TAMPA, Fla. — The water might have been choppy early and it took some time for the fish to start biting, but on board Jon Cooper’s boat Monday morning the Lightning coach’s “process-over-outcome” mantra was in effect on Hillsborough Bay.

It marked the ninth time Cooper has held his “Coop’s Catch for Kids” fishing tournament, which has raised more than $2 million for pediatric cancer research and patient services. It’s turned into one of the highlights of the season for Cooper, as he’s able to connect with children and their families, and his players all come to join him — all while raising valuable funds.

This year’s event raised $500,000 and included generous donations from the Lightning’s owners and players.

“Aside from winning Stanley Cups, these are two of my favorite days in the years,” Cooper said. “And it’s super cool because of how much the kids benefit and how much the players care. It’s just a great match and it’s so much fun, other than the fact that I never catch a fish.”

Cooper began the day making it clear that he’s no expert angler. He joked that he doesn’t think he’d caught nine fish over the previous nine years of the catch-and-release event. Over the years, he’d brought out star power to help him. Two years ago, Wayne Gretzky joined him aboard his boat. Last year, Charles Barkley took to the water with Cooper.

On Monday, he brought along his daughter, Julia, who turned out to be the Cooper who nabbed the biggest fish on the boat, hooking a 26-inch snook. After a proud-father moment of snapping his daughter displaying her catch, Cooper came close. He reeled in a redfish that escaped his hook and pulled in a snapper that fell into the water just before the boat.

Cooper said he gets out to fish about five times a year. He is a busy man in a pressure-filled profession, but out on the water there’s a sense of calm that he enjoys whether he’s catching fish or not.

“It’s like time stops,” he said.

Lasting imprint on the community

On the way back to the docks outside the Tampa Convention Center through Seddon Channel — which filled with traffic during the Lightning’s two championship boat parades — Cooper looked over at Tampa General Hospital, where a $520 million surgical, neuroscience and transplant tower is being built.

“I think it’s great when hospitals that have nice views have windows,” Cooper said. Then he told his daughter about one of college football’s most striking traditions: The Hawkeye Wave. After the first quarter of University of Iowa home games, all of the fans at 70,000-seat Kinnick Stadium turn toward the Stead Family Children’s Hospital and wave in unison, providing the patients and their families with an inspiring wave of hope.

Just four months ago, Cooper and his family were at TGH to dedicate a family lounge at Muma Children’s Hospital — the first major project of the Cooper family’s J5 Foundation non-profit — a place where patients, families and visitors can go to recharge and recover and spend quality time away from their rooms.

During that presentation, Cooper was surprised with the Jack Adams Award, given to the NHL’s top coach. On that day, Cooper was extremely reflective, grateful that the Lightning had provided him with the stability to raise his family — Cooper and his wife Jessie have three children, Julia and twin sister Josie and son Jonny — in Tampa Bay but also to make a long-lasting imprint in the community.

“My name will be on this trophy, and I feel extremely fortunate that my name will be on the Stanley Cup,” Cooper said that day in early June. “But more importantly, to build this in the community, have your name on something that is affecting people that are going through tough times, that means everything to me.”

Vision is far from complete

Earlier that morning, Cooper talked about the tough part of holding this event for a decade (it started in 2016 but was interrupted for two years by COVID). The longer it goes, the more kids have been lost to cancer.

The inspiration for “Coop’s Catch” was Tony Colton, whose speech about his battle with an aggressive soft-tissue sarcoma at the 2015 Sneaker Soiree riveted Cooper, who was wowed by the kid’s composure despite numerous surgeries. The two became friends and Colton was an honorary part of the team, but his battle with cancer ended just two years later at age 17.

Four years ago, an energetic 5-year-old from Lakeland with an aggressive and rare brain tumor named Tripp “Trippy” Nugent entered the Lightning locker room and won over the players by doing the Griddy dance for them. He was a guest on Cooper’s boat at the next “Coop’s Catch.” It’s now been nearly 18 months since his passing at the age of 7. Nugent’s parents, Nick and Katie, attended this year’s “Coop’s Catch Anglers’ Night” kickoff event on Sunday night.

“The great part about this is you’re with the kids and you get to go fishing with them,” Cooper said. “The super difficult part is the kids that we’ve lost in the last few years, and the reason we have this tournament is so that we don’t ever lose kids. And when we stop losing the kids, then we can stop having a tournament, and that’s the tough part. …That’s why we do this. ... That’s why this means so much.”

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