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Burns: 'Tell them I'm alive'

Print | Comments () Posted by Matt Pepin, Boston.com Staff September 17, 2010 01:37 PM

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Former Bruins coach Pat Burns is alive, although several news media reported that he had died earlier today.

Reports that Burns, who is suffering from cancer, had died set off a fast-moving wildfire of reports from various news agencies and social media sites. Compounding the problem was that one report in the Toronto Star named its source of information as Maple Leafs advisor Cliff Fletcher. Accordingly, many media, including this blog, briefly posted stories about the Star's report.

But later Friday, Burns called a columnist for Canada's TSN and told him, "Tell them I'm alive. Set them straight."

Burns was the Bruins' coach from 1997 to 2000. He also coached the Canadiens, Maple Leafs and Devils, whom he led to the Stanley Cup in 2003.