Brian Cooper
The Olympic hockey debut of Anchorage’s Brian Cooper proved as smooth as freshly resurfaced ice.
The 28-year-old defenseman on Thursday became the fourth Alaskan to play in the Olympics when he and Team USA made easy work of host China in Beijing.
Cooper furnished an assist, fired three shots on goal and racked a plus-4 rating in 16 minutes, 40 seconds of ice time in the Americans’ 8-0 victory. Cooper played 32 shifts and averaged a tidy 31 seconds per shift. He assisted on Matty Berniers’ goal to make in 7-0 in the third period.
Cooper’s ice time was fourth-most among the Americans’ seven defensemen.
Cooper, who played college hockey at Omaha and is a former Anaheim Ducks draft pick, plays professionally for IK Oskarshamn in the Swedish Hockey League, one of the world’s most elite circuits. He was afforded a chance at Olympic glory when the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association decided to skip the Games due to the pandemic.
Previous Alaskans to represent Team USA are Scott Gomez of Anchorage, the two-time Stanley Cup winner who is the most accomplished player in state history and played in the 2006 Games; goaltender Pam Dreyer of Eagle River, who won a bronze medal in 2006; and defenseman Kerry Weiland of Palmer, who seized silver in 2010.
Steve Thompson of Anchorage, a former UAF goalie and UAA goalie coach, is currently the goaltending coach for the Team USA women in Beijing.
Meanwhile, former UAA defenseman Mat Robinson on Thursday opened his second Olympics with Team Canada in a 5-1 victory over Germany. Robinson, 35, who won bronze in 2018, went plus-2 in 14:34 of ice time. His ice time ranked sixth among Canada’s seven blueliners.
Robinson, of Calgary, Alberta, plays professionally for SKA St. Petersburg in the Kontinental Hockey League, considered the second-best league in the world behind the NHL.
Eagle River’s Nick Walters, another former UAA coaching staffer, is at the Olympics as video coach for the Team USA women.