Jon Cooper does something surprising during his media availability, apologizes for his actions
Following the Tampa Bay Lightning's loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday, Bolts head coach Jon Cooper was visibly rattled by what he felt was a blatant missed too many men penalty that had resulted in Nazem Kadri's overtime game-winner.
Cooper met with the media following the loss and was almost at a loss for words. He appeared frustrated and may have been approaching a point of publicly calling out referees Wes McCauley and Kelly Sutherland, but he managed to restrain himself and vacated the interview seat abruptly, effectively ending his media session.
We had initially thought that we'd see a calmer and more collected Jon Cooper on Thursday come out and address the media properly to explain how he felt about the missed call and about going back to Colorado down 3-1 in the series, but what we got was far beyond what folks were anticipating.
Not only did Cooper come out and call the whole thing "water under the bridge", but he also apologized for the way he conducted himself with the media following the loss, explaining in his own way that he had let his emotions get the best of him.
You don't often see coaches or players who were emotional or angry come out and publicly apologize to the media like that, so I'm sure that the reporters who were present really appreciated the sentiment. It also shows the character of Cooper, who can admit when he's wrong or when he handled himself poorly. It's a trait that not everyone has and I think it's important to acknowledge Cooper's self-awareness and humbleness in this instance. Good on you, Coop.
