Jon Cooper criticizes Olympic 3-on-3 overtime after Canada–USA gold medal game

It was a heartbreaker for Canada as they fell 2-1 in OT to the United States on Sunday in the gold medal game, and while it was a long time coming for the Americans -- it nonetheless hurts just as much to see the Canadians fall after a near storybook finish.

But OT brings a different beast, and with it being 3-on-3 as opposed to 4-on-4 things are a lot more dangerous and the wide open ice leads to a lot of chances, and was the key reason why Jack Hughes had so much space to score the winner.

Though with something as serious as an Olympic gold medal on the line, you would expect a 5-on-5 on even 4-on-4 to give things a bit more length and really push things down to the wire.

Jon Cooper thinks so at least, and his post-game criticism of the OT period brings up a very interesting point. He explained that he felt the game lost a lot of its allure and felt their need to finish on time overshadowed having a true endurance test:

It's a bold statement from Cooper and while some would think that he would be used to it by now given his extended time as coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, he's more frustrated at the lack of big-game feel once OT hits.

Hockey stops becoming a chess game and more about who can just get the puck first, and it often comes down to which goalie makes the better save. The goal isn't to have games go the fullest, but make sure they finish before their time slot ends.

As fans, we have come to love and appreciate those 2OT or 3OT games because they are so rare, and seeing which person gets to be the likely or unlikely hero becomes much more exciting as opposed to just waiting for the eventual 2 on 1.

Of course, the Olympics also have closing ceremonies etc, however they also don't need to schedule them a couple hours after the gold medal game. Moving them back a bit to compensate for another much bigger ratings draw seems to be a shrewd business move, but there could be a restrictive reason as to why not.

For Cooper, he feels a bit cheated out of the chance to have more of a fight in the extra frame, and while there might be an outcry looking for change -- don't expect the IIHF to make any serious adjustments unless absolutely necessary.

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