{"id":658928,"date":"2026-05-09T21:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T21:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/658928\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T21:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T21:05:09","slug":"hockey-legend-ernie-punch-mclean-killed-in-a-crash-in-northern-b-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/658928\/","title":{"rendered":"Hockey legend Ernie &#8216;Punch&#8217; McLean killed in a crash in Northern B.C."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Legendary hockey coach Ernie \u2018Punch\u2019 McLean has died in a crash in Northern B.C., the BC RCMP has confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>McLean was the longtime head coach of the New Westminster Bruins in the Western Hockey League through the 1970s and parts of the 1980s.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Four Memorial Cup appearances. Two championships. More than 100 players coached to the NHL. And a presence in BC hockey that can never be replaced.<\/p>\n<p>Ernie \u201cPunch\u201d McLean was one of a kind \u2014 a legend of the game who gave everything to this province and to the players lucky enough\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lRlXYI8j9j\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/lRlXYI8j9j<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Canucks\/status\/2053172263646884115?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">May 9, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Under McLean, the Bruins won four WHL Championships and two Memorial Cups while playing out at Queen\u2019s Park Arena.<\/p>\n<p>The coaching legend was a mainstay at Vancouver Canucks and Giants games and was known for his passion for the game.<\/p>\n<p>McLean was involved in a single-vehicle collision just after noon on Friday. Mounties say the crash occurred around 30 km south of Dease Lake in Upper Gnat Pass.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEarly investigation indicates the lone male occupant of the vehicle swerved and went off road and appears to have been ejected from the vehicle,\u201d the BC RCMP said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo criminality is suspected.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The cause of the crash is unknown, police say.<\/p>\n<p>He was 93.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 With files from Marcus Fitzgerald.<\/p>\n<p>\t\tKeep it Factual<\/p>\n<p>Add CityNews Vancouver as a trusted source on Google to see more local stories from us.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=vancouver.citynews.ca\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"add-trusted-source-badge\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778189171_473_google-trusted-badge.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred source on Google\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Legendary hockey coach Ernie \u2018Punch\u2019 McLean has died in a crash in Northern B.C., the BC RCMP has&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":658929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-658928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}