It happened with Team Canada at the Olympics, and it happened against the Canadiens in Sunday's Game 7. Even an excellent coach like the Lightning's Jon Cooper comes out on the short end at times.
Hockey fans may have short memories, but Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper doesn't.
The moment the buzzer sounded on his team's 2-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in Game 6 of their first-round series Sunday night, his mind went to another 2-1 loss he suffered behind a different bench 71 days prior.
Cooper has done his fair share of winning, so he understands this is how it works sometimes.
But you have to feel for the guy, who could not have prepared his teams – in this case, Team Canada in the Olympics and the Lightning Sunday night – to play better games than they did. Yet, he came out on the short end both times.
As evidenced by a long-overdue nomination for the Jack Adams Award, Cooper is an excellent coach. But even the best ones come out on the short end at times.
Watch the video column above for more.
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