Hockey Coach Ernie “Punch” McLean Survives 5 days on Creek Water
When I saw this today in the Vancouver Sun, I was astounded. It is not every day you hear stories of a seeming miracle. At 77 years of age, the legendary amateur hockey coach from B.C. gets lost in the wilderness, survives on only water from Creeks, and lives to tell the story. Here are some details from the Sun:
McLean, a legend in the B.C. hockey world and a part-time gold prospector, had gone missing Sunday afternoon while surveying a mining property in the remote region….And totally unprepared for what was about to happen. Wearing only a shirt and sweater — no jacket — and not having his emergency phone or GPS, McLean spent four nights in the remote wilderness sleeping under trees to keep as warm as possible.
“During the day, in the sunshine, I would remove my clothes and dry them out,” he recalled. “I would start walking at 6 a.m. and kept going for 12 hours.”
Without food, he survived on water alone from the various creeks he discovered. Fortunately, the only animal he encountered was a bull moose that shared a drink with him before running off into the bush.
Some may call him lucky to be alive. But i’m not so sure. After googling more about the situation, I came across this article from CBC sports which outlines other various miraculous survivor stories involving McLean. Could McLean be a real life hero a la Bruce Willis in “Unbreakable”?
Reed credited McLean’s legendary toughness, and a bit of luck, for his survival, noting McLean previously survived a plane crash in Saskatchewan, and walked out of the woods alive a few days later despite losing an eye and breaking several bones.
He’s also survived car accidents, being run over by a bulldozer and being stranded on a frozen lake in freezing conditions for several days.
McLean didn’t see any bears during his most recent ordeal, but he did have a few close encounters with some moose, Reed said.
Top 10 Biggest NHL Goalie Bloopers
Everyone loves to laugh at the guy with cake all over his face, right? There is nothing more embarrassing for an NHL goalie than letting a puck by you that has no business getting by you. The ‘mental mistakes’ as they call them, can cost your team dearly. Now that these are in the past, maybe its time we all have a good laugh at them. Check out the Top 10 Biggest NHL Goalie Bloopers:
The Montreal Canadiens Will Fail
The Montreal Canadiens have punched their ticket to failure. How is that possible, you’re asking? I’ll give you a few reasons why.
Bob Gainey signed every available known player he could, so how does that result in failure? Why don’t you ask Glen Sather and the New York Rangers organization? Sather’s 2002-03 roster consisted of players, Mark Messier, Alexei Kovalev, Brian Leetch, Eric Lindros, Petr Nedved, and Jaromir Jagr to name a few. This team couldn’t even finish in eighth place to make the playoffs. It wasn’t just the 2002-03 season that had an incredibly overpaid, stacked Rangers squad, it was like this for near 10 seasons, all of which were unsuccessful. I watched more Rangers games during those years than any other team, I found it mind-boggling that an all-star team like this couldn’t beat anyone; I would joke about how AHL teams could potentially give them a tough time on the ice.
So now, Bob Gainey has signed Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta, Mike Cammalleri, Jaroslav Spacek, and Hal Gill. “WHOOPEE!”
In the process of acquiring these apparent superstars, they lose Alexei Kovalev, Chris Higgins, Mike Komisarek, and team captain Saku Koivu. I’m sure more players such as Alex Tanguay and Robert Lang are on their way out too. So what are all the Habs fans getting so excited over? I guess Scott Gomez’s 16 goals are worth the $8,000,000 salary he has? Hal Gill did win a cup with Pittsburgh last season, but it was only two years ago playing with the Toronto Maple Leafs when people around the league were saying his career was over. Gill is a below average defenceman that played within a great system at Pittsburgh. Francois Beauchemin was available for the blue line, but apparently home town boys aren’t part of the plan for 2009-10 in the city of Montreal, Bob Gainey has decided team USA would look good wearing the Habs logo.
Teams like the Detroit Red Wings win every year because they don’t dump half their roster; they stick with their team, making only a couple minor changes, the NY Rangers technique clearly doesn’t work.
Montreal seemed to be headed in the right direction just a few seasons ago; they had former players Gainey and Guy Carbonneau directing the team, a young star goaltender in Carey Price, as well as a good mix of veterans and prospects. Gainey has since managed to lose Sheldon Souray, Mark Streit, and now Komisarek in the past few years, if that isn’t a top three manning the blue line with cup winning potential, then I don’t know what is. He also fired head coach Guy Carbonneau after less than two seasons behind the bench.
Mike Cammalleri won’t be scoring 39 goals without Jarome Iginla’s assistance, especially under Jacques Martin’s dreadful defensive system. Jacques Martin is the complete opposite of a players coach, he has a system and you better follow it, player communication is not a known trait of Martin’s. What was wrong with Bob Hartley being hired as head coach? He’s exactly what this team could have used, he communicates well with his players, has a Stanley Cup on his resume, demands respect, and speaks French. I bet the Kostitsyn brother’s would think twice about going on all night benders in downtown Montreal with Hartley keeping tabs on them, Martin won’t even be aware of the party scene that’s all around his team, he’ll be too busy drawing up plays for his robots…I mean players.
Does any of this look familiar? You may remember the Serge Savard era of being GM for the Canadiens? He made one bad decision after another. What’s with former Habs superstars mucking everything up in the front office?
I suppose if Gainey’s signings don’t work out, he could move one of his goaltenders up to forward or defense, he has four of them.
It will be interesting to watch the Montreal Canadiens 2009-10 season unfold, or shall I say collapse. The fans in Montreal expect a lot from their beloved Canadiens, if Gomez, Gionta and the other new acquisitions aren’t near flawless, they will certainly be made aware of it sooner rather than later, especially being American born. Bob Gainey may want to look into one way flights back to Dallas.
NHL Releases 2009 TV Schedule
The NHL released the 2009 NHL Season National TV Schedule today. Check it out and see when your favorite teams will be playing on TV. Or not….
Carolina Hurricanes Sign Stephane Yelle for only $500 G’s
Larry Gasik is a web developer and hockey fanatic located in the suburbs of Chicago. Nearly any free time he has is spent playing and watching hockey. Just like any true hockey player, Larry spends a good portion of his summertime golfing.
Wednesday morning, it was announced that the Carolina Hurricanes picked up Stephane Yelle for only $550k. It’ll be his fourth NHL team.
Yelle isn’t a game breaking player, and won’t see more than the fourth line and killing some penalties. He doesn’t put up a lot of points, but he is a solid shut down guy who wins in the faceoff circle. Carolina GM Jim Rutherford brought Yelle on board to make the team deeper at center and add a veteran presence. I also expect their penalty kill to improve a little bit this year.
Last year Yelle spent the season in Boston, having 18 points in 77 games. Before that he spent some time in Calgary, and won two cups with Colorado.
I see this as a smart move by Carolina, especially with this contract. He’s getting up there in age so his numbers eventually start declining at some point and he may lose a step but the guy typically has had solid seasons wherever he goes. I haven’t expected Carolina to make much noise the past few off seasons, and with making the Eastern Conference Finals last year, I didn’t expect it this year.
There will be some departures, but they locked up some key players for them in Erik Cole, Chad LaRose, Jussi Jokinen and Tuomo Ruutu. Anton Babchuk will be on his way out, and Patrick Eaves signed in Detroit. Frantisek Kaberle was in his final year of his contract, scheduled to earn $2.2 million, but was bought out – a wise but costly move.
I do expect some more minor moves out of Carolina based on their cap situation. They’re going to have a few free agents next year, notably Cam Ward who is going to get big raise. All reports suggest to me that their farm system probably isn’t strong enough to fill the necessary spots, so look for them to make a minor tweak here and there similar to this signing.
Chris Chelios a Maple Leaf?
Yes, it’s true. Chris Chelios has contacted the Toronto Maple Leafs in hopes of acquiring a job on their blue line. Is it just me, or does Chelios remind anyone else of Rocky Balboa? Rocky Balboa battled younger, faster, and stronger opponents over four decades, Chelios is only two years away from doing the same thing on the ice. The only difference is Rocky is a fictional character, Chelios is actually trying to play until he’s 50 years old.
Chelios spoke with coach Ron Wilson, with whom he is working with at the U.S Olympic orientation camp. “Do you guys have room in Toronto?” Chelios asked Wilson.
Chelios, 47 did not have his contract renewed by the Detroit Red Wings after spending 10 seasons with the club and winning 2 Stanley Cups. He was also the captain of team USA at the 2005-06 Olympic Winter Games; he’s been a 10 time All-Star, 3 times Norris Trophy winner, and a cup winner with the Montreal Canadiens in 1985-86. During his incredible 26 seasons in the NHL, Chelios has played 1,644 games, putting up 185 goals, 763 assists.
In my opinion Chelios has taken too much criticism for not leaving the game years ago. Why would he retire when teams still request his services? And since when does longevity equal negativity? Chelios is a warrior and arguably the greatest American born player of all time, I’m certain we will never see another player in the NHL at the age of 47, we’ll be lucky to see many players go beyond age 40, so enjoy the end of Chelios’s illustrious career while you can.
If the Toronto Maple Leafs decide to sign Chelios, it would be his fourth NHL club, all of which are original six teams.
“There aint nothin’ over till it’s over” – Rocky Balboa
USA Hockey Releases 2010 Olympic Jerseys
Last week we showed you pre-release images of the Team Canada 2010 Olympic Jerseys. Well today we have images for you of the USA Hockey 2010 Olympic Jerseys. They are pretty cool Nike jerseys, and I like the retro white one as well, however if I had to pick a winner i’d say Canada is leading right now in the Olympic jersey competition. I’ve included some pics below of the Team USA jerseys to decide for yourself, and the last picture is of a Nike ‘We the People’ image that will be located on the arm and lower back of the players jerseys. The image has the Statue of Liberty, represented by the torch, stars and stripes representing the 50 American states, the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, decorative elements from the currency, and a bleeding heart representing Hispanic culture.
Bruins Having Difficulties Signing Kessel
Larry Gasik is a web developer and hockey fanatic located in the suburbs of Chicago. Nearly any free time he has is spent playing and watching hockey. Just like any true hockey player, Larry spends a good portion of his summertime golfing.
It appears that Boston Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli is in no rush to sign young winger Phil Kessel. Kessel went into a shoulder surgery in May to repair a torn rotator cuff and does not plan to be ready for NHL action until mid-November. This lessens the pressure to get a new contract for him in place, even though Kessel plans on having a contract in place before the start of the season.
Claiming to have regained a 95% range of motion in the shoulder, he is not scheduled to get back on his skates until training camp. He currently is in Woodridge, Illinois for Team USA orientation camp, but is not participating in any on-ice events.
Kessel is rumored to be asking for approximately five million dollars a year based on his 60 points in 70 games. The Bruins do have salary cap issues, which could lead to the departure of Kessel through trade, or an offer sheet. There will have to be a departure of a forward for Boston, based on the recent addition of defensemen Derek Morris at $3.3 million.
The question is, what is a fair number for Kessel? There’s no questioning his offensive abilities, but it took Kessel three years to get to the 30 goal mark with Marc Savard on his line. He may end up becoming a causality of the salary cap.
Patrick Marleau Stripped of Captaincy
Patrick Marleau has lost the title of San Jose Sharks captain. Marleau has been criticized over the past few seasons regarding the Sharks poor playoff record. The 2008-09 season began with high expectations, GM Doug Wilson constructed a roster that was believed by many people to be the team that would eventually win the cup. Wilson brought in former cup winners Rob Blake and Dan Boyle, as well as resigning veteran Jeremy Roenick.
The San Jose Sharks had Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau playing center on the top two lines, and Evgeni Nabokov was expected to be one of the elite goaltenders opening the 2008-09 NHL season. They did win the Presidents Trophy, leading the league with 117 points, but were eliminated in the first round by the eighth place Anaheim Ducks. Marleau and Thornton were only able to combine for a mere 3 goals and 8 points during the six game series.
So what happened?
Coach Todd McLellan has not only stripped Marleau of the “C”, he has stripped all letters from the roster, and that includes Thornton’s role as assistant captain. Mike Grier was the other assistant, who recently signed a 1 year contract with the Buffalo Sabres. “As of now,” McLellan told the Mercury News, “nobody is our captain.”
The 29-year-old Marleau has been mentioned in trade rumours over the past couple seasons, but his no trade clause allows him to decline any deal that doesn’t satisfy him. Over his NHL career he has posted a solid 276 goals, 334 assists in 871 games.
The 2009-10 season won’t be starting with the same expectations as prior years, it will be starting with no leaders. Roenick retired last month, Grier signed elsewhere, Nabokov seems disinterested, Blake turns 40 in December, and the two star players Marleau and Thornton appear to be unwanted. The only positive that can be taken from this debris, is that maybe with all the pressure off this team to win a championship another player will emerge as a star and leader for the club.
Patrick Kane Taxi Company [PIC]
I hate to kick a man while he’s down, but after reading Patrick Kane’s apology for beating up a cab driver on TSN.ca this morning, I figure he can handle it. Plus, when I saw this picture today on Puck Daddy of a t-shirt for the Patrick Kane Taxi Cab Company I figured it was just way too classic to not share with you guys. Any investors?
