A longtime Yukon hockey coach died from the effects of cold water submersion after he fell into Marsh Lake last November, according to the coroner’s inquiry into his death.

Jim Fowler, 73, went for a skate on the lake near his home at about 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 16, 2014. He told his wife he’d be back in two hours.

After three hours, a search began and Fowler’s body was recovered just after midnight.

“It remains unknown if Mr. Fowler skated off the edge of the ice or if the ice failed under him,” Yukon chief coroner Kirsten Macdonald writes in her Jan. 22 report, released this week.

She notes there was a change in the ice conditions on Marsh Lake since that afternoon, when Fowler and others had been skating there.

At that time, the ice extended out about 45 metres (150 feet) from shore, but there was open water further out and the lake wasn’t completely frozen, Macdonald writes.

Witnesses also reported hearing a crack in the ice that afternoon.

When Fowler was found, the ice “was noted to be very fragile, thin, and dangerous.”

Skate marks were visible at the edge of the ice, about 30 metres (100 feet) from shore.

“Based on these statements and weather patterns, it is believed that part of the ice may have cracked and broke off,” the report states.

“Mr. Fowler had knowledge of the ice conditions from earlier that day. It is unknown whether or not he was aware of any potential change in ice conditions that evening.”

The moon was only at about 30 per cent brightness that night, so the head lamp Fowler was wearing would have been his main source of light.

“There was very little light by which a person could gauge the quality and thickness of the ice, any potential change in conditions, or increased level of danger,” Macdonald writes.

Toxicology tests showed Fowler had a blood-alcohol content of 0.12 per cent, which is “a moderate level of intoxication,” according to the report.

Fowler, a husband, father and grandfather, would often skate on the lake on his own.

He began playing hockey as a teenager in Ontario, and in his 20s moved to the Yukon, where he taught at Whitehorse schools and overhauled the city’s hockey program.

He was the first hockey coach in the Yukon to achieve Level 5 certification, the highest level attainable in Canada. Two of his early pupils – Jarrett Deuling and Bobby House – were drafted into the NHL.

Fowler was also a founding member of the Yukon Amateur Hockey Association in 1979.

In 1990, he was inducted into the Sport Yukon Hall of Fame for his contributions to the game.