In Memory of Pat Burns

by Kristina, All Habs

“For those who know me well, I’ve never backed down from any fight…And I’m not going to back down from this one” — Pat Burns

MONTREAL, QC. — Pat Burns was true to his word. He battled through three types of cancer for 2,403 days. That’s over six years. He was a loving father and an icon of the hockey world who touched and impacted so many and spent his life dedicated to the game of hockey. This man will truly be missed.

Pat Burns’ resume speaks for itself. In 15 years of NHL coaching with the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins and the New Jersey Devils, the Quebec native amassed 501 wins, won the Jack Adams Award three times coaching three different teams and won a Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils one year before being diagnosed with his first bout of cancer.

Most recently, Pat Burns was given the privilege of having the new arena in town of Stanstead named in his honour for his influential contribution to the youth in the region. Burns even peaked the interest of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who was responsible for delaying the announcement so that he could be present at the event.

At least he was alive to take part in that ceremony. It was one day where Pat Burns was publicly told you matter to us.

So if the town of Stanstead and the Prime Minister of Canada can give the praise, respect and recognition for the contributions Pat Burns has made to his community and the game of hockey, why couldn’t the Hockey Hall of Fame?

The Facebook Group “Let’s Get Pat Burns into the Hockey Hall of Fame – Now” has over 70,000 members, the media has belabored the point that Burns should be alive for his induction to the Hall and influential members of the sporting world have more than agreed. And what has the selection committee of the HHOF done?

Nothing.

They sat idle and continued to follow the bureaucratic process of nominating individuals into the Hall. One vote for each committee member for each category – players, builders or on-ice officials, one meeting in June, secret ballot votes and a maximum number of individuals for each respective category, by-laws, waiting periods and the list goes on and on.

To sum it up in two words: Red Tape.

Sure, the HHOF finally woke up and realized it was 2010 and inducted the first two females into the Hall in Cammi Granato and Angela James. These two women have been lucky enough to take part in a history making event that they will certainly never forget and hold dearly in their hearts.

They took that away from Pat Burns and his family.

But I suppose that finally including women into the Hall was a big enough feat for the selection committee that they could continue to sit on their hands when it came to a coach who has been in the league for 14 seasons, held Lord Stanley’s Cup, won the Jack Adams award three times and won more than 500 games.

The 2010 inductees in the Builders category were Jim Devellano and Daryl “Doc” Seaman. The former still alive and serving as the Senior Vice President of the Detroit Red Wings and the latter passed away in 2009 at 86 years of age and was the owner of the Calgary Flames.

I am by no means undermining these two individuals or their right to be inducted into the Hall, but I find it very hard to swallow that knowing the circumstances surrounding Pat Burns, the fact that he was a living Hall of Famer on his death bed, that the selection committee did not take more of an anticipative frame of mind. Would it have been a major inconvenience if Jim Devellano waited one more year to be inducted to instead have a dying, 58 year old in Pat Burns inducted while still alive?

I don’t think so. And I bet if you asked Jim he’d probably agree.

Instead, the Hockey Hall of Fame continues to follow their red tape procedures and will manage to induct Pat Burns into the Hall as a man who passed away.

Jacques Demers said it best, “Pat Burns should have been in the Hall of Fame this year. Not because he was dying, but because he was a Hall of Fame coach. Five hundred wins, a Stanley Cup, three times coach of the year — to me it would have been so special for him, before he died, to be in the Hall of Fame .”

Pat Burns now has something in common with a Van Gogh painting.