Burns hospitalized due to complications
TAMPA, Fla. -- Former NHL coach Pat Burns has been hospitalized with complications from his lung and colon cancer.
Burns was admitted on Sunday, the day of his 58th birthday. He'd been taking part in a daily sports show on Montreal radio station CKAC, which confirmed he was admitted to the hospital.
Burns, who won a Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils in 2003, won 501 games from 1988 to 2004. He was forced to leave coaching because of the colon cancer, and when he was diagnosed with lung cancer last year, he opted against treatment.
He traveled to Quebec two weeks ago to take part in a ceremony where it was announced an arena would be named after him in the border community of Stanstead.
"I know my life is nearing the end and I accept that," Burns told a few dozen invited guests at Stanstead College on March 26. "I probably won't be here when [the arena] is finished, but I'll be looking down on it."
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, one of the guests at the Stanstead ceremony, pointed to the three Jack Adams trophies Burns won with three different teams -- the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins -- as evidence that "he had the ability to go to any organization and get the best out of that organization."
TAMPA, Fla. -- Former NHL coach Pat Burns has been hospitalized with complications from his lung and colon cancer.
Burns was admitted on Sunday, the day of his 58th birthday. He'd been taking part in a daily sports show on Montreal radio station CKAC, which confirmed he was admitted to the hospital.
Burns, who won a Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils in 2003, won 501 games from 1988 to 2004. He was forced to leave coaching because of the colon cancer, and when he was diagnosed with lung cancer last year, he opted against treatment.
He traveled to Quebec two weeks ago to take part in a ceremony where it was announced an arena would be named after him in the border community of Stanstead.
"I know my life is nearing the end and I accept that," Burns told a few dozen invited guests at Stanstead College on March 26. "I probably won't be here when [the arena] is finished, but I'll be looking down on it."
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, one of the guests at the Stanstead ceremony, pointed to the three Jack Adams trophies Burns won with three different teams -- the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins -- as evidence that "he had the ability to go to any organization and get the best out of that organization."
