A Coyote becomes the prey

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This article was published 16/04/2011 (5618 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PRESUMABLY, Shane Doan understands adrenalin. He knows all about stamina. He is well-versed in strategy.

After all, the veteran NHLer is captain of the Phoenix Coyotes. He helped Team Canada land two silver and two gold medals at the world championships. He’s a two-time All-Star and played at the Olympics in 2006.

Turns out, that was nothing.

On Sunday, Canada will watch the native of Halkirk, Alta., take on fellow Albertan Terry Grant for the Season 6 opener of OLN’s Mantracker. For 36 hours in the remote wilds near Gold Bridge, B.C., the Coyote became the prey.

“A game is three hours. You know when it’s going to end, you know what’s going on,” said Doan, in a recent interview in Calgary. “With this, you don’t know what’s around the corner. You don’t know what’s going to happen. You can’t really prepare.”

Doan and his brother, Brook, will add a dose of pro-sports celebrity to Sunday’s Mantracker, which will launch Grant’s last season as the grizzled and determined hunter. The popular show pits Grant and his otherworldly tracking skills against hapless prey in the Canadian wilderness. Shane and Brook were given 36 hours to reach a destination and avoid been tracked down and captured by Grant.

“He came out of a bush that was only 10 feet away from us, and probably seven or eight feet above us,” says Doan. “I don’t know how we didn’t see him. But you catch yourself looking far away from him and you don’t expect him to be close to you. He came out of the bush and had us in this area where we had to jump off this edge and run through this flat. As we ran through the flat and were among the trees, we were able to jump off a cliff. At the time, they were coming, and they were coming hard. Once they get you on the run, they never let you stop.”

For the uninitiated, Grant is a 25-year veteran of the Alberta Foothills Search and Rescue Team. With the help of his trusty horse and a sidekick, he has chalked up an impressive scorecard over six seasons, with captures exceeding prey who actually crossed the finish line.

Doan was obviously reluctant to give away too much detail about the action and outcome of Sunday’s episode, which he taped over the summer. He carried the compass, while his brother acted as a lookout. Both were in good shape, Doan says, but neither was prepared for the stamina required. As for their strategy, Doan says they tried to keep it simple — although he did say he and his brother at one point concocted the curious (and perhaps ill-advised) plan to grab Grant’s horse.

While he has high praise for the tracker as a “nice, genuine man,” Doan insists Grant’s intensity is not an act.

“You feel like a kid playing hide and seek with someone you really don’t want to be caught by,” Doan says. “You are constantly wanting to see if he’s behind you or around the corner…. He has that look — people who watch the show will understand. He wants to catch you. He really, really wants to catch you.”

— Postmedia News