At the end of the 1976-77 regular season, Boston Bruins defenseman Gary Doak received the ultimate tribute for his hard-nosed style of play as a fearless shot-blocker.

Through a vote by fans, he was given the Seventh Player Award as the Bruin who had played above and beyond expectations.

“He wore his heart on his sleeve as a player and as a person,’’ recalled Harry Sinden, Mr. Doak’s coach with the 1970 Stanley Cup champion Bruins, and later the team’s president and general manager. “His level of emotion and involvement on every shift was unbelievable.’’

After playing for the Bruins from 1966 to 1970 and from 1973 to 1980, Mr. Doak began a four-plus year stint as an assistant alongside Bruins head coach and former goaltender Gerry Cheevers.

Mr. Doak, who treasured a replica of that Cup for the rest of his life, died of cancer March 25 in his Lynnfield home. He was 71 and also resided in Boca Raton, Fla.

“If anyone had the ‘B’ literally attached to his chest, it was him,’’ said Cheevers, who was Mr. Doak’s roommate on road trips and remained his closest friend over the years, sharing family and holiday celebrations. “We took pride in being a team and no one epitomized team more than Doakie, which makes him a very special person.’’

Former Bruins defenseman Don Awrey said Mr. Doak had a never-say-die attitude, “giving everything of himself, and that’s all you can ask of anybody.’’

A native of Goderich, Ontario, a small town north of Detroit, Mr. Doak left home at age 15 to begin his junior hockey career in Hamilton, Ontario, as a Detroit Red Wings prospect. In 1966, the Red Wings traded him, Ron Murphy, Bill Lesuk, and future considerations to Boston for veterans Leo Boivin and Dean Prentice to bolster their playoff run.

He had idolized the Red Wings and their star, Gordie Howe, and after the trade to the struggling Bruins, he told the Globe years later, “I thought that was the end of the earth.’’ Mr. Doak, however, said the emergence of Bobby Orr and other Boston stars led to great years, and added that he didn’t “think there will be another team as close as that one’’ in 1970.

Mr. Doak, who played 789 career regular season games and 78 playoff games, was taken by Vancouver in the 1970 expansion draft and also played with the New York Rangers and the Red Wings before Sinden acquired him in a 1973 trade, once again with Detroit.

“I always regretted that we lost him, and after he came back, Gary revived the spirit of our team,’’ Sinden said. “He was the kind of player every team should have.’’

Mr. Doak was described on a National Hockey League website “as a textbook, stay-at-home blueliner who tattooed impressions of his shoulders and elbows onto any opponent who came within range.’’

He was part of Bruins’ runs to the Stanley Cup finals in 1977 and 1978 on teams coached by Don Cherry, who said Mr. Doak had a quiet presence in the locker room and that “we all thought the world of him.’’

Cherry said Mr. Doak was very particular about his hockey equipment, “one time having a teammate come to me and ask if our trainer would give Doakie a new pair of hockey pants. Well, two weeks later, he wanted the old pants back.’’

Mr. Doak suffered severe facial injuries after being checked from behind by Detroit’s Dennis Hextall in 1978. Cherry said “the team respected Doakie so much that every time we played Detroit after the incident – and even when Hextall later played with Washington — our guys would try to get into fights with him.’’

A son of Walter Doak and the former Bernice Jackman, Gary Walter Doak married Judith Shore, also from Goderich, in 1969. The wedding, in their hometown, was attended by several Bruins teammates.

Mr. Doak’s daughter, Jennifer Doak-Deraps of Lynnfield, said his “day at the office’’ meant a trip to the old Boston Garden with her brother, Ryan, who now lives in Tucson.

“We loved tagging along with him to watch practice, but the best part was skating on the Garden ice with him,’’ she recalled. “It used to seem forever when dad was on road trips, and we loved going to the airport with mom to pick him up.

“The hugs were great and so were the gifts he would bring back to us, which always included the opposing team’s game puck.’’

Years ago, she added, her father delighted shoveling snow off the pond near the family’s then-home in Saugus so he could play hockey for hours with neighborhood youngsters.

Mr. Doak decided not to stay on as a Bruins assistant coach after Cheevers was fired in 1985 — a gesture of friendship and loyalty. He told the Globe subsequently that he enjoyed coaching for two seasons at the University of Massachusetts Boston, but not the rush-hour traffic.

“I always respected his opinion and he brought a life’s passion for the game that definitely rubbed off on me,’’ said Chris Spillane, a former UMass-Boston player who is now Franklin High School’s hockey coach. “What hockey had given to him, he was happy to give back to others.’’

In 2011, when a tornado devastated Goderich, which he often visited with his family in the summertime, Mr. Doak organized a fund-raising memorabilia event. Former hockey greats, including Cheevers, Ted Lindsay, and Johnny Bower attended.

Mr. Doak biked in the Pan-Mass Challenge from 2006 to 2009 and supported Boston Bruins Foundation charities through playing with the Bruins Alumni and at team golf outings. He also ran a hockey and fitness camp, and formerly owned the Epicurean restaurant in Exeter, N.H.

He took pride in seeing Ryan play hockey for Northfield Mount Hermon school, jokingly advising him to “keep your stick up,’’ and watching his grandsons Ben and Lucas grow as youth hockey players. His Seventh Player Award was a gift to Ben.

A service has been held for Mr. Doak, who in addition to his wife, children, and two grandsons leaves a brother, Steve of Goderich; a sister, Sue Hanson of London, Ontario; and three other grandchildren.

“Being in Boston led him to a lifetime of relationships and memories that extended far beyond the ice,’’ his daughter said in a eulogy.

She said that after he was diagnosed with cancer six years ago, “you dropped the gloves and gave it your all. Your determination and positive outlook were so admirable and spoke volumes about your character.’’

Marvin Pave can be reached at marvin.pave@rcn.com.