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Hockey fans and organizations across the country are mourning legendary coach Ernie “Punch” McLean, who has died in a crash in northern B.C. at the age of 93.
RCMP say investigators have confirmed McLean was the sole victim in a single-vehicle crash about 30 kilometres south of Dease Lake.
McLean coached 16 seasons in the Western Hockey League with the New Westminster Bruins and Estevan Bruins.
After six seasons in Estevan, McLean and his partner Bill Shinske moved the Bruins from Saskatchewan to B.C., where he navigated the New Westminster Bruins to four straight WHL championships from 1975 to 1978 and two Memorial Cup titles in 1977 and 1978.
He also coached the Estevan Bruins to a WHL title in 1968, which made him the only man to win five WHL titles as a coach.
The Vancouver Canucks are among those who took to social media to honour the coach, citing McLean’s record of four Memorial Cup appearances, two championships and a coach to more than 100 players in the NHL.
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The post called him “a presence that can never be replaced.”
“Ernie ‘Punch’ McLean was one of a kind — a legend of the game who gave everything to this province and to the players lucky enough to call him coach,” the Canucks post said.
McLean coached 1,067 WHL games in total and also led Canada to a bronze medal at the 1979 world junior men’s hockey championship.
The Western Hockey League issued its own statement, extending its condolences on behalf of the WHL and its 23 member clubs to friends, family and all those who knew McLean.
The tragic news comes the same week the Ernie Punch McLean Foundation launched a campaign to build a permanent statue honouring McLean at Queens Park Arena in New Westminster.
McLean attended the news conference Wednesday when the campaign launched.
The RCMP said in a news release Friday that officers responded to a call by a local road maintenance worker around 12:15 p.m. on Friday, who reported finding the car down an embankment.
They said the cause of the crash is not yet known but their investigation suggests the man swerved and went off the road, where he was ejected from the vehicle.
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