper late in the 2012-13 season to replace Guy Boucher and last season he was a coach-of-the-year candidate after the Bolts made it to Game 6 of the finals before losing to the Blackhawks. Cooper's successful track record prompted Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock to call his "a serial winner."
Coach Cooper has his share of superstitions and one of them is the gum he chews. It has to be Double Bubble and he chews only one piece per game. He always reads the Pud comic which wraps the gum and then rolls it up with the wrapper and tosses it at the backup goaltender on the bench.
"I think it's stress-releaser, and it's that one Double Bubble for the whole game," said Christine. "He (also) does it at practice."
Already without their superstar forward Steven Stamkos, who has been sidelined since the start of April with a blood clot, the Lightning lost their starting goalie, Ben Bishop, when he went down with a leg injury in Game 1 of the Pittsburgh series. That obviously is troubling to Cooper but he doesn't show it. No matter what the outcome, Cooper doesn't dwell on what went wrong and he's always been that way, according to his mom.
"He's always positive, he's never negative, and he's always available (to the media)," said Christine. "We went to Chicago last year and it's very exciting. It's just incredible. It's a whole different brand of hockey in the playoffs and we're just hoping for the best. It's an exciting time and one of these days we might win the Stanley Cup. The cup is always half-full, not half-empty."
Bob and Christine will be in their seats 12 rows up from the penalty box for tonight's Game 4 in Tampa (5 p.m. start). They won't be going to Pittsburgh for Game 5 on Sunday but hope Lightning can tie it up tonight and guarantee Game 6 Tuesday in Tampa.
"We've come here for the count, and we might be home (in Prince George) in June, or we might not," said Christine. "This is just the Fabulous Four it's not the Terrific Two, and they've done it under great adversity. We're all just hanging in here being positive."
