Duncan MacPherson

Duncan MacPherson (February 3, 1966 – August 9, 1989) was a professional player who died under mysterious circumstances. He was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. A standout defensive defenceman for the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League, MacPherson was drafted in the first round, 20th overall, of the 1984 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Islanders. He played minor league hockey for the Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League and the Indianapolis Ice of the International Hockey League.

Disappearance
In the summer of 1989 he went to Europe. The New York Islanders had a couple of months earlier bought out and released the often injured MacPherson. He never made it to the big club. MacPherson had intentions of taking a job as a player-coach for a semi-pro hockey team in Dundee, Scotland, commencing in August 1989, though he did have a bad feeling in his gut about the entrepreneur Ron Dixon who was backing the Scottish team. He went to central Europe alone in early August 1989, the plan being to visit old friends and see the sights before going on to Scotland.

He was scheduled to arrive in Dundee on August 12. When he did not show up, his family went to look for him. A car he had borrowed from a friend was discovered six weeks later in the parking lot of the Stubaier Gletscher resort in the Stubai Alps in Austria, where he had rented a snowboard. His last known contact was with an employee of the ski resort on August 9, who reported that he spoke with MacPherson, and last saw MacPherson departing alone to perhaps squeeze in some final snowboarding and hiking before nightfall.

Adding drama to the mystery was the fact that MacPherson claimed he had been contacted by the CIA, and that they were interested in recruiting him as a spy. The story was never confirmed.

Almost 14 years after MacPherson disappeared, an employee of the Stubai Glacier Resort discovered a glove sticking out of the ice of a melting alpine glacier, right in the middle of the ski run, where MacPherson's body had lain frozen.