Former NHL player deletes Pride Night rant as ‘bad mojo’ theory debunked

Former NHL player Ron Duguay deleted an angry rant aimed at the league’s Pride Night after backlash.

The 68-year-old, who reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 1979 playing for the New York Rangers, took aim at the team after their 4-1 loss against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday, 16 March.

Duguay, who is in a relationship with former nominee for URoS vice-president Sarah Palin, suggested the loss was down to “bad mojo” caused by a rainbow flag flying for Pride Night.

As per Out Sports, in now-deleted posts on X, formerly Twitter, he said: “I didn’t want to say it before the game but I saw this coming.

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“Down 4-1 right after the singing National anthem to [the Pride Flag] to a small group, bad idea bad mojo.”

He went on: “I don’t blame all of the Rangers organisation. It’s only a select few college brain washed up, woked kids pushing their agenda within the organisation.”

However it appears he had second thoughts, after plenty of backlash from fans, as he deleted the posts.

Meanwhile, others pointed out some very obvious flaws with his theory.

Adam Herman, who writes for Bleacher Report, wrote: “The New York Rangers won every single Pride Night game between 2012 and 2025.

“Just in case any bigots are keeping score at home. Maybe this year’s team lost because they lose most games.”

It seems Pride Night isn’t the only LGBTQ+ topic Duguay has an issue with, though.

On 16 March he said his old team was “encouraging transgender lifestyle” with a giveaway of a Pride Night Pouch to the first 10,000 fans at Madison Square Garden for the match.

“Have you not been reading and watching the news?” he wrote. “What if a situation was to occur at the Harden? What then?

“How can a professional, none political entity like a sports team sanction this stuff on families especially with kids?

“Most people don’t want to celebrate a group’s sexual life at a game.

“Can you just keep it to a nice family night out celebrating and enjoying their sports team?”

Thankfully, not everyone associated with the game holds such opinions.

Jack Hughes, who plays for the New Jersey Devils and helped take Team USA to Gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics, continues to be a vocal LGBTQ+ ally.

Speaking of the game’s Pride Nights, he said in a 2024 interview: “The team I play for, the [New Jersey] Devils, we really support that, and we’re a really welcoming organisation, so I think a bunch of guys on our team were really looking forward to that.”

He continued: “With how we grew up, our family really supports that too. I can’t speak for other teams, but I know in New Jersey that was a night that everyone on our team was really welcoming, and they know it’s really important, so it wasn’t even a thought not to do it for us.”

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