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Hockey Coach Punch McLean Laughs in the Face of Bear Grylls

Aug 24, 2009, 2:00 PM UTC

Man vs. Wild is the kind of stuff I’d like to just go ahead and never encounter. Two weeks ago I spent four days working from home just because I was covered in poison ivy. As you can tell, I’m not exactly built for outdoors. Bear Grylls is someone I admire a great deal, but today I have a new hero in the form of someone who is described as a “legend in the B.C. hockey world,” Ernie “Punch” McLean.â†µâ†µYou see, McLean was thankfully found alive over the weekend during his fifth day of being lost in what was described as “mountainous terrain above Turnagain Lake in northern B.C.” So yeah, your couch probably sounds pretty good compared to this scenario. McLean was supposed to meet up with a geologist to survey the site of a gold claim because other than his work as a hockey coach, McLean is a part-time gold prospector, naturally. Unfortunately, things went a little sideways at that point:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥“While I was waiting for him I began flagging the road. I worked my way high onto the top of a gully and lost my footing. I rolled down to a landing and got all turned around. I was totally confused.”â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥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.â†µâ‡¥

â†µâ†µâ†µHow does one survive with no jacket or any means of communication for nearly five days? Well, without any food, McLean lived on nothing but creek water. Oh, and if you’re keeping score, that’s now McLean 2, Death 0, because this isn’t the first time he’s cheated the reaper.â†µ

â†µâ†µIn 1972, McLean was flying a plane that went down in southern Saskatchewan. He was alone that time, too, but survived.â†µ

â†µâ†µLet this be a reminder the next time one of those “which athletes are the toughest?” debates arises. And also, never doubt the survival instincts of a man who is part-time hockey coach, part-time gold prospector and full-time badass. â†µ

â†µâ†µ(H/T to The Puck Doctors)â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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