A dozen days after Jon Cooper arrived in Tampa Bay he upped the quotient of Prince George connections in Florida.
Brett Connolly and Dana Tyrell, both former members of the Prince George Cougars, received the call-up April 3 from the Syracuse Crunch to join their former AHL coach in the NHL. Another former Cougar, defenceman Eric Brewer, is also on the roster of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
"When I got the job one of the things I wanted to do was, if a job opened up, I wanted to get Brett up," said Cooper. "The great thing about Steve [Yzerman, Lightning general manager] is he's a great listener and he was on board."
Connolly spent his 19-year-old season in Tampa Bay after graduating from the major junior ranks, but, due to the NHL lockout and needing to work on specific aspects of his game the former Cougar played 67 games with the Crunch this season. Before returning to Tampa Bay, Connolly had 57 points (27 goals) in Syracuse.
"Brett has really come a long way this year," said Cooper. "I knew he was ready to make this jump it was just going to be when was the opportunity going to come.
"He's learning to play the 200-foot game," he added. "He was primarily, coming out of junior and even last year, he was a scorer that's what he wanted to do. I don't think there was any demand for him to have to play the other two zones that's what he had to learn this last year with me. He's really bought into it and gotten much better."
Connolly played in his first NHL game this year on April 4, a 5-0 win in Carolina over the Hurricanes, on a line with Vincent Lecavalier. Tyrell, the Cougars former captain, played on the Lightning's fourth line against Carolina with Tyler Johnson and B.J. Crombeen.
"He's a team-first guy and brings a lot of energy," said Cooper. "He plays the fourth-line role but his speed is able to push teams back. The line he plays on is really hard to match against and he's a vital penalty killer for us. Kind of that unsung hero role but he does it really well."
Brewer, the veteran blueliner who played with the Cougars in the late 90s, has provided Cooper with support as he acclimatizes to his new environment.
"He's one of the so-called elder statesmen that you have to lean on a little bit, especially when I'm new to the job, and he's been nothing but unreal for me in acclimating me with the team," said Cooper. "To me, he's playing the best hockey he's played all year with us. We won 5-0 [over Carolina] and he was plus four."
Cooper said between himself and his three players, hockey fans in Prince George may be a bit torn over what NHL team to support.
"Hopefully, P.G. will cheer for us because we have a lot of P.G. roots," he said.
