NHL Peachy: 2015 Stanley Cup Final Post-Game 6 Transcript - (TBL - Coach Cooper)

Chicago - 2

Tampa Bay - 0

An interview with:

COACH JON COOPER

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Cooper.

Q. Can you describe your emotions right now?

COACH COOPER: I don't know. I just did that interview with networks. I think I've seen that interview done a thousand times by the coach whose team didn't win, and never did I ever think I'd be the coach doing that interview.

A couple things come to my mind. First of all, we've got a group of young men in there, but they're kids at heart, and they're crushed. It was really hard to look at them and see how crushed they truly are.

I'm crushed for two other people. I'm crushed for Rick Bowness. I envisioned handing him the Stanley Cup. And I'm crushed for Steve Thomas because I envisioned doing the same thing.

Guys have been in this league for a long time and you just want to see other people succeed and be a part of the success. Maybe we'll look back weeks from now and somewhat treasure what we accomplished. But we've got unfinished business to do.

The Montréal series last year stung, but that pales in comparison to what this feels like.

Q. You mentioned the guys obviously crushed. What was your message to the group when you talked to them in the locker room?

COACH COOPER: Well, whatever I said at the end probably went through one ear and out the other. There's not much you can say in a moment like this.

I think when a little bit of time has passed, you know, the old saying that time heals wounds. This is going to leave a scar, there's no doubt, but I'll tell the guys how I really feel about them when a little time's passed.

It's tough right after something like this happens.

Q. You talked about watching this happen, the price that's paid. Now that it's over, with your players playing injured, is there a way to put in perspective the price that this team paid to even get this far?

COACH COOPER: Well, it's tough because I think anybody will tell you that you want to make a run like we made, the run Chicago made, you have to stay healthy. That is the key. The margin of teams is so close. It's the healthy ones that seem to advance.

I think we stayed somewhat healthy. Then down the stretch things started not going our way in that department. But we'll be the last team ever to say that's an excuse why we lost.

Ultimately, like, we didn't score enough. If you would have told me at the beginning of the playoffs that we were going to be the team that scored one goal in the last two games, that wasn't our MO. We were only giving up two goals a game. When this team only gives up two, we win a majority of those games.

The pucks just didn't go in for us. It was a tough time for us to go cold, have the well go dry, especially since we carried this on the whole year.

But the sacrifice and the compete and the will, even at the end, the last four, five minutes of that game, we threw everything at them, we just couldn't find a way to get one in. It's a pretty good sign for a team that there was no quit. There was a lot of fight in the dog, but it just wasn't enough.

Q. Could you share with us what some of those injuries were? Ben had the groin.

COACH COOPER: As I said, I look back now, I'm sure Chicago has guys hurt. Everybody's got guys hurt. You don't get to this time without having guys hurt.

I look back and when those first four games got played, it was 2-2 instead of 3-1 us, when we felt we could have been up 3-1, and early in this series we let them hang around. A veteran team as they are, our tank ran dry down the stretch.

As I said, our goal scoring dried up. It wasn't for lack of trying. The chances, posts, missed nets, open nets that hit sticks, you need those to go in for you to keep going. Ultimately they dried up for us.

It's just too bad because the boys, our guys, tried so hard.

Q. Other injured players…

COACH COOPER: Yeah, I'm sure whatever protocol comes out, guys, eventually we'll let you know what happened. Guys had significant injuries and it was clear. I'm sure you watched. It affected big parts of our team.

But we've got by on our depth all year. Got to give a lot of credit to Chicago. Extremely deserving champion. They're a really, really good hockey team. You give them an inch, they took a mile. That's what they did.

Q. You lose as a team. Is there one particular player you feel a bit more for tonight than the rest of the group?

COACH COOPER: A player? If I'm going to go quickly like that, I have to say Brenden Morrow. A guy, first year he came into the league, he went to the Final and never touched it again until this year.

We have a pretty young team and you feel for all of them clearly. Brenden is one that comes to mind that you hurt for him.

Q. Steven had a couple close calls today and throughout the series but wasn't able to break through and score. What do you attribute that to and what can he gain from having been through this?

COACH COOPER: Well, I felt sick for him. Early in the game, he was feeling it tonight. You could see, he had his legs moving. When he rang that one off the crossbar, I just felt for him. That's just kind of how his series went.

Wasn't for lack of effort. The kid was trying. Trying to put him in every situation to score. It's tough, too, when we didn't get a lot of power plays. We had two in the last two games.

You know, he's an effective power play player for us. But he gamed it out. He got his chances. As I always tell the guys, put yourself in a position to score and eventually it's going to come.

But, you know, a post here, post there, stick...

Put himself in position, they just didn't happen to go in for him.

You've got to feel for him because I know he's going to put a bunch of probably weight on his shoulders of why we didn't score. But Stammer did an unreal job for us. Nobody scored. It wasn't just Stammer.

We've gone through this whole year, depth has carried us. Stammer clearly has been a big part of that. We needed more than Steven to score. The well ran dry.

Q. Your thoughts on the groin tear and what Bish did?

COACH COOPER: Bish has proven time and time again for us, the two years we've been together. Last year we don't make the playoffs without Ben. He really put the team on his back.

This year, we had a little better team that came together. We had a little bit more depth. But we don't get to this part in the playoffs without Ben.

You sit here and think. He played, I'm probably going to get this wrong, but probably 27 games in a row before an injury took him out. At the pinnacle of the sport, going through the end of the regular season, the playoffs, for him to continue to rise in this occasion for somebody that never had been in the situation before, you can't say enough about what he did for us.

Q. For you, the learning experience that you got from going through this two-month process?

COACH COOPER: Well, it's different for me. In my coaching tenure, it's the sixth championship I've been a part of, and the first one to be on the losing end. So this is different for me personally.

As far as this run we made, I'm going to have to take time to digest. I've grown as a coach, there's no question. Learning from the other great coaches in this league, how the teams prepare, how to prepare our team, and then how to go through a run like this.

I'll look back, sit there probably Monday morning quarterback myself of some of the things I think I did well and some of the things maybe I think I didn't.

But I'm very grateful to be able to have gone through this experience, as much as it hurts. But the pilot light's been lit to get back here. I'll be looking forward to September.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

COACH COOPER: Thank you.

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