Canadian men's hockey coach Julien details accident that punctured lung

BEIJING — Claude Julien is with his team at the Beijing Olympics.

And that's not all Canada's men's hockey coach is thankful for.

The 61-year-old made a surprise return to the fold Thursday after not initially travelling with the group to China. Hockey Canada said late last month Julien suffered broken ribs when he slipped on some ice in what was described as a "team-building exercise" during training camp in Switzerland.

While that description was accurate, it didn't come close to telling the whole story.

Julien detailed exactly what happened, including the full extent of his injuries and severity of the situation, to reporters Friday at the National Indoor Centre.

"We went sledding," he said. "It was icy, slid off the trail there with the sled, ended up hitting a tree, and fracturing the ribs.

"Very fortunate that it wasn't any worse."

Julien went to hospital to have X-rays and was discharged with an initial diagnosis of bruised ribs.

"When I got back to the hotel, started seeing some symptoms that indicated a little bit more," he continued. "We went back to the hospital and through a CT scan they found a broken rib and I had a punctured lung.

"They ended up bringing me to another hospital where they were able to do the surgery."

Julien, who won the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year in 2009, led the Boston Bruins to the 2011 Stanley Cup, and was an assistant on Canada's star-studded 2014 Olympic squad that won gold in Sochi, described the heartache of being told the team would have to leave him behind.

"You've put in so much work to get ready," said Julien, who was fired by the Montreal Canadiens for a second time in February 2021. "You feel you're ready to go.

"And then this happened."

Assistant coach Jeremy