Monday, April 16, 2007

R.I.P. Gaetan Duchesne, 1962-2007

I hate to be the bearer of awfully sad news again, but TSN.ca is reporting that former Cap Gaetan Duchesne has suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 44.

Duchesne, a hard-working, defense-first forward with a bit of a scoring touch during his five seasons in Washington, had just been in town to play in the alumni game not two weeks ago.

Add this to Warren Strelow's recent passing and if these things come in threes... well, hopefully they don't.

UPDATE: Team President Dick Patrick had this to say on the passing:
The Washington Capitals are terribly saddened to hear of Gaetan Duchesne’s passing. Gator was a wonderful person and a popular player among his teammates, the organization and our fans. From his role on our first playoff teams until just recently, when he joined us for an alumni game here in Washington, we will always have fond memories of Gator.
Indeed.

3 comments:

Caps Nut said...

Well, I don't know if this would count but word on the street is that former Maryland Terrapin B-ball playuer LaRon Chephas has passed away as well.

He was a Senior on the 2001 Final Four team.

Again, I can't confirm this, but that's the word on the street.

Unknown said...

That's very sad. I remember Duchesne from my childhood Cap fan days - he was a great defensive forward and used to score a lot of empty net goals, since he was the one on the ice protecting a late lead. Good guy, good Cap, very sad.

Paul Nichols said...

Especially to go at 44. Hell, that's way to young to check out.

God rest his soul.