Pat Burns
Encyclopedia
Patrick Burns was a National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

 head coach
Head coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...

. Over 14 seasons between 1988 and 2004, he coached in 1,019 games with the Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...

, Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...

, Boston Bruins
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...

, and New Jersey Devils
New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey, United States. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...

. Burns retired in 2005 after recurring battles with cancer, which eventually claimed his life.

Coaching career

Burns was head coach of the QMJHL
Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League...

 Hull Olympiques from 1984 to 1987, and of the Sherbrooke Canadiens
Sherbrooke Canadiens
The Sherbrooke Canadiens were a professional ice hockey team in Sherbrooke, Quebec. They played their home games at the Palais des Sports. They were a member of the American Hockey League from 1984 to 1990, and were a farm team of the Montreal Canadiens....

 of the American Hockey League
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League...

 for the 1987–1988 season.

Burns began his NHL coaching career in 1988 with the Montreal Canadiens. Throughout his career, he won three Jack Adams Award
Jack Adams Award
The Jack Adams Award is awarded annually to the National Hockey League coach "adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success." It has been awarded 37 times to 32 different coaches. The winner is selected by a poll of the National Hockey League Broadcasters Association at the end of the...

s with three different teams – Montreal (1989), Toronto (1993) and Boston (1998). He is the only three-time winner to win in his first year as coach. Burns won the Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...

 with the Devils in 2003
2003 Stanley Cup Finals
The 2003 Stanley Cup Finals was a best-of-seven playoff series that determined the champion of the National Hockey League for the 2002–03 season...

. After stepping down from coaching the Devils in 2005, Burns became a special assignment coach for the Devils.

Personal life

Before his career in hockey, he was a police officer in Gatineau
Gatineau
Gatineau is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is the fourth largest city in the province. It is located on the northern banks of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario, and together they form Canada's National Capital Region. Ottawa and Gatineau comprise a single Census...

, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

.

In a criminal case brought against two Hells Angels
Hells Angels
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is a worldwide one-percenter motorcycle gang and organized crime syndicate whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation. Their primary motto...

 members in 2003, Burns' name was brought up in court in association with evidence collected by police officers in two separate seizures at the homes of Hells Angels' Donald "Pup" Stockford of the Nomads chapter of Montreal and Walter "Nurget" Stadnick on March 28, 2001. As a result of their investigation, police brought murder and other related charges against Stockford and Stadnick. Derrek King, a member of the Ontario Provincial Police
Ontario Provincial Police
The Ontario Provincial Police is the Provincial Police service for the province of Ontario, Canada.-Overview:The OPP is the the largest deployed police force in Ontario, and the second largest in Canada. The service is responsible for providing policing services throughout the province in areas...

's organized crime squad, testified he found in Stadnick's closet a police bulletproof vest as well as a card congratulating him on 18 years with the bikers. Burns' phone numbers were also found in a telephone book in the home. OPP officer Scott Andrew Mills discovered two notebooks filled with telephone numbers in Stockford's home, with Burns' personal numbers including his home, chalet and pager numbers found in each book. In 1994, when Burns was coaching in Toronto, OPP had questioned the coach about his ties with Stadnick, to whom Burns referred as "Wally"; however, Burns continued his association with the two men, appearing in an April 1997-dated photo together with them. Burns, in response to numerous interview requests subsequent to the disclosure that his name had come up in evidence used in a criminal case against the Hells Angels members, gave an exclusive interview to the weekly publication Allo Police, where he claimed to not have known that the men he was associating with were members of the Hells Angels.

Burns survived colon cancer in 2004 and liver cancer
Liver cancer
Liver tumors or hepatic tumors are tumors or growths on or in the liver . Several distinct types of tumors can develop in the liver because the liver is made up of various cell types. These growths can be benign or malignant...

 in 2005, retiring from coaching after the second diagnosis. In 2009, Burns acknowledged he had been diagnosed with cancer for a third time, this time lung cancer. The cancer was incurable and he decided to forgo further treatment. During an April 2010 interview Burns stated "I know my life is nearing its end and I accept that." Gesturing to a group of local minor hockey players, he said: "A young player could come from Stanstead who plays in an arena named after me. I probably won't see the project to the end, but let's hope I'm looking down on it and see a young Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux."

An arena
Arena
An arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the...

 is to be built to honour
Honour
Honour or honor is an abstract concept entailing a perceived quality of worthiness and respectability that affects both the social standing and the self-evaluation of an individual or corporate body such as a family, school, regiment or nation...

 Burns' career, at Stanstead College, a private boarding school in the Eastern Townships
Eastern Townships
The Eastern Townships is a tourist region and a former administrative region in south-eastern Quebec, lying between the former seigneuries south of the Saint Lawrence River and the United States border. Its northern boundary roughly followed Logan's Line, the geologic boundary between the flat,...

, and be completed by 2011.

On March 26, 2010, a fan-based Facebook campaign was launched to get Burns inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on the merits of his coaching record, but before he succumbed to cancer. The Let's Get Pat Burns into the Hockey Hall of Fame – NOW! Facebook group attracted over 39,000 members in its first week and received across Canada and the United States. In its second week the number of hockey fans calling for Burns' induction grew to over 54,000. As of October 22, 2010, that number was at 71,307. Nevertheless, the attempts to get Burns into the Hockey Hall of Fame did not succeed as he was not selected for the 2010 class of inductees. He was married to Line Burns.

Death

It was reported on September 16, 2010, that Burns' health had suddenly deteriorated and that he had returned to his home in Magog, Quebec
Magog, Quebec
Magog is a city in southeastern Quebec, Canada, about east of Montreal at the confluence of Lake Memphremagog--after which the city was named—with the Rivière aux Cerises and the Magog River...

, to be with his family. Reports surfaced the following day that Burns had died that morning, but Burns' son denied news reports that his father had died. That same day, an online report by the Toronto Sun
Toronto Sun
The Toronto Sun is an English-language daily tabloid newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for its daily Sunshine Girl feature and for what it sees as a populist conservative editorial stance.-History:...

 also incorrectly reported Burns' death, but was quickly revealed to be erroneous. Burns himself talked to both English and French media about the incident, denying that he had died and asked that his status be clarified immediately.

He died on November 19, 2010, in Sherbrooke, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, at the Maison Aube-Lumière, due to colon cancer which eventually spread to his lungs.

Shortly after his funeral, thieves broke into Burns' widow's car, stealing personal belongings, credit cards and numerous pieces of hockey memorabilia, including 30 autographed NHL jerseys that were to be auctioned for charity. Some of the items were later recovered.

Coaching record

Team |Regular Season MTL
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...

1988–89 80 53 18 9
115 1st in Adams Lost in Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...

 Final
MTL
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...

1989–90 80 41 28 11
93 3rd in Adams Lost in Second round
MTL
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...

1990–91 80 39 30 11
89 2nd in Adams Lost in Second round
MTL
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...

1991–92 80 41 28 11
93 1st in Adams Lost in Second round
TOR
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...

1992–93 84 44 29 11
99 3rd in Norris Lost in Third round
TOR
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...

1993–94 84 43 29 12
98 2nd in Central Lost in Third round
TOR
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...

1994–95 48 21 19 8
50 4th in Central Lost in First round
TOR
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...

1995–96 65 25 30 10
(80) 3rd in Central (fired)
BOS
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...

1997–98 82 39 30 13
91 2nd in Northeast Lost in First round
BOS
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...

1998–99 82 39 30 13
91 3rd in Northeast Lost in Second round
BOS
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...

1999–2000 82 24 33 19 6 73 5th in Northeast Did Not Qualify
BOS
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...

2000–01 8 3 4 1 0 (88) 4th in Northeast (fired)
NJ
New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey, United States. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...

2002–03 82 46 20 10 6 108 1st in Atlantic Won Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...

NJ
New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey, United States. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...

2003–04 82 43 25 12 2 100 2nd in Atlantic Lost in First round
Total 1019 501 353 151 14
2003 Stanley Cup

External links

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