Canada's Jon Cooper becomes unhinged, openly blasting the Olympic Committee

The United States secured the hard-fought 2-1 victory on Sunday morning to capture their first gold medal since the legendary Miracle on Ice in 1980.

But the way the heavyweight clash ended left a remarkably bitter taste in the mouth of the Canadian bench boss.

Cooper immediately unloaded on the controversial 3-on-3 overtime format during his postgame media availability, refusing to hold back his frustration.

He stated flatly that taking four players off the ice means hockey is not hockey anymore, calling out the fundamental shift in strategy.

Canada controlled the pace from puck drop, registering 42 shots on net compared to just 28 for the Americans.

American goaltender Connor Hellebuyck had to make an incredible 41 saves just to drag Team USA into the extra frame.

Cooper pointed directly to the Stanley Cup playoffs as the ultimate measuring stick for evaluating championship-level hockey.

He argued passionately that games of this magnitude should always be decided by continuous 5-on-5 action.

The veteran coach firmly believes the current international rules are entirely TV-driven to end games quickly and cleanly.

It is a format built specifically for casual television entertainment instead of crowning a true heavy-weight champion with solid execution on the ice.

When Hughes wired the puck through the five-hole at the exact 1:41 mark of overtime, the gold medal was ultimately decided by an open-ice track meet rather than standard systems.

There is a massive difference between crisp passing in a wide-open skills competition and battling through a grueling, physical sudden-death period.

Canada maintained incredible offensive output for a full 60 minutes before the ice opened up and changed the structural style of play entirely.

For Cooper and the rest of the devastated Canadian locker room, the agonizing sting of losing a gold medal to a television gimmick will linger for a very long time.