By Canadian Press

Lightning coach Jon Cooper apologizes for inappropriate comment about putting skirts on goalies

May 1, 2024 | 12:25 PM

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper opened his end-of-season news conference Wednesday apologizing for making what he called an inappropriate analogy of putting skirts on goalies.

Cooper after the Game 5 loss that eliminated his team from the playoffs on Monday night vented about two questionable goaltender interference rulings that contributed to Florida’s 6-1 win.

 The Lightning had two goals disallowed when the NHL situation room deemed a player interfered with Sergei Bobrovsky each time.

The league’s longest-tenured coach said he was sincerely sorry especially as a father of two daughters who play sports and a supporter of women’s hockey.

“It’s one of those minutes if you could just reach back and grab the words back, I would’ve,” Cooper said. “Quite frankly, it was wrong and I’ve got to go and explain myself to my girls. … I sincerely apologize to all I offended. It’s pained me more than the actual series loss itself.”

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Tampa Bay has made the playoffs in 10 of his 11 seasons on the job and won the Stanley Cup back to back in 2020 and ’21. 

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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL

The Associated Press