"It's a dream come true," Cooley said earlier this month after signing a professional deal. "I'm just so excited. The process went smoothly, and I think we're all very happy with how things turned out."
Standing 6-foot-5, Cooley posted a 1.93 goals-against average and .927 save percentage in 32 career NCAA games, and he went 4-3-2 with two shutouts - one of which earned him NCHC Goalie of the Week honors on Dec. 13 vs. Colorado College - and a 2.08 goals-against average during his junior season.
An injury during that most recent campaign kept him from receiving additional starts, but Cooley's sophomore season made others take notice. He shared Denver's team MVP award with fellow goalie Filip Larsson and also earned the Pioneers' award for most improved player. Cooley posted a .933 save percentage - the second-highest in Denver school history - and was named NCHC Goalie of the Week twice, finishing the season with an 11-6-2 record, four shutouts and a 1.85 goals-against average as the Pioneers reached the 2019 Frozen Four.
That three-year stint in the collegiate ranks groomed Cooley for the next chapter of his journey, and there isn't much his time at Denver hasn't prepared him for.
"I can't say enough good things about the University of Denver's program," Cooley said. "They're a winning program, they breed success and those years I spent there were definitely the best years of my life so far… It's not just about on-ice development, but you have off-ice development, you've got to juggle a full school schedule as well as a full athletic schedule, you've got to learn how to cook for yourself, you've got to learn time management, you've got to learn accountability and responsibility - Denver does a really good job of providing you the support system and the tools that you need to succeed both on and off the ice."
Undrafted, Cooley learned of Nashville's interest over the summer, and after a successful Zoom meeting with members of the organization, the deal with the Predators was signed.
The Los Gatos, California, native will now be switching his allegiances to the Predators franchise after growing up a San Jose Sharks fan in the Bay Area with his family, a team they still have season tickets to support. Former Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabokov was a favorite of Cooley's growing up, but standing taller than most at his position, there was another 6-foot-5 netminder he has always looked up to.
"Pekka Rinne is someone that I've been watching for a long time and someone I try to model my game off of," Cooley said. "We're similar in size, and I feel like I can play a similar style as he does. To be able to potentially even just skate with him or work out with him, I think it'd be the coolest thing ever."
Opportunities of that nature for Cooley would likely come at a training camp down the road; on paper, Cooley is likely the fifth netminder on the Predators goaltending depth chart for the upcoming season behind Rinne, Juuse Saros, Connor Ingram and Kasimir Kaskisuo, but that doesn't mean he won't work his way up someday.
In the meantime, he still plans on finishing his degree from Denver on a part-time basis while competing for a spot with the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals and Nashville's ECHL affiliate, the Florida Everblades - and Cooley will likely be one of the smartest on the roster.
"I enjoy school, I've always been a good student, I enjoy learning about new things and I think it's just good for the mind to keep yourself active," Cooley said. "Finance and computer science definitely are two topics that I'm really passionate about. I love seeing what's going on in the markets, love investing, and computer science honestly sounds pretty nerdy, but I love to program, I love to build websites and stuff like that. It's kind of stuff that I do on the side, and it's great because if I have a bad practice or have a bad day in hockey, I have these two things to fall back on and kind of give myself a distraction away from the rink, something to develop your mind to and keep yourself active."
So, while he may be trading stocks - or building the sites used to do so - later in life, Cooley's top priority for the moment remains to keep the puck out of his net, no matter where he might be.
"It's a dream come true," Cooley said of turning pro. "It's been a whirlwind of emotions these past few days of happiness, and it still doesn't really feel real. I'm just trying to soak it all in and take it one day at a time, but I'm just so excited."
