HC Jon Cooper makes his thoughts clear on USA vs Canada's opening fights during 4 Nations Face-Off clash

Jon Cooper is still riding high after Team Canada's victory at the 4 Nations Face-Off. The Canadian bench boss led his country to Gold in the first best-on-best hockey tournament since 2016.

After COVID-19 canceled the NHL's plans to play in the 2022 Winter Olympics, Cooper had to wait even longer for the chance to coach Canada on the biggest stage.

The nine years without best-on-best hockey certainly seemed to ignite everyone involved. It showed with three fights in the first nine seconds of Canada and the US's chaotic first matchup of the tournament.

Cooper appeared on Tuesday's edition of the "Spittin' Chiclets" podcast, where he was asked about the crazy start to the round-robin game between Canada and the US. He said (29:00):

"It was really, it was kind of a uniting moment for us, anyway. I can't speak for the US, but clearly it was for them as well. So just because too, those weren't seat belt fights. Those were all offense.

"Any one of those could have knocked somebody out, and they were so like, just, you can see the passion that all the guys, the combatants had, and I think it just that elevated the game to something, I don't think anybody really, really expected and elevated the tournament."

Hockey fans were all wondering how much intensity and care the players would show at the 4 Nations. As Cooper said, the mayhem was unexpected but it elevated the entire tournament to another level.

Jon Cooper has a chance to earn more hardware in the Spring

Jon Cooper now returns to regularly scheduled duties as head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The two-time Stanley Cup champion, and now 4 Nations Face-Off winner, has the opportunity to add to his Hall-of-Fame coaching resume again this year. Cooper's Bolts have won five consecutive games, improving their record to 32-20-4 (68 points) on the season, now just four points back of the Atlantic division lead.

The Eastern Conference appears wide open for the taking, and the Lightning should not be slept on. With superstar talents like Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Victor Hedman and Andrei Vasilevskiy still in their prime, nobody will want to see Tampa Bay come the postseason.

Jon Cooper and the Lightning are back in action on Tuesday night to host Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. EST at Amalie Arena.