EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (CP-AP) - Pat Burns vows to battle colon cancer with the same intensity that helped the New Jersey Devils win the Stanley Cup last season.
The coach will begin treatment immediately, he announced Sunday, a day after his team was eliminated from the playoffs.
``For those who know me well, I've never backed down from any fight,'' Burns said.
``And I'm not going to back down from this one.''
Burns, 52, said his status with the Devils will be determined in six-to-eight weeks, when the treatment ends. He will have treatment five days a week, beginning this week.
``The last month or so I have not been feeling well,'' Burns said. ``There were signs that something was not right but I was reluctant to do anything because the playoffs were coming up.''
Burns said he insisted on coaching the Devils in the first round even though the treatments would not have allowed him to coach had the Devils advanced.
Burns appeared at the news conference at Continental Airlines Arena with his wife and with Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello. He read from a prepared statement and did not answer questions.
New Jersey lost 3-1 on Saturday to Philadelphia, with the Flyers taking the best-of-seven series in five games.
Burns, 52, missed a morning skate and an off-day team meeting last week. The team said in both instances he had to take care of ``personal matters.''
Devils defenceman Scott Niedermayer said he didn't notice anything different about Burns in the weeks leading up to the playoffs.
``He was trying to get the team ready 100 per cent just like he always does,'' Niedermayer said. ``We didn't notice anything until he didn't come to a couple of morning skates.
``Then we knew he wasn't feeling well.''
Before arriving in New Jersey, Burns had coached three Original Six teams - Montreal, Toronto and Boston - and had only been to one Stanley Cup final in 13 seasons, during his first season with Montreal.
He hadn't coached since being let go by the Bruins only eight games into the 2000-2001 season. There was talk it would be tough for him to find a job as teams sought younger coaches with new ideas, new systems and no reluctance to try new things.
But Burns, a former policeman from Hull, Que., with a sullen personality and a self-proclaimed inability to smile, meshed well with the Devils. He reached two milestones this season. A victory over the Rangers on March 30 was the 500th of his NHL career and on Feb. 27 he coached his 1,000th game when the Devils faced the Atlanta Thrashers at Continental Airlines Arena.
Burns has a career regular-season record of 501-367-151 along with a playoff record of 78-71.
``He was great with me,'' said Boston goalie Andrew Raycroft, who played briefly for Burns. ``He was very supportive and always helping me.
``That's unbelievable. It's too bad and I wish him the best, and I'm sure he'll fight through.''
Montreal Canadiens captain Saku Koivu, who is a cancer survivor himself, said he planned to call Burns and offer support.
``When I went through it, it really helped at the beginning when I was able to talk to people who have gone through it,'' said Koivu, who missed most of the 2001-2002 season with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. ``At this point, the only thing is to wish him the best and hope it works out.''<
Koivu said the next few days will likely be tough.
``You just try to survive and get through it,'' he said. ``Hockey and your work and all that doesn't really play a big role in moments like that.''
A three-time winner of the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's top coach, Burns replaced Kevin Constantine behind the Devils bench June 13, 2002, and won his first Stanley Cup ring last spring when the Devils defeated the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in the final.
On Sunday, he praised his team's efforts in the regular season and the playoffs, and lamented the timing of the illness.
``I wasn't the coach I should have been the last couple of weeks, but I had a lot of things on my mind so it was understandable,'' he said.
Defenceman Scott Stevens described the reaction of his fellow players to Burns' illness as ``shock and depression.''
``This definitely puts everything in perspective,'' Stevens said. ``Hopefully he'll fight through this. He's a tough guy.
Canadiens coach Claude Julien, who, like Burns, is a former coach of the Hull (now Gatineau) Olympiques of the QMJHL, said it was a sad day.
``What he's done for the game - he had a great team in Montreal - he turned things around in Toronto and he won a Stanley Cup in New Jersey last year,'' said Julien. ``You just wish him the best and hope they're successful in making him better.''