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Pat Burns was one of the great NHL coaches. He worked with the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils, and seemed always to enjoy instant success. He capped his extraordinary career by coaching the New Jersey Devils to a Stanley Cup victory in 2003. Cancer—his third bout—finally claimed him in 2010, aged 58.
Rosie DiManno, who knew Burns well, has written a revealing, exhilarating and heartfelt account of his life: his childhood as a fatherless, solitary male surrounded by many women, his years as a police officer, his glorious coaching career and his long and characteristically valiant ending.
Coach is both the first major biography of Burns and one that, with its revelations, personal insights and riveting prose, is—like the man himself—sure to be both controversial and hard to beat. Rosie DiManno knew, liked and admired Burns, and in the writing of this book has interviewed many, many people from every stage of his life. She is not blind to his less endearing qualities, but seeks to explain them.
DiManno reveals a man of contradictions—gruff and crude, bullying and sentimental, and easily wounded. She shows, moreover, a man of hockey. The Burns who rode motorcycles, dressed like a cowboy, and sweet-talked the ladies was, says DiManno, a self-creation. His one indisputable, true talent was for coaching hockey. He was a pure coach.
DiManno tells a compelling story and helps us to understand a complex man, one who gave little of himself to the public and yet whose funeral was a spectacle. How did that happen? Who was Pat Burns? Rosie DiManno, who witnessed much of the story, has the answers.
Prologue: The Running Man ix
Chapter 1 The Fatherless Boy 1
Chapter 2 Detective Story 14
Chapter 3 Adventures in the "Q" 27
Chapter 4 A Year on Serge's Farm 42
Chapter 5 Under the Montreal Microscope 52
Chapter 6 So Close 77
Chapter 7 Lost in Transition 89
Chapter 8 Rioting Russians, Milbury Mind Games 103
Chapter 9 Hoedowns and Harleys 114
Chapter 10 Last Tango in Montreal 121
Chapter 11 The Passion Returns 133
Chapter 12 Twenty-one Games in 42 Nights 155
Chapter 13 Gilmour vs. Gretzky; Burns vs. Melrose 171
Chapter 14 Out of Gas 186
Chapter 15 Locked out and Loaded 204
Chapter 16 Hitting Bottom in Leafland 216
Chapter 17 Butting heads in Beantown 233
Chapter 18 Redemption in the Meadowlands 252
Chapter 19 Chance and Fate 269
Chapter 20 A Surge of Affection 282
Requiem 297
Acknowledgements 299
Photo Credits and Permissions 301
About the Author 303
Index 305
Overview
Pat Burns was one of the great NHL coaches. He worked with the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils, and seemed always to enjoy instant success. He capped his extraordinary career by coaching the New Jersey Devils to a Stanley Cup victory in 2003. Cancer—his third bout—finally claimed him in 2010, aged 58.
Rosie DiManno, who knew Burns well, has written a revealing, exhilarating and heartfelt account of his life: his childhood as a ...