Darren Turcotte (far left) with his Team USA Gold Medal World Inline Hockey staff which included Tampa Bay Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper (far right). PHOTO COURTESY FACEBOOK.
Darren Turcotte broke in and played parts of six seasons in the National Hockey League with the New York Rangers.
While he was disappointed to see the NHL team that drafted him fall to the Tampa Bay Lightning in game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final, he was certainly happy for Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper.
“It was an interesting series with the Rangers as I cheered for them but at the same time I was really happy for Jon to get to that next level and to give himself another chance to win another title,” Turcotte said about Cooper.
In fact, Darren Turcotte actually hired Cooper as his assistant coach on the Team USA World Inline team back in 2006.
See that 2006 story here: http://www.baytoday.ca/content/sports/details.asp?c=14523
Turcotte goes through some plays with his team, with Jon Cooper standing behind the bench. PHOTO COURTESY USA HOCKEY.
Turcotte had forged a relationship with Cooper back when the North Bay native was coaching Midget AAA in Nashville.
“He had tried to recruit some of my midget players with Texarkana of the North American Hockey League, so I got to know him a little bit and visited him a few times and I called him and the first thing he said was probably what I said to USA Hockey was that he didn’t know anything about the game and I said not to worry about it,” noted Turcotte.
So with Jon Cooper at his side, Turcotte and Team USA captured a gold medal at the World Inline Championship in Budapest, Hungary in July of 2006.
That’s not surprising, as Cooper has won at every level he has coached at - except the National Hockey League.
Cooper’s championships, from junior to the American Hockey League, have all come after his second full year on the job and this is his second year behind the bench with the Lightning in the NHL.
“He’s obviously a great coach, he’s a players coach, the players respect him. He’s got a great knowledge of the game and he’s been able to win at all levels,” said Turcotte, the Head Coach of the Nipissing Lakers Varsity Women’s hockey team.
Turcotte says he still exchanges messages with his former Inline assistant as the finals between the Lightning and the Chicago Blackhawks take the ice in Tampa Bay for game one on Wednesday night.
“I’m excited to see the series because its basically two of the fastest, explosive teams in the league just going at each other so I think there will be some tight games but there’s going to be some of those games that are pretty wide open,” Turcotte said about the finals.
As for Cooper’s success he says it has all to do with the people you work with.
“You surround yourself with good people and good things happen,” Cooper said to TSN’s James Duthie on Tuesday.
Good hire Darren Turcotte, good hire.