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| 1984 NHL DRAFT PICK |
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Duncan MacPherson
Selected in first round
No.
20 overall by New York Islanders
Born
February 3, 1966. Died August 1989
 | Position:
Defense
Height: 6-1 Weight: 190
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| BEFORE THE DRAFT |
Last Team:
Saskatoon (WHL)
Birthplace: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (Canada)
Hometown:
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan |
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| PRE-DRAFT
STATISTICS | | Year |
Team | League |
GP | G |
A | TP |
PIM |
| 1982-83 |
North Battleford | SJHL |
59 | 6 |
11 | 17 |
215 | | 1983-84 |
Saskatoon | WHL |
45 | 0 |
14 | 14 |
74 |
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PRE-DRAFT AWARDS AND HONORS
North Battleford Most Valubalb Defenseman: 1982-83
Miscellaneous: Missed part of 1983-84 season with ankle injury. |
| NHL CAREER |
| Never played in NHL. |
| NON-NHL CAREER |
Post-Draft Teams: Saskatoon (WHL);
Springfield (AHL)
NON-NHL
AWARDS AND HONORS
Miscellaneous: Missed part of N.Y. Islanders' 1984 training camp with
bruised left knee, an injury suffered at the camp in September 1984. ...
Missed most of 1986-87 season with knee injury, suffered in while playing
for Springfield (AHL) in October 1986. ... Had contract bought out and was
released by N.Y. Islanders after 1988-89 season.
The Death of Duncan MacPherson:
At the age of 23 in August 1989, MacPherson, who had spent the past two
seasons with the N.Y. Islanders' AHL affiliate in Springfield, Mass., left
North America to continue his hockey career in Europe. He had been
offered -- but not officially accepted -- a job as a player-coach with the
Dundee Tigers in Scotland, and was due to arrive there on Aug. 12, 1989, to
determine if he really wanted to live in Scotland. On Aug. 2, he left his
home in Saskatoon to spend his first week in Europe visiting friends in West
Germany. On Aug. 3, he landed in Nurenburg, where he met with former NHL
player George Pesut, an old friend who had grown up in Saskatoon and was
playing for the local Nurenburg team. On Aug. 6, Pesut left with his team
for a tournament in Prague, Czechslovakia. While he was away, Pesut said
MacPherson could use his car to explore the area. On Aug. 7, MacPherson went
to Fussen, Germany, to visit former junior and minor-league teammate Roger
Kortko, who was playing there. The following day, Aug. 8, MacPherson went to
Bolzano, Italy, to visit more friends. He said he would spend two days in
Northern Italy and then return the car to Nurenburg on Aug. 10 before
heading off to Scotland. However, he never arrived in Italy, and Kortko
would be the last of his friends to see him alive. In all likelihood,
MacPherson changed his Italy plans and decided to go skiing in Austria. On
Aug. 10, MacPherson called Ron Dixon, the president of the Dundee Tigers, to
confirm that he would be taking the job and arriving on Aug. 12. He did not
tell Dixon where he was calling from, but said he would take a train from
Nurenburg to Frankfurt and fly to Scotland from there. However, MacPherson
never showed up, never contacted Pesut or Kortko and was clearly missing by
the middle of the month. Initially, police thought he might have been a
crime or accident victim and police began an exhaustive search. On Aug. 28,
MacPherson's parents, brother, and girlfriend, Tara Anderson, came to West
Germany to join the search party, but they already feared that MacPherson
was dead because he would never have gone so long without contacting anyone.
Shortly after the MacPherson group arrived in West Germany, they learned
that Pesut's car had been found in a parking lot at the bottom of the
Stubaier Glacier in Austria. It had been there for several weeks, and it was
clear MacPherson had parked it at that location -- almost surely because he
was going skiing or hiking. The family later learned that MacPherson had
gone to Stubaier Glacier to take snowboarding lessons and then try out the
snowboard on his own. By mid-September, it was clear that MacPherson had
been involved in an accident, but for the next 15 years, there was no sign
of his body even though the family continued to look for it. Adding drama to
the mystery was the fact that MacPherson claimed he had been contacted by
the CIA, which was interested in recruiting him as a spy while he was in
Europe. However, MacPherson had said he wasn't interested, and the story was
never confirmed. Finally, in mid-July 2003, heat caused major melting
in the Stubaier Glacier, and a worker grooming snow found a red
glove. He soon discovered MacPherson's body -- completely frozen and
preserved -- with no signs of aging. He still had all his identification on
him, as well as a rented snowboard. Before the body was found, it was
assumed the cause of death was a snowboarding accident. However, the ski
operator and local police had insisted such an accident would not have gone undetected on a slope routinely monitored for
safety. They also said his body would have to be located
somewhere outside the safety zone because he likely became disoriented and
got lost before anyone could find him. Since the discovery of the body, MacPherson's
family has noted that it was found within the safety zone, roughly 25 meters
east of the lift. The family speculates that MacPherson broke through a
snowbridge on the controlled ski slope, but nobody was on hand to witness
the accident. |
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|
SNAPSHOT '84 | | Total Selected: |
250 | | Forwards: |
142 | | Defense: |
88 | | Goaltenders: |
20 | | Major Junior: |
110 | | Tier II/Jr. B: |
16/9 | | College Players: |
23 | | High School: |
47 | | Midget: |
4 | | U.S. Junior B: |
1 |
| Canadian: |
145 |
| Euro-Canadian: |
2 | | USA Citizens: |
62 | | U.S.-Born: |
63 |
| European: |
41 |
| Reached NHL: |
102 |
| Stanley Cup: |
20 | | Hall of Fame: |
1 |
| All-Star Game: |
18 |
| Year-end All-Star: |
7 |
| Olympians: |
31 |
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