DEASE LAKE, B.C. - Former hockey coach Ernie (Punch) McLean, who famously survived both crashing a plane and being run over by a bulldozer, has pulled off the rarest of hat tricks.
McLean, 77, who went missing in a remote region of northern British Columbia on Sunday, has been found alive and well, despite being lost for four days in mountainous terrain with no food.
"He always said ’I got nine lives’," said long-time friend Bruce Judd, relieved that McLean had once again defied the odds.
McLean coached 16 seasons in the Western Hockey League and led New Westminster to four consecutive league championships and two Memorial Cups. He is a member of the B.C. Hockey Hall of Fame.
The fiery former WHL coach of the year was surveying a gold claim with two friends near the community of Dease Lake, about 250 kilometres south of the Yukon border, when he went off on his own to flag a new access road.
When he didn’t return by nightfall, his friends reported him missing.
McLean was near a trail when he was spotted by a helicopter Thursday afternoon.
He was walking and talking but RCMP Const. Craig Douglass says McLean was given medical attention, just to be safe.
"McLean was transported to the Stikine Health Center in Dease Lake where he was examined and released.," Douglass said.
When asked if it’s unusual for a 77-year-old man to have escaped such an ordeal still on his feet, Douglass said McLean doesn’t seem like the average elderly male.
"This man was very resilient, he was quite capable of extensive feats," Douglass said.
Dennis Coates, a Kamloops lawyer who’s known McLean for decades, said his friend has long since proven his resilience.
"He’s a guy that back in the 1970s crashed an airplane in the middle of winter and we actually had a wake for him," Coates said.
"And then he walked out of the bush the next day. So he’s a survivor."
Judd, director of the B.C. Hockey Hall of Fame, chuckled when talking about McLean’s escapes, including one from a bulldozer.
"He’s had some close scraps," he said.
Judd says he plans to call McLean’s wife to relay his best wishes first chance he gets.
