Hempstead, NY - Fresh off of lifting his second consecutive NHL Stanley Cup, Tampa Bay Lightning Head Coach and former Hofstra men's lacrosse player Jon Cooper has been named the head coach of Team Canada at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, Hockey Canada announced today.

A native of Prince George, British Columbia, Cooper previously served as head coach of Team Canada at the 2017 IIHF World Championship and won a silver medal. His other international coaching experience came as an assistant coach for Team North America at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. He will be joined on the bench by assistants Barry Trotz (New York Islanders), Peter DeBoer (Vegas Golden Knights), and Bruce Cassidy (Boston Bruins).

"It is an honour to be entrusted with leading Canada's Men's Olympic Team next year in Beijing, and to be able to carry on the rich tradition of hockey excellence that is associated with Hockey Canada." Cooper said in a Hockey Canada statement. "The opportunity to work with an excellent management group and an elite-level coaching staff of Barry, Bruce and Peter is a great privilege. I have many fond memories of the Olympics, from watching games as a young kid to thrilling gold medal victories, and I look forward to helping create lasting memories for Canadians across the country while our team competes for a gold medal."

Cooper completed his eighth full season as head coach of the Lightning by becoming the first NHL head coach to win back-to-back Stanley Cups since 2016-17. Named head coach in 2013, Cooper is currently the longest-tenured head coach in the NHL and has led the Lightning to two Stanley Cups in three Finals appearances, 384 regular season victories, and a President's Trophy in 2018-19. Cooper has also coached in two NHL All-Star Games in 2018 and 2019.

Prior to becoming the eighth head coach in Tampa Bay Lightning history in 2013, Cooper was an accomplished head coach in the American Hockey League with the Norfolk Admirals, where he won the 2012 Calder Cup and was named the Pieri Memorial Award winner as the most outstanding coach during the AHL regular season in 2011-12, and the Syracuse Crunch. Additionally, he won league titles in the North American Hockey League with the St. Louis Bandits and in the United States Hockey League with the Green Bay Gamblers.

Cooper was a four-year member of the Hofstra men's lacrosse team from 1986-89. He totaled 74 goals and 25 assists for 99 points with Hofstra, and was an East Coast Conference champion in 1988 and 1989. Cooper finished his Hofstra career ranked fifth all-time in goals and ninth all-time in points. He graduated in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in business administration.

The 2022 Beijing Olympics are set to take place February 4-20.