Ernest V. "Punch" McLean (born November 3, 1932) is a Canadian retired

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

coach. He led the

New Westminster Bruins The New Westminster Bruins were a major junior ice hockey team in the Western Hockey League. There were two franchises that carried this name: * 1971–1981 (formerly the Estevan Bruins, now the Kamloops Blazers) * 1983–1988 (formerly the Nan ...

to four consecutive

President's Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...

titles, and won consecutive

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

and

1978 Memorial Cup The 1978 Memorial Cup occurred May 6–13 at the Sudbury Community Arena in Sudbury, Ontario, and at the Sault Memorial Gardens in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. It was the 60th annual Memorial Cup competition and determined the major junior ice ...

championships. After his 16 seasons in the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...

(WHL), McLean placed second all-time among WHL coaches with 1,067 games coached.

Early life

McLean was born in a coal mine in Estevan,

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

, due to the temperature in his parents' house being too cold to inhabit. His brother Vernon "Butch" McLean was part of the construction of the Estevan Civic Auditorium where the Estevan Bruins played in 1957. McLean played midget, juvenile, and intermediate ice hockey growing up and earned an invitation to a

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

training camp when he was 17.

Career

After the Rangers training camp, McLean joined the Humboldt Indians in the SJHL under coach Scotty Munro and eventually became an assistant. In 1966, the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League evolved into the

Western Canada Junior Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...

(WCHL). McLean eventually replaced Monroe as head coach and became co-owner of the Estevan Bruins. On April 18, 1971, after the Estevan Bruins had been eliminated from the WHL playoffs, McLean boarded a single-engine airplane heading for

Yorkton Yorkton is a city located in south-eastern Saskatchewan, Canada. It is about 450 kilometres north-west of Winnipeg and 300 kilometres south-east of Saskatoon and is the sixth largest city in the province. As of 2017 the census population of the ...

, Saskatchewan. The plane failed to make it to Yorkton as a result of a crash which took his left eye. After the crash, McLean moved the Bruins to

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capi ...

, where he coached them for 14 seasons. However, the transition to New Westminster was met with apprehension from the WCHL board who were against expansion to the West. A few years after the relocation, the newly named

won four consecutive

titles from 1975 to 1978 and two

Memorial Cup The Memorial Cup () is the national championship of the Canadian Hockey League, a consortium of three major junior ice hockey leagues operating in Canada and parts of the United States. It is a four-team round-robin tournament played between t ...

titles in

and 1978. After winning the 1977 Memorial Cup and another WHL Championship title, McLean was tapped to coach the Canada men's national junior ice hockey team at the

1978 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The 1978 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (''1978 WJHC'') was the second edition Ice Hockey World Junior Championship and was held from December 22, 1977, until January 3, 1978. The tournament was held in Canada, mainly in Montreal and Quebec ...

. Future National Hockey League superstar

Wayne Gretzky Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...

tried out for the team but McLean claimed he didn't know if Gretzky was "strong enough at 16 years of age to play with these older guys". While McLean did not invite Gretzky to the initial junior tryout camp in 1977, he was eventually added to Canada's roster and led the tournament with eight goals and nine assists. Throughout his coaching career, McLean earned a reputation for brawling with the opposition. In one instance, he was suspended 25 games for punching a referee as he skated past the Bruins bench. As a result of his tough guy reputation, and survival of life-threatening injuries, he earned the nickname "Punch". At the conclusion of his coaching career, McLean placed second all-time among WHL coaches in games coached with 1,067.

Awards and honors

McLean received the WCHL Coach of the Year Award for the 1975–76 WCHL season. He was awarded the WHL's Governors Award in 2005, and was inducted into the

BC Hockey The British Columbia Amateur Hockey Association, more commonly known as BC Hockey, is a non-profit organization and member branch of Hockey Canada in charge of governing amateur hockey at all levels in British Columbia and Yukon Territory. It comp ...

Hall of Fame in 2006. In April 2016, the Ernie "Punch" McLean tournament was created at

Langley Events Centre The Langley Events Centre is a multipurpose facility in the Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada. The LEC debuted in April 2009, hosting the 2009 BC Gymnastics Championships. It boasts an arena bowl with a 5,276 capacity for sports, in ...

where six teams competed.

Personal life

In August 2009, McLean went missing for four days and five nights without food or supplies after getting lost while prospecting for gold.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McLean, Punch 1932 births Living people Canadian ice hockey coaches Ice hockey people from Saskatchewan New Westminster Bruins coaches People from Estevan