Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper received a gift like no other. In honor of his 1,000th career NHL game, the 58-year-old received custom cigars from J.C. Newman Cigar Company.
Tampa Bay's Jon Cooper ties cigars to success.
The Tampa-based cigar maker produced the commemorative stogies at the request of Cooper's assistant coaches, rolling exactly 1,000 cigars — one for each game behind the bench — along with a custom humidor. Each cigar features a band with the Lightning's official "Coop 1000" logo.
The gift is truly one of a kind, but it's certainly unique to the franchise and the city of Tampa Bay. “We are very proud to be a partner and exclusive cigar maker of the Tampa Bay Lightning,” said fourth-generation owner Drew Newman in a press release.
"As Tampa is ‘Cigar City,’ it is only fitting that the coaches decided to celebrate Coop’s 1,000th game by lighting special Tampa Bay Lightning cigars.” The company is also the only cigar company to host a lounge inside an NHL arena, where fans can enjoy both the game and a cigar.
The NHL coaching legend’s fame goes beyond the bench, including being once featured in Cigar Aficionado magazine. He has said he began enjoying cigars because his team smoked them after championships, so he "equated cigars to winning."
Cooper reached the 1,000-game milestone Dec. 31 and was honored during a pregame ceremony Jan. 6 before a game against the Colorado Avalanche. He was joined on the ice by his wife, Jessie, and their three children, Julia, Josie, and Jonny, while a tribute video narrated by Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman played on the video board.
Cooper is the 32nd coach of all-time to reach 1,000 games behind an NHL bench, but only the fifth to do so with a single franchise.
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