Canada 4 Nations coach Cooper finds unique meaning from 'Miracle on Ice'

BROSSARD, Quebec -- Jon Cooper's memory of United States hockey goes back to his days of being a boy deep in the wooded hinterland of Prince George, British Columbia.

Cooper's late mother, Marlene, was a native of San Francisco and moved to Canada after marrying his father, Robert, a native of Prince George.

"She kept her American citizenship and always cheered for the U.S. while the rest of us cheered for Canada," Cooper said Friday, 24 hours before the U.S. and Canada will play in a 4 Nations Face-Off showdown at Bell Centre in Montreal (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS).

One year Cooper, Canada's coach for the 4 Nations, found a photo of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team that won the gold medal, a Cinderella story highlighted by an unlikely victory against the Soviets forever known as the "Miracle on Ice."

"Every time you hit a button on it, you'd hear Al Michaels' voice call out, 'Do you believe in Miracles? Yes.'" Cooper said. "My dad hated me for it.

"And so I bought it for her for Christmas. And I thought my dad was going to kill me. Because for the rest of time, she would press it any time they had an argument. And it would just drive them nuts.

"So even though it wasn't against Canada, that's my U.S. hockey memory that drove my dad nuts."

Cooper has come a long way since those days in the B.C. interior. And now, on the eve of one of the biggest games he's ever coached in, he, like many others, is stoked to experience the raucous atmosphere at Bell Centre.

"My God, let's just talk about the first couple of minutes of the Sweden game (Wednesday), after Mario Lemieux came out for the pregame ceremony," he said. "He never played for the Montreal Canadiens but they treated him like one of their own. The energy they gave him, the ovation, and then (the chants) for (Sidney Crosby), everyone was talking about how it gave them chills.

"I truly believed it inspired our team."

A scenario he hopes repeats itself Saturday.