{"id":896144,"date":"2026-10-27T07:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T07:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/896144\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T07:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T07:54:09","slug":"sarah-palin-brought-to-tears-by-rangers-ron-duguay-tributes-at-the-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/896144\/","title":{"rendered":"Sarah Palin brought to tears by Rangers&#8217; Ron Duguay tributes at the Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Rangers paid tribute to Ron Duguay on Monday, honoring the former franchise star who <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/10\/22\/sports\/ron-duguay-iconic-rangers-forward-dead-at-69\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">died after a battle with cancer<\/a> last week at the of 69.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Rangers family mourns the passing of one of the most beloved players in franchise history, Ron Duguay,\u201d public address announcer Joe Tolleson told the Garden crowd before the puck dropped against the Kings. \u201cDuring his eight season with the Blueshirts, Ron captivated the Garden faithful with his electrifying skating style, signature flowing hair and larger-than-life personality.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA 40-goal scorer who helped lead the Rangers to the 1979 Stanley Cup Final, Ron became more than a fav favorite \u2014 he was a New York icon whose impact extended far beyond the ice. Through his generosity, charitable efforts and passion for helping others, Ron touched countless lives and left a lasting legacy within the Rangers community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A moment of silence for Duguay was followed by a raucous cheer from the crowd for the former center.<\/p>\n<p>Later in the game, the team brought out Duguay\u2019s family \u2014 daughters Shay Thomas and Amber Stavros, son Noah Duguay, his grandchildren \u2014 Aiden, Jayden, Cole, Nora and Ranger \u2014 as well as longtime girlfriend Sarah Palin, who was moved to tears at the crowd\u2019s cheering for its fallen favorite during a second tribute video.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.59253499;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"   data-modal-image=\"41531896\" width=\"940\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/los-angeles-kings-vs-new-146581899.jpg\" alt=\"The New York Rangers honor the passing of alumnus Ron Duguay on the scoreboard at Madison Square Garden during a game against the Los Angeles Kings.\" class=\"wp-image-41531896\"\/>The New York Rangers honor the passing of Rangers alumnus Ron Duguay during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, at Madison Square Garden in New York. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n<p>It was Palin who announced Duguay\u2019s death last Thursday, days after <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/10\/21\/sports\/sarah-palin-asks-for-prayers-for-ron-duguay-as-she-shares-photo-at-his-bedside-in-hospital\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">asking for prayers for him<\/a> on her Instagram Story.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s with a shattered heart, but also deep peace knowing Ron is with Jesus now,\u201d the former Alaska governor posted to X on Oct. 22. \u201cHe fought so hard. Love never ends.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The pair had been dating since 2022.<\/p>\n<p>In 499 games with the Rangers from 1978-83 and 1986-88, Duguay posted 164 goals and 340 points, but his good looks, coupled with flowing locks, made him a star off the ice, as well.<\/p>\n<p>He and Blueshirts teammates Phil Esposito, Anders Hedberg and Dave Maloney famously modeled Sasson jeans in an ad in which they sang the \u201cooh la la\u201d jingle while skating in their jerseys paired with denim. He was <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/10\/22\/sports\/looking-back-on-late-rangers-legend-ron-duguays-wild-night-in-gene-simmons-bed-with-cher\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a fixture at the famed Studio 54<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Duguay\u2019s final NHL season came with the Kings \u2014 after tours with the Red Wings and Penguins along the way \u2014 in 1988-89, finishing a 12-year odyssey that came with 274 goals and 620 points in 864 games.<\/p>\n<p>Duguay went on to become an analyst for MSG Networks from 2007-2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Rangers paid tribute to Ron Duguay on Monday, honoring the former franchise star who died after a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":896145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[4823,385,225401,164100,99],"class_list":["post-896144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-new-york-rangers","tag-nhl","tag-ron-duguay","tag-sarah-palin","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=896144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/896145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=896144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=896144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=896144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}