Ron Duguay, who scored 274 goals in a dozen National Hockey League seasons, suited up for his home country in the 1981 Canada Cup tournament and claimed to have dated Cher and supermodel Cheryl Tiegs simultaneously as the nightlife-loving New York Ranger with the permed pre-Raphaelite hair, died of cancer on Thursday at 69.
asserted
who → score → 69
The hockey heartthrob was a fan favourite at Madison Square Garden and other arenas as much for those cascading brown curls as his skating and shooting skills.
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heartthrob → cascade → skills
He married models and was one too, signing with Elite Model Management and singing “Ooh la la” in a television commercial for Sasson Jeans in 1979.
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He → marry → 1979
“I was in great shape in those years,” Mr. Duguay later told The New York Times.
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Duguay → tell → Times
“I was doing extra cardio at Studio 54.”
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I → do → Studio
He was a determined forechecker with an aptitude for offence whose charisma helped expand the popularity of the NHL beyond the game itself in the 1980s.
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charisma → help → 1980s
If he was one of a kind, he was also the last of his kind: Skating for the minor-league Brooklyn Aces and the Jersey Rockhoppers in 2009 at 51 for two games to raise funds for the Garden of Dreams Foundation, he became the final professional hockey player to compete without a helmet in North America.
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he → skate → America
Mr. Duguay told The Hockey News in 2012 that vanity wasn’t the reason he shunned headgear, but that helmets were hot, confining and, at the time, unnecessary.
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helmets → tell → time
(Though the NHL made helmets mandatory for players entering the league after the 1978-79 season, veteran players still had the option of wearing one or not.)
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players → make → one
He had been receiving treatment at a City of Hope cancer treatment centre in Southern California.
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He → receive → California
Colon cancer diagnosed in late 2024 had spread to his liver.
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cancer → diagnose → liver
The New York Rangers organization issued a statement after Mr. Duguay’s death was announced: “Ron’s signature skating style − with his hair flowing as he moved down the ice − captivated The Garden Faithful, and his skill, tenacity, and charisma earned him the admiration of all New Yorkers.
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skill → issue → Yorkers
On Oct. 2, the Sudbury Wolves alumnus was feted at the same Sudbury Community Arena where he skated as a teenager for four seasons before the New York Rangers drafted him 13th overall on June 14, 1977.
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Rangers → fete → June
Mr. Duguay signed autographs and dropped the ceremonial puck before an Ontario Hockey League game against the Niagara IceDogs.
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Duguay → sign → IceDogs
“He was there like a trooper,” said Joe Bowen, a Sudbury native who began his hockey broadcasting career calling Wolves games for the city’s CKSO radio station at same time Mr. Duguay played for the team.
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Duguay → say → team
“But halfway through the game he said he had to leave.
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he → say → game
You kind of knew things weren’t going in the right direction, healthwise.”
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things → know → direction
Mr. Duguay had been involved in a long-distance relationship with former U.S vice-presidential candidate and one-time Alaska governor Sarah Palin. Earlier this year he told The New York Post that the Republican politician was “the sweetest, kindest person” and a “great companion.”
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politician → involve → Post
He married twice, first to California model Robin Bobo (with whom he had two daughters), then to Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue bombshell Kim Alexis, with whom he had a son.
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he → marry → son
In 2009, he teamed with Canadian pair skater Barbara Underhill in the first season of the CBC figure-skating reality show Battle of the Blades.
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he → team → Blades
Ms. Underhill hadn’t competed in 11 years and Mr. Duguay was also long retired.
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Duguay → compete → years
“We had a three-week rehearsal period and it was an enormous challenge,” Ms. Underhill said.
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Underhill → have → period
“But he was born for that show, and when the television lights flashed on he came alive.
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he → bear → show
Until the late 1960s, professional athletes weren’t normally considered sex symbols or adored the way musicians and movie stars were.
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musicians → consider → way
Their nightlife was their own life; wholesomeness and aw-shucks humility was what got their mugs on the boxes of Wheaties cereal.
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what → get → cereal
The cocky New York Jets quarterback and shag-rug superstar Joe Namath changed all that.
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quarterback → change → that
Sonny Werblin took charge of Madison Square Garden and its properties, including the Rangers, he brought with him a love of glam.
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he → take → glam
“Sonny encouraged his players to go to Studio 54,” said Larry Sloman, who wrote about the Rangers in Playboy and documented the team’s 1979-80 season in the book Thin Ice.
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who → encourage → book
“He loved the publicity when they made it into the gossip columns.”
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they → love → columns
Mr. Duguay partnered with teammates Phil Esposito and Ron Greschner in the short-lived Sticks restaurant in Manhattan’s Upper East Side and later co-owned another eatery, Cronies, in the same area.
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Duguay → partner → area
In a 1981 cover story, Forum magazine dubbed Mr. Duguay the “Son of Namath” for his flashy charisma.
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magazine → dub → charisma
The puck-shooter had no issue at all with athletes being hyped as sex symbols and using the allure to sell sports and other things.
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athletes → have → sports
“Damn right, I think it’s great,” he told Forum.
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he → think → Forum
“And I’m lucky I’m in New York and have a man like Sonny Werblin behind me.”
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I → ’m → me
In fact, his singing voice was heard on the 1979 song Hockey Sock Rock, written by Canada’s Alan Thicke.
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voice → hear → Thicke
One of the other participating Rangers, Dave Maloney, later told New York Magazine that the single sold 100,000 copies but only because singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, a friend of Mr. Thicke’s, bought 90,000 himself.
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Lightfoot → participate → 90,000
The free-spirited athlete who answered to Doog, Doogs or Doogie graced the front of Stan Fischler’s 1982 book The New Breed: Hockey’s Hot Young Superstars.
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who → answer → book
The picture was taken by the renowned sports photographer Bruce Bennett, making Mr. Duguay a rare personality photographed by both Hockey Hall of Famer Mr. Bennett and the New York-based pop-culture artist Andy Warhol.
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Duguay → take → Bennett
In a story in Mr. Warhol’s Interview magazine, the skater said his first purchases when he signed with the Rangers were a white Cadillac Eldorado and shortly afterward a metallic gold speedboat he shipped back to Canada.
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he → say → Canada
Mr. Warhol noted that Mr. Duguay did not wear a “hat” while on the ice and said it would be a shame if his “beautiful nose” was wrecked.
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nose → note → ice
…and 38 more, not listed.
The Aporia
