News

By Adam Laskaris

St. Michael’s Buzzers forward Mark Cooper has been making a name for himself at St. Michael’s College School Arena over the past two seasons.

But it was his impressive play at last month’s Central Canada Cup All Star Tournament in Smith’s Falls, Ontario, that landed him a scholarship with the NCAA’s Bowling Green Falcons. 

“I contacted them, told them about myself, and told them where I’m playing,” said Cooper. “Then they came and saw me play at the All Star tournament this past Christmas Break. I went down there for a visit this past weekend and then we signed the deal that same night.”

The aptly named Bowling Green State University, which is located in Bowling Green, Ohio, a suburb of Toledo, serves a student body of approximately 21,000.

“It wasn’t the only offer, but it (Bowling Green) was the right fit academically and athletically,” said Cooper.

Economics will be the field of study for the 19 year old Cooper, who is currently studying Business at the University of Toronto, part-time.

Cooper has the luxury of being close friends with Mike Sullivan, a freshman defenceman at Bowling Green from Scarborough, Cooper’s hometown. 

“We grew up together,” he said. “We played hockey and soccer together. We even worked together in the summers for three years.”
Cooper knows it might take some time to adjust to the NCAA’s high quality of play.

“I think it’ll be tougher than the transition to entering this league,” he said. “But I think if I have a good summer of working out hard, and I gain some size and weight, it won’t be too tough.

Cooper admits it didn’t always look like he’d have success at the Ontario Junior Hockey League level.

“I was a bit of a late bloomer,” he said. “I was playing AA with the Toronto Titans in my first year of midget before moving up to AAA two years ago. But, I came onto the Buzzers last year and for rookie year I played a pretty big part on that team.” 

Not only did Cooper play a big part, he finished third on the team in scoring with 52 points in 50 games. 

This year, he’s managed to rack up 50 points in just 38 games so far, showing improvement over last year’s pace. That’s good enough to be tied with Tommy Sumi for the team’s lead in points.

Cooper has aspirations of taking his game to the highest possible level. 

“The goal is obviously to make the NHL,” he said. “It’s been a dream of mine ever since I was a little kid and I’m going to work as hard as I can to make it happen.”

If the possibilities arise however, he’s not going to shy away from possibly playing overseas.

“I’ve seen some European hockey and it’s great hockey,” Cooper said. “Obviously I’d like to land a spot playing in North America but that’s definitely an option.”

With just 8 games to go in the regular season, Cooper knows his time with the Buzzers will be coming to a close soon.

“I’m looking to finish the season strong, we’re trying to lock up first place right now,” he said. “We should be able to go on a long playoff run.” 

As long as Cooper keeps playing the way he has been, there’s no reason he won’t have success the rest of the season and throughout the rest of his hockey career.