Jon Cooper has less than 10 full seasons of experience as a hockey coach and during that time he's never been able to fly under the radar.
Success has a funny way of generating publicity.
Now in his second season as head coach of the Norfolk Admirals, the 44-year-old from Prince George has risen to the top of American Hockey League class. The Admirals are first overall in the league, currently riding a professional hockey record 25-game winning streak.
Not surprisingly, Cooper has been named winner of the Louis A/R. Pieri Memorial Award as AHL coach of the year.
"To me it's the ultimate team award," the 44-year-old Cooper told The Virginian-Pilot Monday night at Harbor Park baseball stadium, where he threw out the first pitch at the triple-A Norfolk Tides home opener.
"I'm not saying just the guys on the ice. It's management that put this group of guys together and it's the Admirals staff that gives the guys what they need, and it's the players on the ice. It's one of, hopefully, many that this team is going to get. I'm the one being singled out for something we did as a group."
The Admirals (52-18-1-2) are the top farm club of the Tampa Bay Lightning and have already wrapped up the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy as AHL regular season champions. They'll finish the season on the road this weekend in Albany, Binghampton and Glens Falls, N.Y., where they face former Spruce King Brandon Manning and the Adirondack Phantoms on Sunday.
Cooper signed with the Admirals in August 2010 and guided the Admirals into the playoffs for the first time in four seasons. Back then he spoke to the Citizen with optimism about his first AHL posting.
"I'm really looking forward to watching this level of elite hockey players play, you're coaching kids who are right on the cusp of making it to the NHL, so I think there's going to be a lot of hunger and a lot of drive in these kids," said Cooper.
Before he landed in Norfolk, he won the Clark Cup U.S. (Junior A) Hockey League Clark Cup championship and coach-of-the-year honours in 2010 with the Green Bay Gamblers. Also serving as general manager, he led the 2007-08 Gamblers to an 82-point season, rising from worst to first, the biggest one-year improvement in USHL history. Prior to that, he captured two Robertson Cup championships (2007 and 2008) as head coach of the St. Louis Bandits of the North American Hockey League.
Cooper played minor hockey in Prince George until he was 15, when he went to Saskatchewan to attend Athol Murray College in Notre Dame, which led to a scholarship at Hofstra University in Long Island, N.Y. He eventually earned a law degree and worked as a lawyer in Michigan for five years until 2003, when he took on his first coaching job with the USHL Bandits, then based in Texarkana, Texas.
His proven ability to turn around the fortunes of losing teams has Cooper being touted by some hockey bloggers as a potential candidate for an NHL coaching position.
The Admirals lead the AHL in offence with three rookies among their top five pointgetters, including defenceman Mark Barbeiro, who won the Eddie Shore Award as most outstanding defenceman. Norfolk is averaging 3.58 goals per game and, behind the goaltending of former Spokane Chief Dustin Toharski, ranks third in team defence, allowing an average 2.40 goals per game.
Former Prince George Cougars captain Dana Tyrell played 18 games for the Admirals before he was called up by Tampa Bay. He hurt his knee Jan. 25 and had season-ending surgery. Tyrell was among nine players the Bolts called up from Norfolk to play a total of 142 games in the NHL this season.
