Canada's national team head coach Jon Cooper shared his thoughts after the 1:2 loss to the USA in the final of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. The experienced specialist evaluated his team's performance and commented on the decisive overtime format.
Idman.Biz reports that Cooper was satisfied with his hockey players despite the defeat.
"I think our players had a flawless match. I couldn't be more proud of them," Cooper told the International Ice Hockey Federation press.
The head coach also noted that holding the overtime in a "three on three" format does not correspond to the true spirit of hockey:
"When you take four players off the ice, hockey stops being hockey. There is a reason why this format is not used in the Stanley Cup finals or the play-off stage. But all teams know the rules in advance. It would be unfair to attribute our defeat to this format. The US national team has very talented players, and they made one more accurate move than us in overtime."
It should be noted that the Canadian team finished the tournament with silver medals.