Police have launched a search for B.C. hockey legend Ernie "Punch" McLean, who went missing Sunday while working a gold claim in Northern B.C.
McLean, 77, was surveying a property on Turnagain Lake — about 80 km east of Dease Lake — when he split up with his geologist. He hasn't been seen since.
Dease Lake RCMP and the Provincial Emergency Program are coordinating a search of the remote, mountainous area — which is only accessible by air and all-terrain vehicle — and are being supported by a search plane and helicopter.
"Now that the word is out, there's a lot of friends that Punch has made in the area and that can do nothing but help," said McLean's long-time friend and business partner Dan Steer. "Punch is not alone. He'll have a lot of good friends looking for him."
McLean's wife of 56 years, Fran, said she last spoke to her husband last week.
He told her he'd be back home to Port Coquitlam on Aug. 28.
On Sunday, she received a call telling her McLean was missing.
She and their son, Brian, have been receiving regular updates from police since the search was launched on Monday.
McLean was one of the most colourful, legendary, feared and revered figures in the world of junior hockey.
Over 16 years as head coach of the Estevan and New Westminster Bruins, he compiled a career coaching record of 635 wins, 481 losses and 99 ties.
During that time, the Bruins qualified for four straight Memorial Cups and won two, in 1977 and 1978.
The first win was particularly sweet, coming at home at the Pacific Coliseum. He retired from coaching after the 1987-88 season.
In 2004, he received the WHL Governors Award — the highest honour bestowed on an individual by the WHL board of governors — and in 2006 was inducted into the B.C. Hockey Hall of Fame.
Part of hockey's more ribald past, McLean had a reputation for brawling and buffoonery.
He flung garbage pails, hockey sticks or lifted the hairpiece from a referee to get a rise out of his team, psych out the opposition or entertain fans.
He also was behind the bench for the so-called "Portland Massacre", a March 22, 1979 game at Queens Park Arena in New Westminster in which the Bruins emptied their bench and gang-beat five Winterhawks.
Seven Bruins were charged with assault.
Many saw the game as a wake-up call that hockey was headed in the wrong direction.
But McLean also had a formidable reputation for team-building and a knack for turning average talent into pros.
He coached Canada's 1978 junior team at the world tournament in Montreal, a team that included Wayne Gretzky and Steve Tambellini, currently general manager of the Edmonton Oilers.
McLean was initially reluctant to include Gretzky, then an obscure 16-year-old, on the team.
Reportedly, his old friend Muzz MacPherson, Gretzky's junior coach in Sault Ste. Marie, had to convince McLean to give Gretzky a tryout.
The event proved to be Gretzky's coming-out party. It was here that a rare talent was discovered.
"One thing about Ernie, he treated his players as men," Tambellini once told Vancouver Sun sports writer Mike Beamish. "As a young player at that level, you recognized the difference. He created an intimidating environment, but his teams also had talent and discipline. You can't win Memorial Cups without it. He was smart technically, good at motivating his players. I loved playing for him."
But the story friends were clinging to Wednesday was this one.
In 1972, McLean was piloting a plane, alone, when it crashed in southern Saskatchewan. He survived, crawled out the wreckage, and walked out of the bush alive.
Everyone is hoping the same thing will happen again.
