Avs’ Bednar longs to swap spots with Lightning’s Cooper with Stanley Cup final set to begin
Global News
If the Avalanche can dethrone the Lightning, Jared Bednar will swap places with Jon Cooper, who's aiming to lead Tampa Bay to a third consecutive title.
Jared Bednar is four wins shy of becoming hockey’s first head coach to win the Kelly Cup, the Calder Cup and the Stanley Cup.
“Yeah, well, I mean, my focus is on this cup. I want to add it, I want our team to finish the job,” Bednar said as he primed the Colorado Avalanche to face the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning in a star-studded Stanley Cup Final.
Bednar isn’t necessarily one to go down memory lane, not when there’s a wide-open highway to hockey heaven ahead.
He does allow, however, that the philosophies that propelled him to titles in the ECHL and American Hockey League are the same ones he has used to navigate his way from a 48-point season in 2016-17 to the cusp of Colorado’s first championship in 21 years.
“What’s been consistent? Just my approach to the game and focus on the process of what I feel we need to do to be successful,” he said.
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That includes deep dives into the pain of coming up short like they have the last three years with second-round playoff exits “and just trying to find ways to get incrementally better in all situations,” Bednar said.
“The heartbreak over the last couple of years in the playoffs has led our whole team sort of into that same mentality,” Bednar said.
